Recover RAID 5 array from failed motherboard

Question

It appears my motherboard has died. I have an Abit IP35 Pro LGA775.

Abit IP35 Pro Motherboard Specification

I have 6 hard drives.

1 independent hard drive used for my Operating System.

5 other hard drives in a RAID 5 array formation.

My RAID controller is onboard (on the motherboard).

It is: Intel ICH9R / Intel Matrix Storage Tech(AHCI & RAID0/1/5/10)

How can I recover my data?

Consider that I may not be able to get the exact same motherboard, I may have to settle for something different. A friend of mine suggested it would be wise to get another board with the same RAID controller which I will. But I am still unsure of how to recover the data from that point...

Also is there anyway possible to recovery my Operating System (Windows XP Professional) without having to do a fresh install?

Answer 1

Your friend is probably getting correct about getting a board with the same type of RAID adapter. The metadata that forms the array is probably stored on the drives themselves so just plugging in the drives, making sure the raid settings in the BIOS are set to enable ought to do the trick.

As far as recovering the OS, it should be fine if all that died was the Motherboard. Though, if you have files to recover, I would boot it up in data mode (with the OS on yet another drive) as just get the files you need. If you get a new Motherboard, that copy of XP may not handle it too well.

Answer 2

I have moved an array from one board with the ICHR9 to another board with the ICHR9 and it came up fine. Admittedly it was Raid 1 but since the new board recognized that immediately I suspect it would work with other levels.