RAID 1 restore question.
 

Hello LQ, new user here. I've a question in regards to RAID, im new to the whole RAID thing.

Okay, my question. I have a machine with RAID 1, and I'd like to upgrade the two disks on this machine, BUT in case my backup image does not work, is it possible to power the machine off and re-insert the original disks back in and be rocking and rolling without a prob?

All replies greatly appreciated. :hattip:

Good explanations of RAID are here, and found lots of places on Google:
http://www.ahinc.com/raid.htm#RAID%201

RAID 1 is a mirrored pair. You don't say whether you're doing hardware mirroring, or software, and what version/distro of Linux you're using, so it's hard to give any detailed answer.

First, RAID of ANY type is NOT a replacement for any sort of backups, period, ever, so when you mention backup image, I'm assuming you're not talking about the RAID pair. If you just remove both of the disks (and label them, so you know which is disk 1, etc.), you can just shove them back in later, and it'll come right back up. But, be aware that if you're doing software (LVM) mirroring, that might be tricky to restore from a bare-metal recovery image.

You can also break the mirror, and remove one of the drives, and insert another, then re-mirror it, so the blank drive is now a 'mirror' of the primary. Break the mirror again, remove the remaining old drive, put the upgraded one into position as the primary/master, shove another blank drive in, and remirror again.

Thanks for the reply, thanks for the link.