Concatenated Disk Set/Controller Card Question

[bbhuang]

I currently have a software created concatenated disk set housed in a five disk external enclosure. I'm considering upgrading to lion, changing controller cards, and cloning my disk set. Before I do any of these things I want to be sure that they won't destroy my data.

I'd like to swap my current card, a Silicon Image Sil3132R5 card, with a Newertech MAXPower eSATA RAID card. If I swap controller cards will this effect my disk set in any way?

Can I upgrade to lion or do a clean lion install and maintain my disk set?

Finally I'd like to clone my disk set and move the cloned disk set to another Mac Pro. Will the second Mac Pro be able to recognize the disk set?

 

[FireWire2]

Architecture wise this Newertech MAXPower eSATA RAID card has a design flaw.

It has 2x 6Gb ports but connect to a 5Gb bus and often connect to 2.5Gb (1x lane PCIe), the funnel effect creates all kind of problem when pushing for speed.

Base on your email your external drive is a PM box. Currently there is no drivers base on Silicon Image support Lion yet.

 

[nanofrog]

I currently have a software created concatenated disk set housed in a five disk external enclosure. I'm considering upgrading to lion, changing controller cards, and cloning my disk set. Before I do any of these things I want to be sure that they won't destroy my data.

I'd like to swap my current card, a Silicon Image Sil3132R5 card, with a Newertech MAXPower eSATA RAID card. If I swap controller cards will this effect my disk set in any way?

Can I upgrade to lion or do a clean lion install and maintain my disk set?

Finally I'd like to clone my disk set and move the cloned disk set to another Mac Pro. Will the second Mac Pro be able to recognize the disk set?

The set was created via the GPT partition scheme (data that tells the OS that it's a JBOD is located on the drives themselves), which the OS is supposed to recognize. So theoretically, just hook it up to Lion, and go once the new card is installed properly.

Unfortunately however, things don't always go according to plan/theory. I'd put the time in and check with OWC/newertech to see how well the card you're looking at actually works with Lion before you make the purchase.

Best practice however, is make a fresh backup first (always have a backup, no matter what your storage system is), then proceed to test it out. Even if OWC/newertech states that everything will be fine (vendors don't always tell the truth or actually know and give users a false sense of security that ends in total disaster).

Currently there is no drivers base on Silicon Image support Lion yet.

Swapping over to the newertech RAID eSATA card gets around the driver issue with the current Silicon Image controller, assuming they actually work properly with Lion.