Raid 5 - What would happen if the raid controller needed replacing?

[Over Clocker]

Hi guys,

Quick question - with a 3 disk raid 5 array, what would happen if the raid controller needed replacing? Would the array be kept unharmed upon replacement?

Cheers guys,

Mal

 

[TrX]

If you got an identical raid controller then in theory yes.

I'm sure there are crappy cheap ones out there tho that the answer will be no. It all depends on how the array controller does it's detection / where is stores array information and the on disk format etc etc.

Also, if the raid controller needed replacing, it means it is faulty. so it may have already borked your data anyway ;P

 

[rpstewart]

As above, very much controller dependent. I've moved arrays from machine to machine with IBM ServeRAID cards and all the array data is kept on the disk so all you do is tell the controller to refresh it's config from the disks and everythings hunky dory but my RocketRAID card doesn't appear to have a similar option.

 

[Delvis]

Yeah, it is possible to jsut replace the controller..However you might have to migrate the RAID over...Which can take some time sadly.

Might be worth seeing what optinos the card has, such as importing foreign configs etc...?

 

[Over Clocker]

Thanks very much for the info guys, most helpful!

Mal