adding new boot drive with RAID array?

[statenine]

Hey guys, I currently have a 250GB drive as my boot drive running OSX 10.6.8, and I have 2 1TB drives setup as a RAID1 as storage on my Mac Pro. I would like to install a new 1TB drive that I have as my boot drive, and install OSX Lion on it. My question is, will OSX Lion pick up the RAID1 drives ok, or will I have to re-build the array? I was hoping that the RAID array information might be stored on the drives themselves and that Lion would recognize them once installed.

Thanks!

 

[nanofrog]

My question is, will OSX Lion pick up the RAID1 drives ok, or will I have to re-build the array? I was hoping that the RAID array information might be stored on the drives themselves and that Lion would recognize them once installed.

It *should*.

That said however, there's two things to consider:

1. Always make a backup of the data before proceeding, as things can and do go wrong (doesn't matter what the storage implementation is - from a single disk, to the most redundant SAN system on the planet).
2. Lion hasn't worked with storage systems all that well, RAID in particular (affects both software and hardware implementations). So you'd really need to proceed with caution (= go back and do #1 first ).

It would be wise IMO to wait on the Lion upgrade (10.7.2 seems to be better, but it's not clear yet if this update has actually solved all of the issues), but if you're set on it, make sure you perform a backup of the disks before you proceed.

BTW, when RAID is involved, it's good practice to wait on an OS update to see if it's stable with RAID implementations before proceeding (usually takes a few updates past the initial release with OS X).

 

[statenine]

Thanks for the info! Yes, I plan on backing everything up regardless

I might wait then, the only reason I was looking to upgrade to Lion was so I can start using iCloud with all my devices. Do you know what specifically does not work well with RAID and OSX Lion? BTW, I am using software RAID, not hardware.

Thanks

 

[nanofrog]

Thanks for the info! Yes, I plan on backing everything up regardless

I might wait then, the only reason I was looking to upgrade to Lion was so I can start using iCloud with all my devices. Do you know what specifically does not work well with RAID and OSX Lion? BTW, I am using software RAID, not hardware.

I figured you used Disk Utility to create the RAID set.

As per what Lion does with RAID, anything to do with RAID. It's that big a mess. Arrays have shown up as individual members (including hardware in this case), partitions lost, and IIRC, one case where OS X claimed the set was corrupted and needed to be recovered (blew the entire set/wasn't usable in all cases reported IIRC). Not pretty by any means.

Hence the recommendation to proceed with extreme caution if you're dead set on the upgrade to Lion, but ideally, wait until it's confirmed Lion is sorted with RAID.

 

[statenine]

thank you, I will for sure wait then. The RAID array is my "working" drive and is important that it functions well, so I'd rather not risk it. Thanks again!

 

[nanofrog]

thank you, I will for sure wait then. The RAID array is my "working" drive and is important that it functions well, so I'd rather not risk it. Thanks again!

NP.