Is built-in RAID on motherboards cross compatible across manufacturers?

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el80ne

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Yest RAID is a standard but I just want to make sure that the manufacturers implementation of bios raid is standardized. Can I just plug-and-play my raid 10 from my Asus motherboard to an Asrock upgrade?

Thanks in advance to anyone that can shed some light on this issue for me.
 
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gaymer1984

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The difficulty here is in the RAID 10 part. If it was simply a RAID 1 setup, then you could effectively rebuild the FAT and convert it from a dynamic disk using programs in windows, but the data is effectively split up into parts.

Without backing up your data and completely rebuilding the array, I don't see how you are going to be able to save the data here. The configuration information is stored in a repository on the motherboard like a CMOS chip - and it would be the same on an expansion card. The practical benefit of RAIDing from a hardware expansion card for you in the future is that no matter which motherboard you use, the setup information will be retained in the CMOS on the expansion board. Windows would just need drivers to access the expansion board and therefore the RAID array.

I can't recommend you proceed as you suggest.
 
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el80ne

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Thanks for your reply gaymer. What if it were a RAID 0? Same problem?

The reason I *thought* it was possible was because I'm pretty sure I had the same problem with my last mobo upgrade, but in both cases I had an ASUS board. Two drives on my RAID 0 seamlessly were able to be plugged into my upgraded mobo and my data miraculously wasn't lost. This made me think the setup information had to actually have been stored on the drives as well as CMOS.

Also, can you point me in the direction of hardware expansion cards, as to what you might recommend? Thanx for your help.

 
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spooky2th

spooky2th

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About the only way you can get away with what you want to do is if the boards are identical or at least the same manufacturer's chipset and drivers.

Plugging in a simple OS boot drive into another comp with a different manufacturer's MB will not work either.
 
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gaymer1984

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It really depends if the RAID is software or hardware based, the information that describes the specific RAID array (and which drive plays which part) will be stored as either part of an OS program or on a CMOS chip for use with the hardware controller chip.

The fact that you were originally able to transplant your RAID array from a motherboard to another suggests to me that the RAID array you have set up is a software one... or, if you had to wait a long while for it to be available, it WAS a hardware based system but it rebuilt itself because the drives were in the right order for that controller to see it as a RAID 10 setup (and you selected a RAID 10 setup in the controller, it "built" (rebuilt) the array the same way it did before WITHOUT formatting the drives and the data was therefore accessible.

Add in cards for this - well how long is a piece of string. Given the fact that you are using a RAID 10, that says you want to protect your data and have a fast performance. Cheap cards don't do RAID 10 well (because they don't have the throughput or the processing power to handle all the I/O for all 4 harddrives).

You could TRY and connect the drives you have in different configurations, set up the hardware controller as you did before and hope for the best. As long as the drives aren't written to to mark them as a specific drive (some controllers might) then you might be able to swap about the drives like you did before until you get to the correct combination. No guarantees with this though.

I'll look up some alternatives for expansion cards for you and post again.
 
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gaymer1984

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To explain the range of what is available,

http://www.ebuyer.com/123967-startech-4-port-pci-serial-ata-sata-storage-controller-raid-0-1-pcisata4r1

http://www.ebuyer.com/501705-4-port-pci-express-sata-iii-raid-controller-card-w-heatsink-pexsat34rh?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&gclid=CPXe9_Ob37wCFc_MtAodYC8A7A

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816103229

So the first example here is a basic "connectivity" board, with the main function of enabling RAID at all. Its only SATA I which means that each drive can only use a maximum of 150 MB/s, and whilst at sustained rates drives usually don't reach this, at burst most newer drives get over 300 now.

The second is your most realistic option. It looks small but in terms of what it can do, it allows all your connectivity at the maximum throughput possible, to get that RAID striping performance you are after in a RAID 10. Its also more reasonable than...

The Adaptec offering. Adaptec are the industry standard in enterprise-class RAID solutions, and they don't win the accolade for nothing. However, the performance gain over the second is marginal; its set up as a SAS configuration (backward compatible with SATA) which may also cause you problems if you hope to plug it in and have your data still available. The main benefit with this one is the wide degree of support and help you'll get with looking after your RAID long term. You'll get a decent warranty.

I'd like to restipulate that at any point if you attempt to reconnect these drives to any RAID interface there is a chance things will not go as expected. The best course of action in the long run is to back up the data you have in your existing array, then simply wipe the drives and rebuild the array from scratch. To that end, if you are going to spend £60 on an internal expansion board, you could also spend the same sort of money buying a 2TB USB backup drive... I'm not sure how much capacity you will need but this all seems like a bit of a rigmaroll just to guarantee the safety of your data when there is a simple and obvious method (backup) to protect it anyway.

You are choosing between a slight chance of being able to rescue your data, by reconnecting and hoping, and almost definitely working, by backing up somehow. I know which I'd do.
 
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GhislainG

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Yes if both are Intel based and the chipset has RAID support; that's why he had no problems when moving a RAID 0 to a new motherboard. I wouldn't recommend doing it without a full backup and booting from it could be problematic if upgrading from an older chipset. As an example, moving the RAID from a Z87 motherboard to another Z87 motherboard should work fine and it doesn't matter if the manufacturer is ASRock, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, etc. The chipset is from Intel, not from the motherboard manufacturer. I presume that would also be true if going from an AMD 99x chipset to the same chipset, but I didn't find that info on their site.
 
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spooky2th

spooky2th

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I suspect that the only reason that the switch worked was because he went from a Asus board to another Asus board. Different manufacturers have different board drivers, especially RAID drivers.
 
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GhislainG

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The RAID drivers are from Intel and they are identical on all systems, no matter who the manufacturer is. Other drivers may be different (audio, Ethernet, add-on SATA controller), but that wouldn't prevent the system from booting. RST drivers should be downloaded from https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=2101&DwnldID=23496&ProductFamily=Software+Products&ProductLine=Chipset+Software&ProductProduct=Intel%C2%AE+Rapid+Storage+Technology+(Intel%C2%AE+RST)&lang=eng? I use them on Asus, Intel and Gigabyte motherboards.
 
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spooky2th

spooky2th

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If what you say is true. One should be able to take a HDD windows boot drive out of a computer and put it into any other windows based comp. It does not work unless the drive is installed into the same model or nearly identical MB & manufacturer. A RAID configuration, forget it.

To do that one would have to "sysprep" a HDD first.
 
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GhislainG

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I didn't say any other Windows based computer; I said into any other Intel based computer based on a chipset that has the required features. I moved a RAID from an Asus (ICH7R) to another Asus (ICH10R) and then to a Gigabyte (ICH10R) and it worked fine. I had to install a few missing drivers, but the systems booted fine. Sysprep doesn't install missing drivers; it's required before imaging several computers which isn't what the OP did. I've been moving hard disks from Intel to Intel systems for a long time and I never had an issue. Don't presume something won't work without testing it yourself.
 
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spooky2th

spooky2th

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I have done plenty of testing. Just moving a boot HDD from one sata port to another in the same comp will a lot of times cause serious problems too.

Sysprep, basicly gets rid of all platform specific data such as drivers and configuration files. Which makes a windows boot drive able to be switched into another computer and then able to boot without blue screens of death. And of course you will have to load all the board drivers after the switch.
 
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GhislainG

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I never ran into problems switching a hard disk from one port to another port on the same controller nor did I from Intel system to Intel system with similar characteristics and configurations (SATA controller in AHCI or RAID mode). I know what Sysprep does as we use it before creating images for WDS, but I rarely use it at home since I don't duplicate systems (other than VMs).
 
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