How does RAID work?

glitch · 20 Mar 2007 at 15:26

I've currently got a 80GB Hitachi Deskstar as my main drive and two 250GB Samsung Spinpoint drives running in RAID 1, using the NVidia RAID functionality of my Asus A8N-SLI Premium.

What would happen if I were to wipe everything off my main drive and re-install Windows? Would I be able to rebuild the RAID array without losing any of the data?

Sorry if this is a bit of a stupid question, but I had a nightmare getting RAID working in the first place and not sure how it really works!

mosfet · 20 Mar 2007 at 16:09

Depends on whether the 250 drives are in a software or hardware RAID. I believe nVRAID is software based and needs drives in Windows so I doubt the array is portable.

rpstewart · 20 Mar 2007 at 16:12

If all you're doing is reformatting and reinstalling on the Deskstar then the RAID array should remain untouched. The only possible issue could be if the Windows installer thinks the RAID array is a higher priority than the Deskstar and tries to put the boot files on the array with the rest of Windows on the Deskstar. Best idea would be to *not* give the install the RAID drivers since they're not required at that point, that way it shouldn't recognise the array and hence won't be able to mess with it.

Once Windows is installed and all the drivers in place the RAID1 array should be available to the system, you may have to import it as a foreign drive if it's a dynamic disk but otherwise it should just appear as a new drive letter.

mosfet said:
Depends on whether the 250 drives are in a software or hardware RAID. I believe nVRAID is software based and needs drives in Windows so I doubt the array is portable.

There is no link between Windows and the array, it'll move fine. The usual time arrays aren't portable is when you change controllers.

mosfet · 20 Mar 2007 at 16:33

Typo, should've said 'drivers' not 'drives'.

Software arrays are very much not portable because they rely on an installed and configured layer to mediate between the drives and the operating system.

rpstewart · 20 Mar 2007 at 16:34

Well if it doesn't work how come I've managed it in the past then?

glitch · 21 Mar 2007 at 14:43

Oooh err. Bit worried about the potential for data loss here! Might have to borrow an external hard-drive to back the data up before I try anything, unless anyone knows 100% for sure if it will work?

And of course, many thanks to both rpstewart and mosfet for their input so far.