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RAID 5 advice

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We have a server running RAID 5 with 4 disk arrays (4 drive letters). If I were to boot up with the NT CD to reinstall the OS, will it show me the same partitions that were there before, e.g. the 4 drive letters?

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RAID 5 advice

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I would also like to add…..My goal is to try and preserve the existing partitions with the data they hold but reinstall NT as to have a clean registry.

RAID 5 advice

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Are these Hardware Implemented RAID? If they are then yes your arrays are preserved. In a side note, if you were running SP(5 I think) or later, it is newer then what is initially installed with NT, so you will need to apply the latest SP to access those drives again.
If these were software implemented RAID, I don’t know as I never use the software RAID features.

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As the first answer correctly indicated, if it’s hardware RAID, there should be no problem. If it’s software, there undoubtedly will be a problem.

However, being the cautious type, even if you have hardware RAID, I would do a parallel installation and leave the original installation untouched until I made sure the new installation worked. That way, if everything goes very poorly, you can always just select the original install on the boot screen and go back home that way.

If everything goes well, you can either eliminate the old installation or (more better) just leave it as an emergency entry point if the OS ever gets so hosed it won’t boot.

paul

RAID 5 advice

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Even with a hardware RAID you may need the DRIVERS for that specific RAID controller that you would load during the mass storage detection stage of setup. Typically you would tell setup that you have additional storage devices and pick the ‘other’ entry in the pick-list. You would then be prompted to insert the floppy (stiffy?) with the correct driver.

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