moving Raid 5 array to new motherboard?

J

J Macker

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Scenario:

-- I have 3x WD green 1TB drives and 1xHitachi TB drive, 1xWD black 1TB drive.
-- Black 1TB has all my current data, OS is installed on 640GB black that will be moving to wife's computer.
-- Would like to use the black TB drive for new OS install on Intel i5 build.
-- Would like to create Raid 5 array using the 4 TB drives and move the data from the black TB drive to the Raid 5 array.
-- Would like to move Raid 5 array to new Intel i5 build.

Is this possible?

The alternative would be to use the Hitachi TB drive as backup and only have 3 wd green TB drives for the Raid 5. Then, I could move all the stuff on the black TB to the hitachi TB and install OS on the black TB. This would limit my Raid 5 to only 2 TB then. I really wanted a little more space in the Raid.

Can I add a new hard drive to an existing Raid 5 setup with no problems?
 
J Macker said:
-- Would like to move Raid 5 array to new Intel i5 build.

Is this possible?
Click to expand...
First of all, we need to know the southbridge the array is coming from. Is it an ICHxR? If so, Intel usually accepts drop-in replacements on RAID arrays, and you don't even need to port-match. Which means, moving from say an ICH10R to the P55 PCH (which is basically an ICH10R, but that's another subject altogether) should pose no problem whatsoever.

You might want to check a review over at Tom's Hardware from a couple of years ago that covered that exact problem.

J Macker said:
Can I add a new hard drive to an existing Raid 5 setup with no problems?
Click to expand...
I never attempted to expand a RAID array using an Intel southbridge-based solution. However, from what I've read, I think it's possible. Do check the Intel Storage Manager documentation on that particular point, though.

However, if you do get to expand the array, then you can just use Windows to expand the partition to cover the new available array space.

*WARNING* Since you would be moving from a sub-2TB to a 2TB+ partition, make sure you format the starting partition as GPT from the get-go. Or else there will be hell to grow the partition (which can't be done, 2TB is the limit to partition size when using conventional partitioning methods). *WARNING*

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

Miguel
 
The southbridge the Raid would be coming from is that on my Gigabyte 790XT-UD4p (AMD sb750) motherboard. Most definitely not an Intel southbridge.

So, I guess I'm stuck with the alternative route and only using 3TB drives for the raid 5.
 
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J Macker said:
The southbridge the Raid would be coming from is that on my Gigabyte 790XT-UD4p (AMD sb750) motherboard.
Click to expand...
Well, Intel southbridge chips tend to somewhat "behave" on situations like those. Try it, you might have luck on your side.

J Macker said:
So, I guess I'm stuck with the alternative route and only using 3TB drives for the raid 5.
Click to expand...
In either case, and since RAID arrays are best built using as similar as possible parts, I'd stick to the 3xGP drives for the RAID5 array, plus 1TB of backup.

Good luck!

Miguel
 
Thanks for the help. It seems as though the TB drives are too small now. I'd rather have 1.5 or 2 TB drives now!
 
J Macker said:
Thanks for the help. It seems as though the TB drives are too small now. I'd rather have 1.5 or 2 TB drives now!
Click to expand...
I hear ya loud and clear on that one...

I bought my first 1TB drive about 3 months ago (Samsung F1), and put it to use on my WHS. Let me tell you, that thing shrinks at a rate I've NEVER seen... I'm passing on more 1TB drives, from now on is at least 1.5TB (which incidentally are stupid cheap right now, €100/drive).

Miguel
 
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