A couple RAID questions

jimbodan

jimbodan

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Right now I have 2 200gb HD's running in a RAID 0 array. Everything is working fine, but I'm starting to run low on space and I'm trying to find out what my options are for adding more space.

Is it possible for me to just add 1 new HD NOT as part of my existing RAID? What about adding 2 new identical drives? Could I set them up in their own RAID or would they have to be identical to my existing 2 HD's and have to be in the same array as they are? Also would it be possible to buy 2 new HD's and make an image or something of my existing HD's and replace my old HD's with the 2 new ones in my RAID?
 
Just get a new HDD and use it for IDE. IF you are just using it for storage IDE is good enough. If you want you can back up your current data and set up RAID with 2 new HDD. that would work too.
 
[quote name='62t']Just get a new HDD and use it for IDE. IF you are just using it for storage IDE is good enough. If you want you can back up your current data and set up RAID with 2 new HDD. that would work too.[/QUOTE]


Thanks, but I'm not going to get an IDE HD, my current HD's are SATA and whichever way I decide to go will be SATA also.
 
If you have a spare SATA port (from the chipset, not the RAID chip) you could certainly add a single HD for basic storage. If you want to replace your entire array with two larger drives you should be able to do that to. You'd need to create a RAID 0+1 array (or is it 1+0...? they are slightly different) mirroring your current array onto a second RAID 0 array. Two independent RAID 0 arrays? That I don't know about. Depends on your RAID chip I guess.
 
[quote name='Allnatural']If you have a spare SATA port (from the chipset, not the RAID chip) you could certainly add a single HD for basic storage. If you want to replace your entire array with two larger drives you should be able to do that to. You'd need to create a RAID 0+1 array (or is it 1+0...? they are slightly different) mirroring your current array onto a second RAID 0 array. Two independent RAID 0 arrays? That I don't know about. Depends on your RAID chip I guess.[/QUOTE]

Currently my 2 200gb HD's are using SATA ports 1 and 2 on the mobo. I didn't set it up but I believe it's using the built in RAID chipset on the mobo. SATA ports 3 and 4 are open on the mobo. So I should be able to just stick in like a 500gb HD in port 3 and it would run independently of my RAID giving me about 900gb of space?
 
[quote name='jimbodan']Currently my 2 200gb HD's are using SATA ports 1 and 2 on the mobo. I didn't set it up but I believe it's using the built in RAID chipset on the mobo. SATA ports 3 and 4 are open on the mobo. So I should be able to just stick in like a 500gb HD in port 3 and it would run independently of my RAID giving me about 900gb of space?[/quote]
Yes. I don't know the exact model motherboard, but it sounds like 3 and 4 are standard (non-RAID) ports, so plug in a new drive and you'll be all set.
 
[quote name='Allnatural']Yes. I don't know the exact model motherboard, but it sounds like 3 and 4 are standard (non-RAID) ports, so plug in a new drive and you'll be all set.[/QUOTE]


I believe I have the A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo and am currently using NV Raid.
 
Thats a very bad idea. Raid 0 is even worse than having just one drive. If one of your drives craps out, you lose all of your data on both. If you have 3 sata ports, theres no reason not to use RAID 5.

Raid 0 is ideally for things like the OS and games that rely on frequent data access. For movies, music or anything else, you want to go with atleast a raid 1 or 5 to protect some of your data.


If you want to know more about the raid types, go to the following link.

http://www.bytepile.com/raid_class.php

There are a lot of RAID types out there, but the only ones used in normal PCs would be 0, 1 or 5. You may see support for RAID 10 (1+0) or 50 (5+0), but the large number of drives required prohibits general enduser deployment.


Oh yea, your question. My recommendation would depend on whether or not your raid hardware supported raid migration. If so, I'd buy another large drive (400-500GB) and convert your RAID 0 to a RAID 5. It wouldn't make it any larger (just yet) but it would add fault tollerance. Then when your RAID 5 is done verifying, replace one of the 200GB drives with another large drive the same size as the first. Then let the array rebuild again. Then, replace the last 200gb drive with a 3rd larger drive. Now your array will be 800gb (with 400gb dirves) and have fault tollerance.

If it doesn't support raid migration, I'd buy two larger drives, set them up in a raid 1 and then copy the data over.
 
[quote name='Kayden']Thats a very bad idea. Raid 0 is even worse than having just one drive. If one of your drives craps out, you lose all of your data on both. If you have 3 sata ports, theres no reason not to use RAID 5.

Raid 0 is ideally for things like the OS and games that rely on frequent data access. For movies, music or anything else, you want to go with atleast a raid 1 or 5 to protect some of your data.


If you want to know more about the raid types, go to the following link.

http://www.bytepile.com/raid_class.php

There are a lot of RAID types out there, but the only ones used in normal PCs would be 0, 1 or 5. You may see support for RAID 10 (1+0) or 50 (5+0), but the large number of drives required prohibits general enduser deployment.


Oh yea, your question. My recommendation would depend on whether or not your raid hardware supported raid migration. If so, I'd buy another large drive (400-500GB) and convert your RAID 0 to a RAID 5. It wouldn't make it any larger (just yet) but it would add fault tollerance. Then when your RAID 5 is done verifying, replace one of the 200GB drives with another large drive the same size as the first. Then let the array rebuild again. Then, replace the last 200gb drive with a 3rd larger drive. Now your array will be 800gb (with 400gb dirves) and have fault tollerance.

If it doesn't support raid migration, I'd buy two larger drives, set them up in a raid 1 and then copy the data over.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the advice. I understand the risks of RAID 0, but I backup everything important to DVD's regularly so if it failed I wouldn't lose much.

Going to RAID 5 sounds like a good idea, but for right now I think I'd prefer to just stick 1 500gb HD in one of the other SATA slots as a non-RAID drive. That way the 2 200gb HD's I have now aren't wasted and I'd only need to buy 1 new HD. Do you know if that's possible? Or would it mess up my existing RAID?
 
[quote name='jimbodan']Thanks for the advice. I understand the risks of RAID 0, but I backup everything important to DVD's regularly so if it failed I wouldn't lose much.

Going to RAID 5 sounds like a good idea, but for right now I think I'd prefer to just stick 1 500gb HD in one of the other SATA slots as a non-RAID drive. That way the 2 200gb HD's I have now aren't wasted and I'd only need to buy 1 new HD. Do you know if that's possible? Or would it mess up my existing RAID?[/quote]
Well, I'd say list them on Craigslist or something. I'm in the same boat right now. I have a couple of 250 and 300 SATA and PATA drives and I just bought 2 500GB drives for a raid 1 (5 later when I buy more drives).

If you want to keep them, they shouldn't mess up your RAID as long as you don't unplug them. I can't say for sure as I've never used it. I have a dedicated raid card with its own management utils.
 
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