Restoring an onboard RAID Array after mobo replacement?

[pclark16]

Hi Everyone,

I had an ASUS P4P800-E Delux Mobo and was using two HDD's with the onboard Promise Raid Controller. Recently the motherboard died and after reading a bit about how to keep my data i had to track down an identical replacement so it had the same RAID Controller.

My question is now after reinstalling the motherboard how do i find the original RAID array. It looks to me like i have to recreate a new RAID Array but i'm worried this will erase any data i had on the 2 drives (setup as RAID 0). Stupid me had all my data and OS on this RAID array.

I originally though i could just put the new motherboard in and it would detect the drives as already being a part of an array but it doesnt seem to be the case. Surely replacing the motherboard doesnt render all the data on my two drives useless??

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

Cheers.

 

[tuskenraider]

You should be able to recreate the array and keep your data by making sure the drives are plugged in the exact same ports as the previous board and making sure you use the same stripe. In the off chance it fails and your data is valuable enough to you, you could try RAID Reconstructor, which should find your data. Good luck.

 

[pclark16]

Thanks mate,

so creating a new RAID Array wont wipe any of the data currently on the Drives? I've actually had a look at that RAID recontructor program and was thinking about trying that in the first instance.

If Creating a new RAID Array isnt going to wipe the data then maybe i should try that first.

Just out of curiosity, when you create a RAID array does that information get saved to the HDD themselves or the BIOS?

Once again, Much appreciated!

 

[tuskenraider]

Thanks mate,

so creating a new RAID Array wont wipe any of the data currently on the Drives? I've actually had a look at that RAID recontructor program and was thinking about trying that in the first instance.

If Creating a new RAID Array isnt going to wipe the data then maybe i should try that first.

Just out of curiosity, when you create a RAID array does that information get saved to the HDD themselves or the BIOS?

Once again, Much appreciated!

The chances of creating a new array and your data remaining intact are pretty high, but not guaranteed. You probably will get a warning saying the data will be lost when you do recreate the array, but it should still be there after creating the array with the same drives on the same ports with the same stripe. As far as where data is saved for the array, it's on both the HDD(stripe size)and the BIOS(type of RAID, number of drives, stripe size, which ports).