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If I have disks in a RAID-1 array, can I take one of them out and plug it into a different system to be read?
This means, on the target system, treating the disk from the RAID array just like an ordinary disk, regardless of any controller/driver support and without doing any rebuilding.
The idea is that if my array (of 2 disks) degrades, I can plug it into a different system and don't have to get another disk of the same capacity (which gets harder as time passes) and (hopefully) even without access to the original system, in the event that the controller or motherboard goes bad instead of one of the disks.
For what it's worth: I unplugged one drive from an Intel ICH8R RAID-1 mirror and hooked it up to another PC with an external eSATA enclosure. Windows 7 on that second PC mounted the partitions found on that drive. Though, might have been helped by the ICH9R chip on that motherboard? – Chris W. Rea – 2010-09-05T15:18:19.087
Is this software or hardware raid? – Teddy – 2009-12-16T05:41:40.680
The question is actually about the general case regardless of the actual implementation. My system is Intel ICH10R, though. – RichN – 2009-12-16T06:54:41.530
1I understand that your question in a "general case" but there is no general answer. It depends on if it is a software implementation or hardware one and how it is implemented. – MDMarra – 2009-12-16T16:29:32.857