RAID 5, Different Drives ?

[BassKozz]

Is it ok to run a RAID 5 w/ different drives in the following situations:
1. Different Brands/Same Capacity/Same Controller (i.e. SATA 150 w/ SATA 150)
2. Different Brands/Different Capacity/Same Controller (i.e. SATA 150 w/ SATA 150)
3. Different Brands/Different Capacity/Different Controller (i.e. SATA 150 w/ SATA 3.0g/s [SATAII])

[EDIT: I am sure the buffer also factors into this if one drive has 8Mb and one has 16... Also what about using an NCQ drive w/ another NON-NCQ drive?]

Thanks in advance,
-BassKozz

 

[unhappy_mage]

It's ok to:
Different Brands/Same Capacity/Same Controller
Different Brands/Same Capacity/Different Controller (which wasn't on your list)
but neither is a good idea. Different drives optimize in different ways, and this can kill speeds. But it shouldn't break anything.

 

[BassKozz]

Thanks unhappy_mage