Preparing to move a RAID 5 array from one machine to another

[Jimbo Mahoney]

Hi all,

I've just set up a RAID 5 array using Raspbian / mdadm / webmin (using EXT4 if that makes any difference).

However, I'm aware that RAID can be very fragile and I want to prepare for when I reinstall the OS.

From some reading, I gather it *may* be as simple as just backing up the mdadm.conf file and then setting the RAID up again?

Luckily, at the moment, there is nothing on the array that I can't copy back again, so I can play around and "break" it during testing.

Also, is it normal to take 10 HOURS for the array to fully initialise? (I guess it might do when using USB drives and a Raspberry Pi?)

 

[Jimbo Mahoney]

Maybe as simple as this?

sudo mdadm --assemble --scan

EDIT - and possibly:

mdadm --detail --scan >> /etc/mdadm.conf

I'll give it a whirl...

 

[Jimbo Mahoney]

Just reinstalled the OS (raspbian) and mdadm.

It turns out that as long as I reconnect the two drives in the same USB ports, I don't need to do anything!