Can you break an ICH8R RAID1 array without losing data?

kjhosein Aug 13, 2012 9:29 PM

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Hello all,

I have a mobo with an ICH8R chipset, and have the drives on the 1st 2 SATA ports configured in a RAID 1 array. These 2 form my WindowsXP boot disk and what I'd like to do is drop the array without losing my data. In other words, could I take one of those drives independent of the ICH8R RAID array and boot off of it into Windows?

I read another forum post that suggests this is possible, but when the Intel Matrix Storage Console tells me that my data will be destroyed by deleting the volume, I feel compelled to listen closely to that!

Anyone ever do this successfully? If not, is there another way?

Thanks!

_KJH

1. Re: Can you break an ICH8R RAID1 array without losing data?

Diego_Intel Aug 14, 2012 11:45 AM (in response to kjhosein)

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Hello,

It is possible to break a RAID 1 and still keep its content. Please review the information posted on this article:

www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-022836.htm
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2. Re: Can you break an ICH8R RAID1 array without losing data?

kjhosein Sep 1, 2012 9:31 AM (in response to Diego_Intel)

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I finally got around to testing this, after of course dutifully ensuring I had a decent backup. It worked like a charm.

Thanks Diego!
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3. Re: Can you break an ICH8R RAID1 array without losing data?

Tristan Martin Apr 8, 2013 4:15 PM (in response to kjhosein)

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Hi KJH
Could you let me know the proceedure you did to break the RAID 1?

I have a server that I am archiving the old drives (incase any data is needed). there is a C and a D drive (both in RAID1) (so 4 physical drives, only 2 lots of RAID1)

If data is needed I'll need to get back into another PC to get the data (as the Server will be reused with 2 new drives)

Now I've read the only way to access the data on these drives independantly, not through the RAID controller, is to 'break' them. Which led me to your post. I think I have found the way to do it for each pair, but I was hoping you could confirm what you did to make sure I do the same.

Thanks

Tris
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