RAID1, removing 1 drive, data readable from removed drive?

K

KrazeyKami

n00b
Joined
Dec 31, 2010
Messages
61
Hi all,

Two simple questions:

1.
If i have a (good working) RAID1 (Mirror), and i was to remove 1 drive... and i place that drive as a single SATA in another system (provided this is not the OS / BOOT drive), will i be able to read the data?

Since in RAID1 both drives are merely copies of each other?

2.
In a related matter, what if i have a RAID0/1/5/10, and my mobo / ICH10R onboard fails, and i replace the mobo, will the new ICH10R chip pick up the array and keep my data intact?

Kind regards,
Kami.
 
1. in nearly any cases, i expect to read the data

2. if you have a hardware-raid or a controller-driver based raid,
you data are lost, if you do not have the same controller/ driver

in your case its ok but i would never suggest. somtime your mobo is
dead and you may not have the same to read the data

if your raid is software only (ex based on Raid features of Win 2008 or ZFS)
you can plug these drives into any other computer with the same os and read the data


gea
 
_Gea said:
1. in nearly any cases, i expect to read the data

2. if you have a hardware-raid or a controller-driver based raid,
you data are lost, if you do not have the same controller/ driver

in your case its ok but i would never suggest. somtime your mobo is
dead and you may not have the same to read the data

if your raid is software only (ex based on Raid features of Win 2008 or ZFS)
you can plug these drives into any other computer with the same os and read the data


gea
Click to expand...

I usually find you can plug in Raid1 disks from a hardware controller to a standard southbridge and they work. All the hardware raid does is put the Raid1 info and array name in the metadata which the OS isnt interested in anyway.
 
The ICH10R, 9, 8, and 7 are all pretty compatible. I've heard of people moving arrays from one to the other (usually up). I personally have moved arrays from one ICH10R board to a second ICH10R (same north-bridge) board after a power failure. Turned right on...was a boot array no less (Raid 0).
I had to reload the mobo drivers...but I was simply astonished it worked.
 
Thanks all for the replies. So basicly, if i have a raid1, and i remove 1 drive, i can connect it to
another computer on a normal sata connector (no raidcontroller), and read the data?

Kind regards.
 
Most of the time YES. Some of the time not directly but even in these cases most of the time putting the drive in a system that you can boot off a linux livecd/dvd will return access to the data. It all depends on how the metadata that describes the raid array is stored.
 
This is great info to know. I was also wondering this about RAID 1 with either software or hardware. Thanks for the answers.
 
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