RAID question

Movie Fan · Oct 27, 2003

I have a BD7-RAID board, configured my 2 HD's as RAID-1 (mirror), now I would like to delete the raid to improve the speed and increase the storage space.

My question is: do I only need to delete it using the RAID BIOS, or I must use the Window program "RAID ADMINISTRATOR" (come with the motherboard) to delete the raid first, then reboot and delete the raid again using BIOS, or it's the other way around: delete using BIOS, then delete again using the window program.

I use Windows XP.

The manual is very vague on the procedure, don't not it's an "A and B" procedure, or an "either A or B" procedure, and don't know the sequence of A/B if it's an "A and B" the procedure. (A/B refers to BIOS procedure/Window Procedue)

I don't want to risk of losing the data by just trying a random procedue. Can anyone help?

Thanks a lot

TomG · Oct 27, 2003

you can probably use the raid administrator in XP or you can also go down to the bios level and do it there. I assume that the raid is a data raid as opposed to having your OS on the raid? deleting the raid array is data destructive. how do you plan to increase storage space and performance over what you have with the existing raid array?

Richard Hopkins · Oct 28, 2003

"TomG" wrote:

deleting the raid array is data destructive. how do you plan to increase storage space and performance over what you have with the existing raid array?

Wakey wakey Tom. ;-) He's running a mirror array, not striping. Thus deleting the array will double the effective storage space, albeit at the expense of data redundancy.

Movie Fan: If the array you are attempting to delete contains a bootable partition, chances are the Windows RAID Administrator won't let you delete it. In these circumstances the BIOS may be the best bet.

However, if said array does contain a bootable partition, I'd suggest the following procedure to minimise the risk of any data loss and disruption:

1) Power down the system
2) Physically disconnect the second of the two RAID drives from the system
3) Restart
4) The RAID controller BIOS will detect that the array has broken, and will ask you if you want to delete or rebuild the array.
5) Select the option to delete it.
6) You should then be able to boot into Windows as normal with that drive running as a singleton.
7) Once you've checked that all your data is still there, power down the system again.
8) Remove the first drive from your system and reconnect the second
9) Restart, and the BIOS will once again detect a broken array on the second drive.
10) Again delete the array.
11) Remove the existing partition table from the drive.
12) Power down and reconnect the first disk
13) Boot from it and repartition the second disk to your preference.

It goes without saying that you should at all times carry a backup of all important information, so even if the sh*t hits the fan, you'll be able to recover...!

TomG · Oct 28, 2003

SMACK! (sound of Tom waking himself up...)

damn! I can really be asleep at the wheel sometimes! thanks for the gentle nudge, there Richard. excellent tips below, Richard...

Movie Fan · Oct 28, 2003

Thanks for the reply.

According to HighPoint, deleting the RAID-1 (mirror) does not destroy the data (but deleting RAID-0 <trip> does destroy all the data). Some RAID controllors will destroy the data even if the RAID is a mirror (R-1). There is always a risk of trying this.

I assume that the raid is a data raid as
opposed to having your OS on the raid?

Actually I have my OS on the RAID.

deleting the raid array is data
destructive.

Yes, I know, this is what it says from HighPoint help file:

"Remove Mirror array operation will generate two physical disks with the identical data on each

Remove Stripe array operation will result in the data on the striping disks are all destroyed.

Remove Span array operation will result in the data on the first disk reserved, while the data on other disks will all be destroyed.

Remove 0+1 array operation will generate two stripe array with the identical data on each."

If what they say is correct, my data will not be distryed since I use Mirror array.

how do you plan to increase storage space and performance over what you have with the existing raid array?

1. Mirror Array has overhead of mirroring and manging data btw. two discs, thus the disc speed will be slower. Remove the RAID will remove that overhead. Of course the downside is that I will no longer have data security.

2. Storage space will be doubled since I will have two discs separately now instead of "mirrored".

On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 17:39:51 -0500, "TomG"
wrote:

you can probably use the raid administrator in XP or you can also go down to the bios level and do it there. I assume that the raid is a data raid as opposed to having your OS on the raid? deleting the raid array is data destructive. how do you plan to increase storage space and performance over what you have with the existing raid array?

Movie Fan · Oct 28, 2003

Thanks so much for the very detail reply!

I did use DriveImage to made a copy of the HD, I don't know that image will be any good since it is a copy of the RAID HD to a NONE-RAID HD, I can't test it either since in order to test that, I must set the CMOS to boot from the new drive, and that could destroy my existing RAID. If the imaged new HD will not boot, and the RAID is destroyed by performing this task, I would loss the data+OS on both RAID and the new imaged HD, that was the reason I as for help here.

Your solution sounds very goood, and I believe that it should work.
My question to you is: is your solution been tested? or it is just based on your experience and knowledge with RAID? To me it sounds perfectly logical and the BIOS should do exactly as you described, but we all know that most of the time just when we think it will be logical and a "sure thing" to perform a critical task such as this, the exception will often appear! Murphy's law in computers is a powerful law, I am speking from my experience of painful encounters with these "exceptions".

Again, thanks very much for your help!

On Tue, 28 Oct 2003 12:57:55 -0000, "Richard Hopkins"
wrote:

"TomG" wrote:

deleting the raid array is data destructive. how do you plan to
increase storage space and performance over what you have
with the existing raid array?

Wakey wakey Tom. ;-) He's running a mirror array, not striping. Thus deleting the array will double the effective storage space, albeit at the expense of data redundancy.

Movie Fan: If the array you are attempting to delete contains a bootable partition, chances are the Windows RAID Administrator won't let you delete ...

TomG · Oct 28, 2003

yeah, sorry for my stupid reply... totally skipped right on past the part where you indicated it was a raid-1 (mirror) as opposed to raid-0 (stripe)