Using RAID 1 HDD as Master in New System?

daniflemp

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Feb 23, 2011
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I have a software RAID 1 setup in an old system, using 2 SATA HDD's, but I'd like to move them to a non-RAID system (I don't have any other internal drives, hence why I want to use these two perfectly good drives as master/slave). From my understanding, because they are software RAID 1, it shouldn't be a problem taking them over to the new system, assigning one as the master, booting from it and simply reformatting the 2nd drive as a slave. Is this correct?

My new mobo doesn't have a built-in RAID controller, but I don't see that being a problem as it's software RAID, and theoretically when I install the new mobo drivers, it will hopefully just boot and recognize my drives? AFAIK, a mobo lacking a RAID controller will simply read a software RAID 1 drive like any old drive, obviously not recognizing it was RAIDed at all.

I plan on just trying this with 1 of the drives at first, getting into windows and then backing it up to an external 1Tb. Sadly the other comp died last week, after only 5hrs of use for the first time in 2 years (complicated/non-comp related story) so I didn't get time to back-up.

Ideally I'd just like to get 1 drive working at first, without data-loss, to give me enough time to back-up and then I'm not bothered about maybe reformatting it afterwards (If I remember where I put all the install cd's lol).

Should this pose any problems?

Thanks.
 
It will most likely work, however if this is was the OS drive in the old system you will most likely get lots of errors trying to boot with a new motherboard as most of the device drivers will be wrong. It's always best to do a clean install on a new system.
 

daniflemp

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Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I reckoned it should work alright, as far as the HDD being recognized but I believe the device drivers will definitely clash causing some problems.

In the case that I can't POST due to this, I'll probably just make a new install partition on the same drive (don't want to format the 2nd HDD and do a clean install on it, losing a copy of all my data, in the off chance the 1st one flips out for some reason) then copy all the data to an external.

As far as devices go... the only thing different (because I'm cannibalizing the old setup) is the RAM (unless I keep the old RAM in until I'm comfortable getting all this done) and mobo, but as long as I get the mobo installed and the RAM changed in the new BIOS afterwards, it shouldn't need a new partition... right?
 
You will be able to post as long as aeverything is hooked up properly. The problem is windows itself. It won't have the correct drivers loaded. If you are lucky, a repair install may get it up and running ok, but more than likely you will need to do a clean install.

A repair install won't need a new partition. A clean install can be put on any partition that has enough space for the OS.
 

daniflemp

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Feb 23, 2011
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Ok, think I'm well covered on the likely outcomes now.

Thanks for the information, it's always good to get clarification on these things.