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Splitting RAID 1 array and retaining data: Exact procedure?

Forum Storage : Hard Disks - Splitting RAID 1 array and retaining data: Exact procedure?

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Xtremegene   09-20-2006 at 02:06:43 PM

I'm looking to 'break' my RAID 1 mirror apart and use the two HDD's separately. To provide some more background, I am currently using the mirror (IDE, 2 x 60 GB) as backup w/ Norton Ghost. However, as I am upgrading my video card to something that eats more power, I want to only use one of the 60 GB HDD's for backup, without RAID. My controller is a Promise 20276 integrated into my motherboard, and it utilizes the FastBuild utility.

I found out how to delete my array from the manual, and I know I should probably disable the RAID through BIOS (since there's an option there). Is there anything else I have to do to retain the data on the 60 GB drive, or can I just have the HDD plugged into a free IDE connector w/ corresponding jumper setting?

I was searching the forums for anything applicable and came across this.
Although my HDD's are fine, it seems like pretending one of them will fail is analogous to removing that drive from the array...? Do I need to worry about the boot.ini or running in a degraded state?

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Xtremegene   09-22-2006 at 04:26:50 PM
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Bump in hope of answers.

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SomeJoe7777   09-22-2006 at 04:45:54 PM
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Deleting the array in the Promise array manager will delete all partitions and data on the drives.

The proper way to do this is to follow the procedure in "Switching Storage Controllers without Reinstalling Windows" (see the sticky at the top of the forum).

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Xtremegene   09-22-2006 at 10:55:52 PM
- 0 +

I appreciate the heads up about losing all data when deleting the array.

From the FAQ you mentioned it states:
"This guide is NOT for adding another drive or controller to an existing system when the Windows installation doesn't move from it's existing controller. "

My main 160 GB HDD (with Windows) is not in RAID and therefore ideally not going to be affected. I suppose I will just try to make room on the Windows partition and temporarily store the backup info there while I disassemble the RAID array. Again, thank you for your input.

Update: I just finished installing my new video card and fiddling around with the hard drives. I deleted the mirror array through the Promise utility, but after I rebooted the utility notified me that I had no array set up for the drives connected to the RAID IDE connectors. After I told it to reboot again, it automatically created two striped arrays, one for each 60 GB HDD. After this happened I disabled the onboard RAID in the BIOS.

After reconnecting the one 60 GB HDD to a non-RAID IDE connector, I am happy to see that the data is still there.

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