Fake raid - OS reformat

[ViviTheMage]

I have never used Fake Raid, but I went cheap and decided to at home...works great...and is rather quick.

But I want to wipe the OS drive, and go to windows 7. Will my Fake Raid still be intact, will the data still be visible/usable on the new OS?

I currently have 1 1TB for the OS, running separate from the raid via a IDE -> SATA card, so the OS 1TB drive is NOT on the sata controller like the raid is.

The fake raid consists of 6 1TB HDD's in a raid 5.

 

[FishAk]

If the array was built in BIOS it will survive. If it was built in Windows it will die.

 

[ViviTheMage]

If the array was built in BIOS it will survive. If it was built in Windows it will die.

Good to know. while we're on the subject, if I did build it in Windows, how would I recover it if my single 1TB OS drive failed? If it was build in Windows?

 

[RebateMonger]

Good to know. while we're on the subject, if I did build it in Windows, how would I recover it if my single 1TB OS drive failed? If it was build in Windows?

Assuming we are talking about Windows Software RAID using Dynamic disks:
As long as the new OS is capable of utilizing the type of RAID that was used, you'd just connect the disks and IMPORT the entire RAID array using Disk Management.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I do like the fact that I can blow away the OS, and use whatever I want with a single OS disk, and having the raid 5 as storage. So if my OS DOES fail, I can easily restore it, it sounds like .. neato.

How would you import the entire raid exactly? That is only possible if you use the same OS? Or could I build a windows RAID on 2008 server, then downgrade to say .. Windows 7? That is hypothetical, I did not use Windows raid.

 

[RebateMonger]

Windows Dynamic disks hold all the array information on the disks themselves. Each Dynamic disk is "aware" of the other dynamic disks and how they fit into the array.

The "problem" with moving from one OS to another would be if the new OS doesn't know how to manage the type of array that was used. Win7 Home Premium, for instance, can't handle a RAID 1 array. Win7 Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise can. And I don't believe that any version of Win7 can handle a RAID 5 array.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Good to know Rebate, thanks.

Looks like I HAVE to do fake raid 5 for Windows 7 anyway.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Okay, I formatted the drive, I am in windows 7, but now my raid says failed, and 1 drive is set to non raid...and the array i snow inaccessible. Anyone have experience fixing this? I wiped the 6th drive, and re-added it as spare, but it just sits there...wont allow me to rebuild/recreate it so I can pull the data off of the raid.

 

[RebateMonger]

Sorry. I know little about recovering RAID 5 arrays. When I have problems with those, I consult the company that built the RAID controller. I haven't set up a new RAID 5 array in five years.

I don't know what the problem is that you are encountering. I'll mention that if I was going to install an OS on a non-RAID disk, I'd normally pull the RAID card before doing the OS install so that the OS isn't tempted to put part of the OS on the array. After the OS is installed and working, I'd plut the RAID card back in and then install the drivers for the RAID card.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I unplugged all of the raid drives before formatting the single OS drive.

 

[FishAk]

RAID 5 in the best of circumstances is a delayed recycle bin- except that you can't actually recycle anything back out of it when it flushes. Kind of like RAID 0, except you don't get the speed or capacity. I recommend RAID 1, or if you want more speed, RAID 10.

Personally, I would just scrap your old RAID set, and create a new one with your backup set. That's probably the fastest and easiest way.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Well, at this point, I don't like the reliability, or lack of ICH9R RAID at all. If I can't do a simple OS format, I need to look at getting a raid card or something more reliable.

Is there even any way to recover any data on the raid?

RAID 10 is disk expensive, and I am not worried about performance a whole lot ... I just wanted the ability to lose one disk, and not be SOL.

 

[FishAk]

Is there even any way to recover any data on the raid?

Of course there is. You simply use the disk set you used to back up the array with. No one running a RAID array would do so without proper backups- especially if they plan to do an operation that involves messing with the actual array..

RAID 1 and 10 are equal to each other for disk expense per capacity. It's just that you generally get double the space with RAID 10, since you need 4 disks, as compared with two for RAID 1. Perhaps you don't need a RAID array, and would be better served with only the backup set you would still need with an array.

As for RAID 5, do a little searching for RAID troubles, and you will find many heartaches associated with parity calculations.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I've got a backup, but they're 1-2 months old. So i'd like to try to pull the data off that is newer before I rebuild the array, or buy a raid card and rebuild it.

I am going to try R-Studio, i've read/heard good things about it.

With a Raid 10, i'd only have 2.8TB~ usable, with my 6x1TB drives, right? Maybe I should just sell my 6 drives, and get 6 2TB drives.

 

[FishAk]

Only you know how much capacity you need. But with 6 equal disks, personally, I would put 4 in RAID 10, and use the other two to back up the full capacity of the array. I really like my RAID 10 array- but I certainly don't trust it.

Download GoodSync. It's the best free backup/sync program I've seen, and it's free. You can set it to automatically backup on the hour, every day, one per month- however you like. It only bothers with stuff that's been changed since it last looked at your data. Did I mention that it's free?

Also, don't neglect to keep a few good images of your OS/programs partition. It can save literally days worth of time.

 

[ViviTheMage]

that's pretty slick -- goodsync. i'll have to download that, and i'll have to think about the type of raid I want to do.

I do win 7 ghosts every 3 months, manual backups usually every 1-2 months .. I like to make sure everything got copied...and sometimes use my robocopy script I built up.

I'll definitely look at goodsync, sounds like rsync for windows

EDIT : Looks like goodsync pro costs money, so I don't think it's free, haha. The trial looks rather pointless beyond 3 syncs...since you can't use it any longer it looks like.

 

[FishAk]

Yes, Goodsync is keeping track of the time I have had it installed- 25 days right now. No indication it will stop working yet, and I never saw anything about a time limit. It's actually one of the few programs I would consider actually owning, but I'm not an owner yet.