RAID 1 NAS question

[jamesrb]

If I am running RAID 1 in a NAS, if I take out one of the drives and hook it up in a PC would it be able to see the data?

I wan't sure if it would see the data or if RAID 1 had configuration data on the front of the drive that would require a reformat once out of the NAS.

If it would not work out of the NAS, is there a standard method for redundant data that doesn't rely on getting an identical controler in case of a controller failure?

 

[sub.mesa]

The 'raid configuration data' is located in one sector at the end of the drive (the last visible sector). This should not interfere with the device being detected as a single drive without RAID if you take it out of the NAS and connect it to a non-RAID controller on Windows.

Please do not connect both RAID1 disks at the same time; Windows would be confused seeing two filesystems with the same unique identifier. I heard reports it will hide both drives in that case. Just take one drive out and connect to a non-RAID controller (IMPORTANT!). Non-RAID means AHCI or IDE; use your onboard controller not some Silicon Image/JMicron/Promise chip those only work in RAID mode and likely will overwrite the metasector or hang when trying to interpret it (like happens often with Silicon Image).