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esiuda

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Joined
Dec 10, 2012
Messages
15
I have a computer I am using for a media server, that I need to increase the disk capicty on.

I currently am using a Adaptec 6805 along with a Intel expander. every thing is working great.

My raid 6 array is almost filled up, and I would like to increase its capacity.
5 x 1tb Western Digital Red Drives

I really do not want to just add another 1 or 2 1tb drives.
I know if I add 1 or 2 4tb drives, I will only be able to use 1tb of each drive in the Raid 6 array, but I will be able to use the extra space for other storage.

1) Can I add 7,200 rpm drives to this array?
2) Could I configure the extra 3tb left on each of the 2 new drives as a Raid 1 array (1tb of each drive under Raid 6 and 3tb of each drive under Raid 1?

The idea would be to move the entire array to 4tb drives, but I can not do it all at once..
Would I be better off just taking the 2 new drives and doing a Raid 1 with them?

Thanks!
 
According to the website that controller supports online capacity expansion although your intel expander may complicate things. I would look into the documentation and see how it works, also whether is supports 4TB drives or not.
 
This is the Intel expander I have - RES2CV240

a quick looks does not show any drive sizes. Since a expander passes through what the raid card does, it may not have any bearing on the size of the drives, as long as the raid card supports them, which mine does.

Yes, I know that that I can add as many 1tb drives as I want to the raid 6 array, and increase the size of it that way.

My question is more along the lines of mixing 2 different size drives, along with different spindle speeds -
5 1 tb 5,400 rpm drives (current)
and add
2 4 tb 7,200 rpm drives (5 1tb drives and 1tb off each of the 2 4tb drives)
to the same array.

Yes I know that the raid 6 array will only be able to use 1 tb of each of the new drives.

Could I then make a raid 1 array with the leftovers from the 2 4tb drives?
 
esiuda said:
My question is more along the lines of mixing 2 different size drives, along with different spindle speeds -
5 1 tb 5,400 rpm drives (current)
and add
2 4 tb 7,200 rpm drives (5 1tb drives and 1tb off each of the 2 4tb drives)
to the same array.
Click to expand...
Yes, you can mix different speed and size drives. However, speed and size will be limited to the slowest and smallest drive respectively.

esiuda said:
Yes I know that the raid 6 array will only be able to use 1 tb of each of the new drives.

Could I then make a raid 1 array with the leftovers from the 2 4tb drives?
Click to expand...

No, for hardware RAID it is all or nothing, you have to use the entire drive. If the controller supports it, you can create a RAID 1 array from the 2x4TB.
 
esiuda said:
My question is more along the lines of mixing 2 different size drives, along with different spindle speeds -
5 1 tb 5,400 rpm drives (current)
and add
2 4 tb 7,200 rpm drives (5 1tb drives and 1tb off each of the 2 4tb drives)
to the same array.

Yes I know that the raid 6 array will only be able to use 1 tb of each of the new drives.

Could I then make a raid 1 array with the leftovers from the 2 4tb drives?
Click to expand...

For me, this seems to be a more complicated idea.

ezno_matrix said:
If the controller supports it, you can create a RAID 1 array from the 2x4TB.
Click to expand...

And yes I think this would be an ideal option.
 
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