transferring a RAID array from one computer to another?

Question

I just got a new PC:
- ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor
- CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
- EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

And I want to transfer a RAID1 array (2 250GB WD Caviars) from my old pc (running an AMD athlon XP 32-bit chip on an Asus a7n8x-e deluxe motherboard).
I just want to transfer the drives and use them as data drives, not OS drives.
Would it be possible to transfer the hard drives without breaking the RAID array and losing all the data?

Answer 1

In theory, you should just have to plug the drive into the new motherboard, go into the raid bios and set it up the way it was before and it should detect the old array.

But, and that is a big BUT, if you are going from say a VIA or Promise raid to an Nvidia Raid, it probably will not work properly.

Your best bet in either situation is to back up all the data before you attempt this upgrade.