remove RAID, move HD to new system, add different RAID...

L

lowella

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Oct 14, 2010
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Looks like a good forum! I've been in IT a long time but have done very little with RAID migration (mostly because I haven't needed to until now...)

I'm on RAID-1 with a Promise Fasttrak S150 TX2 card, wanting to strip the RAID off and put it into my new Dell T310 server with a SAS 6 card....

My hope would be that I can then migrate it into a new RAID system on the new server, but it's not seeing the drive yet. Now, I know that I need to set up the RAID before I load the OS...but I don't know where the RAID info is kept on the volume. For example - can I set up the RAID on the new empty hard drive, then copy an image from the old server onto the drive, put it into the new system and have it work with that RAID card? So perhaps the RAID card keeps the info about the hard drive (drivers etc) but not the volume header etc?

I know it sounds like a lot of hurdles, but almost nothing is impossible. :) Thanks guys.
 
Wait, so basically what you want to know if your RAID 1 array that was on the Promise card can be used again with the Dell and its SAS 6 card without having to delete the data off the RAID 1 array?
 
Yessir, thank you, I need to be a man of fewer words ;) It's basically just an upgrade, but I need to keep the same OS for licensing reasons and I don't want to move forward from XP for a number of reasons.
 
Unfortunately that might not be possible. More than likely that card that comes with the Dell can't support RAID arrays made by a Promise controller.

With that said, you can move the data from the old RAID 1 array to a new RAID 1 array by imaging IIRC. But make sure that you have a backup just in case I'm wrong.
 
Thank you, I'll have a back up for sure but not familiar with IIRC so will do some research. Any other tips appreciated!
 
Consider just getting another drive to use for storage. Back up the current data onto the new drive, move the drives to the new card, set up the RAID, format it and reinstall the OS from scratch. Trying to move from different drive setups usually ends up being a complete waste of time. It rarely (if ever) works. That and you end up bringing along the old crap. Better to start from scratch. You'll save time now and headaches later.
 
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