sata raid card and array migration

[arc]

ho hum. I was getting low on disk space, so have just bought a pair of these;

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143288/show_product_reviews

I currently have a pair of 300gb drives in RAID as my main system drive, i was intending to use the new drives to replace that and migrate the array over to the new disks.

But i only have two raid ports on my motherboard (GA DS3).. so that scuppered that plan. Also leaves me with the problem of how do i get my data accross.. i dont have another 600gb drive i can copy the array to, remove the array, add the new one and then copy it back.

So i guess that leaves me with getting a PCI SATA RAID card, but which one? I assume that even a cheap(er) one will be quicker than my now quite aged DS3's RAID controller?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Index.aspx?NT=1-0-20-538-0

Its an arse though.. cos i've just been to scan this morning to get the flipping things because i'm impatient.. and now i'll have to wait for delivery of a card, or go back! bleh!

 

[bulldog5046]

I've been sticking with Adaptec sata raid cards in work, i would advise staying away from the cheaper cards, someone purchased a 'cheap' on for business use and i caused me nothing but headaches and failed extremely quickly.

you need to be away that with these cars you wont be able to simply plug it in, setup the array and expect it to work.

you will have to either rebuild your OS or do some major faffing about to get it working, this is speaking from experience (replacing that bloody cheap peice of crap someone bought!)

if you are willing to take the faffing about route you will need to install the card (but dont attach any disks) boot into windows normally, load the drivers for the card and then attach the disks to the card and setup the array.

dont be atall supprised if this doesnt work, it didnt for me but i managed to repair the OS with the windows repair function on the CD

Best of luck!
Ry