Changing a RAID setup

[KimLeece]

OK - At present I have an ASUS A7V333 mobo with onboard RAID controller and I am thinking of upgrading to the A7N8X.
1.Am I looking at a full re-install of all the hard disks to do this?
2.Can you take a RAID array off one controller and plug it into a new one without losing the data?
3.Will this require a full re-intall of XP? (XP is not on the array - it's on it's own drive)
4. Is this going to be so much hassle that I'm probably better off building up a new machine from scratch?

Thanks for any tips....

Kim Leece.

 

[franklin97355]

Are you mirroring or striping data? You may have to resync the array but it should be OK.

 

[KimLeece]

It's striped data.

Kim Leece.

 

[poople]

I would recommend reading the manual for the A7N8X. Are you planning on buying the A7N8X or the A7N8X Deluxe? You can download the manuals form this URL for the Deluxe:

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=A7N8X Deluxe

Or this URL for the standard A7N8X:

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=A7N8X

Good Luck!

 

[KimLeece]

Thanks for the tips so far...
Well I have decided that a safe way to test it might be to buy a PCI RAID controller first and try to move the RAID array on the original board (the A7N8X doesn't have onboard RAID anyway so I would still need this card). The onboard RAID is a Promise controller with the setup software Fasttrack Lite. Given that, does anyone have a recommendation for a good ATA133 RAID card?

Kim Leece.

 

[poople]

You shouldn't have any problems changing RAID controllers as long as you don't try to re-define your RAID Array using the new card. Make sure that you research the card you want to buy to make sure that it can operate and existing array. You really need to do your due dillignece on the specific card that you want to install. As long as you don't try to re-stripe your drives, a new RAID controller card will not cause you to lose any DATA. Any half decent RAID controller card should be able to understand your former configuration. However, I think I would return the board you bought and buy the deluxe so you get the same on-board RAID you had before.