Raid 1 with existing drives question

[mapex]

I've used a Raid 0 setup on my previous build and know roughly how that's setup with the drive basically being across both drives next to each other, but with a Raid 1 setup does either drive look different than just a normal drive to the computer? So for instance could I take one of the hard drives out and connect it as a single drive via normal means or would it still have to go through a Raid controller? The other question I have is if you can build an Raid 1 array using an existing drive and just adding another drive to complete the array or if you will need to wipe clean and do a fresh install. Thanks

 

[sandmanwn]

yep it should work

*caution*
this may not work if you try to put the removed drive in another machine.

if the drive fails in raid1 then replace the drive and rebuild the array with the controller software. no need for reinstall

 

[mapex]

yeah I know a completely different machine would have issues if trying to use it as a boot drive, more the underlying principle that if a drive in a Raid 1 configuration can be removed from the array and still function as a secondary drive. I basically have my existing setup with a 150raptor as the os and a 250gb for everything else. Neither drive has enough room to store all information to function as a backup so I was considering adding a raid for a little bit extra security.

 

[sandmanwn]

raid should never be considered a backup solution (as you probably well know). a nice external hard drive would be more suitable for backup purposes.

just a cautionary reminder.

 

[mapex]

already got the external harddrive , my laptop, 1 gig flash drive, and plenty of dvd's for backup, I'm more concerned about the time involved in restoring a backup as opposed to just tossing in a new harddrive and rebuilding the array. It's more of a lazy thing really. That and even with xp service pack 2 on a disc it takes forever to get everything up to date again.

 

[sandmanwn]

unfortunately i think you will have to do a reinstall anyway to make the raid1 array functional in the first place. sucks, you have to do the very thing you are trying to avoid just to avoid that same situation in the future. :x