Adding existing disks to JBOD?

[gordyhulten]

I've got a pair of SATAI drives that are already loaded with data. I'd like to add them to my existing new build, which is already running two drives in RAID0 on the nVidia SATA controller on the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium motherboard.

I'd like to add these drives to the other SATA controller (SI 3114R) on the mobo.

I don't want to lose any of the data on either of the two additional drives. If I add them as JBOD, will I be forced to format them or corrupt the data? If so, does anyone have any ideas as to how I can add these drives to my existing system without losing any data, and without screwing up my drive letters (and consequently, my WinXP installations)? These drives will only be used for backup on and storage.

Thanks,
gordy

 

[michaelahess]

Just turn raid off on the sil and you'll run them as two seperate drives, assuming they weren't raided or jbod'd on the old machine. If you do try to jbod they will be either wiped or unreadable as the drives are basically spanned.

 

[gordyhulten]

Just turn raid off on the sil and you'll run them as two seperate drives, assuming they weren't raided or jbod'd on the old machine. If you do try to jbod they will be either wiped or unreadable as the drives are basically spanned.

Thanks for your reply.

The 3114R on the A8N-SLI doesn't allow for those four SATA ports to be used with RAID disabled. BIOS gives me only one option: to enable the controller, or disable it, and when it's enabled, it's RAID.

Trust me, I've looked and googled and the only option (on that controller) is RAID/JBOD.

 

[michaelahess]

bummer, can you throw them on the other 2 nvraid, just don't select them in the raid screen, and transfer the data to your main drives then back after jboding them?

 

[gordyhulten]

bummer, can you throw them on the other 2 nvraid, just don't select them in the raid screen, and transfer the data to your main drives then back after jboding them?

If I throw them on the other two SATA slots on the nVRAID, then it botches up the drive letters assigned to the three partitions I have on RAID0, and thus messes up my XP installations.

I think I'm going to add a PCI SATA controller card and just hook the two storage drives up to that. I'm a little pissed, however, that the four SI3114 SATA slots are RAID-only. I wish I'd known that earlier, as one of the reasons I bought the A8N-SLI was to be able to run RAID on the nVidia (at SATAII) and individual disks on the SI3114.

Thanks,
gordy