P5WD2----> P5W DH - Will Intel Raid 5 Array need rebuilding ?

My brother wants to switch from a P5WD2 (955X chipset) MB to a P5W-DH so he can run an e6600. He's got a 4-disk raid-5 array built on the ICH7R of the old board - but the new Asus board only has 3 (?) ICH7R SATA ports - but says you can use one of the "EZ Raid" ports for a 4th drive, but it only mentions Raid 10 with this setup. WTF ?

I'm hoping XP can manage the different MB / integrated periphs w/out a re-install, but not sure about the 4-drive raid array. Its only a data array - the OS / boot drive is on a single SATA / non-raid.

Anybody have any ideas about how this may go ?

I'd recommend a good backup before trying to port a raidset between motherboards.

Both boards run ICH7 RAID controller. Good chance the array will plug and play. I plugged and played form 955-975-975. Disk 1, 2, 3 should be plugged in accordingly on the DH, then this is where I'm not sure about disk 4(would have to go to the orange connectors.) Drives connected to the orange plugs, come up under Intel MAtrix bootrom, but, I do not know if they can be configured into RAID on the ICH7 with drives 1, 2, and 3. I'm just not sure about the 4th drive.

My experience with Intel Matrix Raid, migrated from Asus P5LD2-VM DH which has ICH7R on 2 Seagate 7200.10 drives to Asus P5B Deluxe with ICH8R flawlessly.

Infact didn't care on which Sata ports to use before & after (intentionally), just plug them "randomly" and it works. Of course the WinXP in the Raid 0 got some trouble (jump to safe mode) since it was booted on different mobo with different chipset, gfx etc, but my important stuff in the Raid 1 is still there untouched. All I did is just reinstall the XP.

Although don't have experience migrating Raid 5 volume, but I'm strongly believe it will work too.

Of course there is no 100% guarantee, a good backup as Fferrett said is still the best bet.

Normally this would work flawless...but....the DH is special. Chances are it will want to rebuild the drive that is on the EZRAID port. Just makes sure your raid is clean and healthy before moving it over to the new board.

Thanks for all the input - will try it and report back.