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RAID System with already existing data possible?

E

elektronisch

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
Messages
2,305
All,

I'm new to RAID and I really do not want to ever lose my data again after my last run-in when my drive died 2-days before all my finals were due. Needless to say, I contemplated suicide and after rewriting all my code and work, I started to think how I can avoid this from ever happening again.

So my question is, is it possible to setup a RAID system (preferably RAID 5 or 1) that could be created from an already existing install? I have two identical WD 150GB SATAII drives. One currently has my OS and data on it, while the other is not formatted yet. Could I buy a RAID controller and mirror the drives w/o having to format and start over? My guess is no, but I figured I'd ask here first.

Thanks
 
so, to repeat the mantra of the ages:

"RAID is NOT BACKUP!!!!!"

now that we've gotten that out of the way, the migration path that'd i'd recommend would be RAID 1 and yes, you could create that RAID set using the current setup you've got right now.

cheers,

dave
 
I know it is not backup because there are other things that could come into play (IE, a fire, water, electrical damage, viruses, blah, blah). I do not anticipate any of that happening.

It can be used as backup in the event of a hard drive failure, and that is what I'm getting at.
 
any recommendations on a controller that could do this?

linux and windows xp 64-bit is a must.
 
areca could (1st choice, but i'm a tad bit biased in that regard ;) )
perhaps 3ware, etc.

email Jus @ 2cpu (pm me and i'll shoot you his email address) and he'll be able to help you out.

dave
 
Hey Dude, let me reiterate what was said earlier.

RAID IS NOT A BACKUP!

If a cosmic ray hits your system while it is writing data, poof. No more data. If the power drops out and kicks right back in while data is being written to your Raid array. Poof no more data. If the array controller takes a dump on you. Poof, no more data. If you take a lightning strike that smokes all of your currently running hard drives. Poof, no more data. While I am not an IT professional, I do work with computers in my day job, and all of the above situations have happened to me. (I can't verify the cosmic ray thing, but it is a handy excuse when I have no better explanation.)

Buy an external hard drive ( I use 2 and rotate my backups), and backup your data regularly. You must unhook the drive from power and the computer when you are done to ensure some safety for your data.

Also, adding a UPS to your system will take most power issues out of the picture. I must stress MOST.

That said, if data integrity is your worry, go with RAID 1. That is the easiest to recover from as the drives are normally readable without the RAID controller being available. Your MOBO may already be able to do this for you. You will just need to buy a drive that is similar to the one you already own.

After rereading your original post, you should not attempt to build a new array with existing data that is not backed up. If you accidentally mix up the 2 drives when setting up the Raid, you could easily copy the blank drive over your data. Then you would be SOL. Check the documentation of the Raid controller carefully before attempting this feat.

I recently got a new NAS box, and it would have wiped any existing data when I converted it from JBOD to raid 1.

Don
 
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