can you upgrade raid cards without vomiting all over the place?

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f1y

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I have an Adaptec 1210sa, which is a shit adapter. Can I upgrade this to a different raid card without losing data?

Could I buy a better adaptec, and it carry over happily? I doubt it would work, but thought i'd ask.
 
Can I upgrade this to a different raid card without losing data?
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Most likely your only upgrade path that will not require you to move your data to a second array / backup would be to get another adaptec card.
 
Yes, steps are pretty easy:

  1. Backup your data
  2. Remove old controller and toss into the trash
  3. Install new controller and build an array
  4. Restore your data

If anyone knows of another solution, pass it along.
 
I always find it humorous that people think they can just move data into a totally different format in a "safe an friendly" way.

Rule #1 of data migration or modification is always have a backup.

Rule #2 is data migration/modification will always fail when you don't have backup.

I understsand why people ask this question..but the answer still hasn't changed since the dawn of digital.
 
Well he is asking also about another Adaptec, so it shouldn't be unreasonable to expect that the data could remain in the same format, and you just switch out the controller card for a newer model, therefore you would not be migrating or modifying any data. I wondered the same thing about Areca, and they told me that their "data format" is the same across all of their cards. You're going to have to find out from Adaptec, or elsewhere, if Adaptec allows this.
 
If you contact Adaptec support with your current card model, firmware version and RAID setup details they should be able to tell you what new controller models are compatible with your current RAID config.
 
grimster said:
Well he is asking also about another Adaptec, so it shouldn't be unreasonable to expect that the data could remain in the same format, and you just switch out the controller card for a newer model, therefore you would not be migrating or modifying any data. I wondered the same thing about Areca, and they told me that their "data format" is the same across all of their cards. You're going to have to find out from Adaptec, or elsewhere, if Adaptec allows this.
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I remember trying to move a couple of sata drives from one 3ware raid controller to a different model. Wouldn't recognize them, since the previous controller apparently had them marked in some 'special' way :( I had to reinstall the old controller, and destroy the array, freeing the drives, and then do the move. Fooey...
 
Well, ya get what ya pay for. It's not the manufacturer's fault if you don't fully research the product you are about to spend money on. I really wouldn't touch anything but Areca, LSI/Intel, or HP, but that's just my opinion.
 
Then you did something wrong, plain and simple. Did the documentation list what specific products you could migrate to? Doubt it, without having a time machine and knowing the future.
 
Apparently I was unclear. I am NOT talking about migrating data to a different raid controller from the same vendor. I'm saying I was unable to even USE the drives on the controller, since the original one took ownership of them in some obscure way (I think it mucked with the HPA maybe). How on earth is that MY fault?
 
When this happened, I went to the 3ware site and started googling around and found nothing that addressed this, even in their KB. On a hunch, I googled for HPA and found very vague (non 3ware) comments people had made about vendors using the HPA for things like this. To be clear: my complaint was not that 3ware had a raid controller that used the HPA in a way that made the drive unusable by their other controller - it was that there was ZERO in the manual or KB about this. This surely can't be an unusual thing to do (e.g. your 3ware XXX dies and you want to move the drives to a 3ware YYY). How about a simple paragraph explaining what the controller does and how to undo it? My "fix" was to move each sata drive to an onboard port and zero the HPA.
 
So no, there were other instances of this happening. I just don't see how this is 3ware's direct fault.
 
None that showed up directly with google (then again, I may not have tickled google with the right search parameters). Who knows what an enterprise customer with a service contract would have done. How that makes failure to document what they are doing my fault is bizarre, to say the least. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt of not being a troll, but clearly we are not going to ever agree, so I'm calling it quits on this one.
 
That's exactly the reason why I never have and never will use a hardware RAID. It's just too fucked up if you don't force the vendor into compliance with a contract.

The days where software RAID is inferior to hardware RAID are long gone. I trust a lot more that I can take such and such a block device with usable blocks from 0 to x, connect it however I like and make it part of a RAID.

Hardware RAID? Who knows wtf the vendor is doing with the disks. All you do is follow his orders and pray it works the way it's supposed to.

Keep it simple, stupid.[tm]
 
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It's pretty sad how a character who demands a toll to cross a bridge is now loosely applied by geeks and nerds to mean someone who just doesn't back down from their own opinion like a cowering dog with its tail between its legs. It's often used by the person who looks illogical and flimsy in their arguments.

It's up to a consumer, enterprise or public, to research WTF they are buying. To call a whole technology "fucked up" because you can't read documentation and others' reviews before you buy a product is not the fault of the maker or the technology. Everything has its place. An add-in piece of hardware designed for a specific task is no more complex, or superior or inferior in the end than using the software equivalent.
 
402blownstroker said:
An 'enterprise customer' would do the 4 steps I listed.
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Did you read the part where I said the replacement controller was not able to use the drives due to whatever incompatible change they made? Anyway, most likely the typical user would replace the dead controller with an equivalent one (spare) so the issue would not be likely to happen. Doesn't make it any less bogus, but of course that is just my opinion.
 
402blownstroker said:
Yes, steps are pretty easy:

  1. Backup your data
  2. Remove old controller and toss into the trash
  3. Install new controller and build an array
  4. Restore your data

If anyone knows of another solution, pass it along.
Click to expand...

haha, couldn't have said it better myself. :cool:
 
^ was a given, but I was wondering the success rate of just swapping cards. New card comes in tomorrow, upgrade planed for after thanksgiving,
 
hm. how in teh world did this turn to bickering>? LOL

the adaptecs suck. They do some propietary locking on drives, and that is a pita.

dont get another adaptec for the love of god. get an areca or LSI. remember, you get what you pay for / deserve.
 
Computurd said:
hm. how in teh world did this turn to bickering>? LOL

the adaptecs suck. They do some propietary locking on drives, and that is a pita.

dont get another adaptec for the love of god. get an areca or LSI. remember, you get what you pay for / deserve.
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If you love LSI so much, why don't you marry it? :eek: :p

But yes, Adaptec has some PITA features that are not welcome in a modern system.
 
lol i just might :) Areca is uber as well!

Adaptecs main problem is infrequent firmwares, and nagging incompatibilities. not to mention low performance, and with SSDs they are just poo. Latency is a curse word apparently...
 
TCM said:
That's exactly the reason why I never have and never will use a hardware RAID. It's just too fucked up if you don't force the vendor into compliance with a contract.

The days where software RAID is inferior to hardware RAID are long gone. I trust a lot more that I can take such and such a block device with usable blocks from 0 to x, connect it however I like and make it part of a RAID.

Hardware RAID? Who knows wtf the vendor is doing with the disks. All you do is follow his orders and pray it works the way it's supposed to.

Keep it simple, stupid.[tm]
Click to expand...
+1

ZFS for the win! :)
 
LSI is the way to go if you don't mind paying. They have more features than anyone else, and you can buy extra features to unlock them. Just about all Intel RAID cards are just re-branded LSI, for cheaper. Second is Areca. They are a pretty new company, but have so far impressed me. They're perfect for home users.
 
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