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RAID5 QUESTION

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9 replies

by rrdt

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From: Rodrigo D. Ruiz
To: 'Home2@TechRepublic.com'
Subject: Feedback about article: First Person: There's no need to be afrai d of RAID:r00119990526eje01.htm

Hello, I?m It manager in a law Firm from Argentina, looking for information about RAID i reach your article. I have exactly the configuration you recomend in the article, 2 x 4.5 GB drives in a RAID 1 for Operating System, and 3 x 9.1 GB drives in a RAID 5 for data. The problem is that we are almost out of space in the RAID 5 and I have to add more space, the question for you is : Wich are the posibilities to do this and mantain the RAID 5 ? I have hot Swap slots to put 3 more disk in the IBM Netfinity 5500 we are using.

Many Thanks,

Rodrigo D. Ruiz
Dto. Sistemas
Estudio Beccar Varela
Tel : (5411) 4379-6853
Fax : (5411) 4379-4777
E-Mail : rodrigo@beccarv.com.ar

9 replies

by bra-k

You can do it one of two ways.

First you just add the 3 extra drives and configure them as one logical drive in a Raid 5 setup.

Second you can do a backup of all the data on the Raid 5 drive, wipe out your Raid configuration, add the 3 extra drives, then make all 6 drives one logical drive. After that you can partition them anyway you want. After you have setup your partions and formated them you can then restore the data that was on your original Raid 5 system to the new Raid 5 configuration.

The main advantage to the second configuration is that you don't loose any drive space as you would if you went with 2 logical drives set at Raid 5.

Make sure before you do any changes that you do a full backup of the entire system to prevent any loss of data.

Hope this helps.

Bra-k

by gutridgesj

depending on the raid controller in the machine, you can add another drive or two to the existing raid 5 as long as the new disks are the same size. whether you have to backup existing data and restore after will depend on the raid controller.

by green lantern

First - do a complete backup of your data.

Then install the new hard drives. You don't mention if they are additional or a complete replacment. Either way, after your backup, break the raid 5 array and recreate the array using the new hard drive(s). If you add a hard drive your array will be 4 (4.5). If you are using a new hard drive and it is larger than the old ones, you will get a warning about disk space and the array using the smallest disk partition. Don't worry about this, I am using different sized hard drives in my raid 5 :-)

Be sure to do your back up first! There is no way to extend a raid 5 without first breaking the array and then recreating it. (Actually there is but the equipment for that is very expensive and you are probably not using it.)

by nagazaki

In fact, it depends on your RAID controller. But many of these allow you to add directly disks without any problems, these will be detected at startup and the controller will integrate these in the current system.

To be sure go to your RAID controller's website and check.

Don't forget to use the same disks.

hope it helps

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