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I'm currently running a Windows 7 machine, which is effectively acting as a server for my network. The plan is to ditch it and put Ubuntu server on it. I have some concerns though. One of which is a spanned array of disks I have on it. It's got 5x 3TB Hard Drives on there which are completely independant of the operating system (i.e. the OS was installed on a separate hard drive). I'm fairly new to Linux, so I am wondering how easy it would be to install a new hard drive with Ubuntu server on it, then attach these 5 drives onto that server without losing any data (is it possible)?

Next question. The kit I'm using is really old. So I have some concerns with wondering if my kit will be compatible. The spec of most of the hardware is below: CPU:Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 LGA775 Motherboard: Asus P5Q-E HDD: 5x WD30EFRX RAM: Not sure, it's some DDR2 Kingston stuff, 4 sticks of it.

Should I just bin it & buy something new to make sure it will work?

john smith
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  • boot a live USB and check it out. – Panther Jun 07 '15 at 23:54
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    Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! **;-)** We're sorry but Ask Ubuntu is not a forum but a Question&Answer site: It works best if you ask *one question*, so you can receive *one answer*. When you ask multiple questions, you need to find one expert versed in multiple areas which becomes more unlikely the more questions you put into... well, one question! **;-)** So please, split up your question into multiple questions and drop me a comment so I can answer one of your questions. – Fabby Jun 08 '15 at 13:08
  • lol fair point. I just have so many questions. The guys answer below pretty much answered my question though. If I was to elaborate on his answer though, do you know if I can remove some of my hard drives within a spanned disk on Windows without losing data? I've only used about half the space, so I'm wondering if I can just remove some of the HDD's from the array and use them to build my new Ubuntu server. – john smith Jun 08 '15 at 18:52
  • possible duplicate of [What are the system requirements for each flavour of Ubuntu Desktop](http://askubuntu.com/questions/333795/what-are-the-system-requirements-for-each-flavour-of-ubuntu-desktop) – Anwar Jun 16 '15 at 15:42

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Nope. Windows uses "dynamic disks" for raid and spanning volumes, which is not supported in linux. Of course, if you aren't backing up your data already, it is only a matter of time until you lose it, so you should already have a backup method. With that, back up your data, and when you install ubuntu server you can format the drives as a linux raid, then restore your data.

psusi
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