Moving Disks Between Servers with Different RAID Controllers: How to Avoid Data Loss?

Why go through all that hassle? You might want to consider starting fresh with new disks. That way, you eliminate any potential data loss stress.

When dealing with ZFS, it's actually not advisable to rely on the RAID functionality of the controllers. It works best with direct disk access. I've successfully moved ZFS volumes by exporting the pool from the old server, transferring the drives, and then using the command `zpool import` on the new server. Just make sure the ZFS version on the new server supports all the features of your pool.

If your RAID controllers both have Dell firmware, they typically won’t overwrite anything on the disks. You can move the disks over and check for an "Import Foreign Config" option in the PERC's settings. Just be cautious not to click on anything that says initialize or erase—if something goes wrong, you can always return the disks to the old setup.

Honestly, I wouldn't risk it without a backup. You might be able to import the foreign configuration if you put the disks in the same slots, but there's no guarantee it will work. I'd strongly recommend backing up your data, then moving the disks and creating new virtual disks before restoring everything from your backup. Don't forget that RAID0 isn't the best choice for production environments, either.

This whole situation is giving me chills! With three RAID 0 configurations, I'd just rebuild everything instead of migrating it. If the data is valuable, it should have some backup or redundancy—otherwise, why bother moving it?