HW?: Can you move a RAID 5 array 'intact' to a different controller?

[Naps-On-Dirt]

I know its not designed to be able to do that and its not something people usually need to do. I'm trying to get into a machine that I haven't powered on in 15+ years, it's having boot issues. I'm working on that but as a Plan B I wondered if it's even possible to migrate a five disk RAID 5 array to an external enclosure slaved to my modern PC?

Old machine's MB is an EVGA nForce 780i SLI using its onboard RAID controller.

 

[Goeffel]

you aren't really serious with this, are you ?
(5 disks* raid5 ... nforce? ... lol ?)
If you can not solve this yourself, then guiding you through woud be SO much hassle ...

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*notice the "k" in disks. :wink:

 

[anne O'nymous]

[...] it's having boot issues.

Unless it's a software issue, unplug the power supply from the motherboard, then plug it again, there's 50% chance that it will works. But changing the power supply itself stay the best solution, because you'll have to do this every time.

If it's a software issue, then the drives are the issue. Yet, there's still a possibility. Burn a Linux/*NIX live CD, or put one on an USB key, and boot on it. You'll then have to figure the disk assignation, and mount them. But once done, you should be able to backup what's on the disk, at least what isn't corrupted.

[...] I wondered if it's even possible to migrate a five disk RAID 5 array to an external enclosure slaved to my modern PC?

The problem is that the metadata (that, to summarize, permit to know what part of a file is on what disk and where) are generally readable only by a given family of RAID controllers. So, unless you can find a compatible controller for the second computer, you're doomed.


This being said, RAID is relatively useless for personal use. RAID 1, as well as possibly 10 and 01, eventually, yet it should be limited to a backup NAS, but the others are more a pain in the ass in case of issues, than anything else.

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It's not what made me answer, honest.

*notice the "k" in disks. :wink:

 

[Naps-On-Dirt]

The problem is that the metadata (that, to summarize, permit to know what part of a file is on what disk and where) are generally readable only by a given family of RAID controllers. So, unless you can find a compatible controller for the second computer, you're doomed.

Yeah, this is exactly what I was worried about but wasn't sure how to phrase it, I was guessing that each mfgr has their own way to do certain things and since RAID was never meant to be a transportable format the standard didn't cover some stuff. If I don't get the boot issue worked out, it looks like I'll have to scour eBay for a working model of this motherboard. I'd rather spend the money on an external RAID enclosure because once I get all the pictures and stuff from the old ~150 gig drives, I can replace them with modern sizes and make a huuuuuuge NAS or something. But looks like that won't solve the problem so mb replacement it will probably be. :/

If it's a software issue, then the drives are the issue. Yet, there's still a possibility. Burn a Linux/*NIX live CD, or put one on an USB key, and boot on it. You'll then have to figure the disk assignation, and mount them. But once done, you should be able to backup what's on the disk, at least what isn't corrupted.

I actually still have the massive ONE GIG thumb drive with the RAID drivers injected into the boot image that I made for that machine's initial installation. Problem is the boot sequence is halting during POST after the CPU is id'ed and before the RAM is counted. Clearing CMOS didn't help and trying each DIMM individually in the first slot doesn't either. I'm suspecting that slot is damaged. Still doing back and forth with EVGA tech support, who are being very sweet considering this item was warranty registered 15+ years ago.

This being said, RAID is relatively useless for personal use. RAID 1, as well as possibly 10 and 01, eventually, yet it should be limited to a backup NAS, but the others are more a pain in the ass in case of issues, than anything else.

Oh absolutely. I did it for fun because hey, why not? RAID on a personal PC? Thats neat. The machine that replaced that one I made with an ITX mb and a small case to see what that was like. (Cramped. Very cramped.) The one I made to replace that one during the pandemic has a glass front and (one) side panel, and the MB, RAM, and fans all have RGB going on (and the case fan colors are tied to CPU temp of course) because, hey, pretty colors!

Its getting to be that time for this one so I'm thinking of what to do this time around. Always wanted to do a build in an aluminum briefcase, but I shoulda done that ages ago when LAN parties were still a thing. Might look at ITX & small form factor again because NVMe drives weren't a thing yet then.

*notice the "k" in disks. :wink:

I didn't get this joke.

Thanks for your help!

 

[defnotalt]

Not really help for your current case, but for future decisions: I would personally stick to (good) software RAID solutions, hardware RAID controllers tend to give more headaches in the long run and your data is always at the mercy of proprietary hardware, which is never fun to deal with when you're encountering issues.