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Wiping the system drive and keeping RAID intact

9

98lwatso

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 28, 2008
14
0
Hey there!

I have an Apple RAID card which uses 3 drives to form a RAID setup. The remaining disk is the boot drive with the OS etc.

I am wondering if I were to format the system drive and do a clean install of the OS will I lose my RAID config and more importantly, data? I have a feeling I would since the RAID is configured by the OS which will 'forget' I have those drives set as a RAID.

Could anyone help? At this time I cannot afford enough external disk space to move all my data off the RAID before I did the clean install..

Cheers,
Lee
 
No, the RAID array will stay intact if you have two separate volumes set up as it sounds. Just format the system and leave the data drive as it is. The RAID is supposed to be maintained by the firmware.
 
Just to clarify for you - I have 4 disks in total all 500GB. One is standalone for the OS and apps, the other three are setup as the RAID.

So this will stay intact? Great news if it does - I have been having trouble with SL since day 1 and I think I'd prefer to go back to Leopard for now.

Lee
 
If you are extremely concerned you could take out the system drive and boot any OS X install disk. Go to utilities and disk utility and check that the array is still there as a volume. I bet you will still find it although you have removed the operating system disk.
 
When I installed Snow Leopard I had to do a clean install when I wiped my RAID 10, it didn't affect my set up.
 
98lwatso said:
Hey there!

I have an Apple RAID card which uses 3 drives to form a RAID setup. The remaining disk is the boot drive with the OS etc.

I am wondering if I were to format the system drive and do a clean install of the OS will I lose my RAID config and more importantly, data? I have a feeling I would since the RAID is configured by the OS which will 'forget' I have those drives set as a RAID.

Could anyone help? At this time I cannot afford enough external disk space to move all my data off the RAID before I did the clean install..

Cheers,
Lee
Click to expand...
You'll be fine. :)

Controll of the RAID set is handled by the card's firmware as gugucom mentioned, NOT the OS. So if you wipe the pass through disk (OS), the array will still be intact. :)

Even if it were set up via software RAID, you'd still be OK, due to the separate drives for OS and array (OS installed on it's own disk, independent of the array). :)

However, if you've too little backup space now, you need to remedy that ASAP, as no matter what you're using, things go wrong (drive failures, card failures,...). You need to have at least enough backup capacity to hold the existing data, preferably enough to handle the max capacity of all drives (single) & arrays. If you don't, eventually, you're going to be "caught with your pants down". :eek: ;)
 
Thanks for the advice, I think I am gonna get some external storage before anything else.

I was also thinking for in the future, is it possible to mount a SSD in the optical drive bay? Do i need to buy some special brackets? I was thinking of using all 4 HDs on the RAID and the SSD as the system drive - hopefully there would be some sort of benefit here (?).

Cheers!
 
98lwatso said:
Thanks for the advice, I think I am gonna get some external storage before anything else.

I was also thinking for in the future, is it possible to mount a SSD in the optical drive bay? Do i need to buy some special brackets? I was thinking of using all 4 HDs on the RAID and the SSD as the system drive - hopefully there would be some sort of benefit here (?).

Cheers!
Click to expand...
Yes, you can mount the SSD in the empty optical bay. :)

If you have an old, preferably DOA optical drive, take it apart, and use one of the metal plates that make up the enclosure to mount the drive to. You'd need a drill to make 4 holes to attach the drive. Rather easy, and least expensive means.

Your setup will be fine, just make sure you've a backup method before proceeding. ;) I presume this is what you want the external storage for, and it would be ideal for that. :)

Good luck. :)
 
SSDs are particularly easy to fit in the ODD bay. Velcro really is sufficient but there are also manufactured systems that allow you to fit up to four units.

sas_diagram_large.jpg


Some people have simply cut up an old CD drive and fixed their SSD to the 5,24" box.
 
gugucom said:
Some people have simply cut up an old CD drive and fixed their SSD to the 5,24" box.
Click to expand...
We both mentioned this one. ;) Cheapest method I know of, and particularly useful for 1 or 2 without making any real measurements. :)

BTW, how is the Addonics backplane unit on noise with those 40mm fans?
 
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