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Bare bone RAID 5 - Different disk sizes


elmuziko

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Questions in the title.

 

I've an N54L with a 5 drive (4TB) RAID 5 setup (using the onboard sata port) and need to expand.

 

Someone has suggested buying two new 6TB drives, one as the parity and the other to increase the size.

My assumption is it wouldn't work. Done some Googling and the answers seem to be varied with the conclusion of it depends on the hardware and the software used to create the RAID.

 

So without erasing anything, is it possible to increase the size of a RAID configuration without having to start again?

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Questions in the title.

 

I've an N54L with a 5 drive (4TB) RAID 5 setup (using the onboard sata port) and need to expand.

 

Someone has suggested buying two new 6TB drives, one as the parity and the other to increase the size.

My assumption is it wouldn't work. Done some Googling and the answers seem to be varied with the conclusion of it depends on the hardware and the software used to create the RAID.

 

So without erasing anything, is it possible to increase the size of a RAID configuration without having to start again?

Regular RAID5 will require you to upgrade all disks before you can resize and see additional space.

SHR1 (RAID5) will allow the size increase after two disks upgrade. You should be able to see extra 2TB and 2TB more after each next disk upgrade.

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If you decide to reinstall everything next time, select SHR1 as your RAID. The same performance and protection as RAID5, but more upgrade flexibility.

There is path to redo everything without loosing data.

N54L has an extra SATA port for CDROM and one more E-SATA port.

You can connect your new 6TB disk, create a new basic volume to move data to it. (two separate 6TB disks if necessary).

Redo the RAID setup as SHR1. Move data back and then start replacing disks one by one repairing volume after each replacement.

At the end, if needed, you also can leave your server with 5 disks including one in the ODD bay.

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If you decide to reinstall everything next time, select SHR1 as your RAID. The same performance and protection as RAID5, but more upgrade flexibility.

There is path to redo everything without loosing data.

N54L has an extra SATA port for CDROM and one more E-SATA port.

You can connect your new 6TB disk, create a new basic volume to move data to it. (two separate 6TB disks if necessary).

Redo the RAID setup as SHR1. Move data back and then start replacing disks one by one repairing volume after each replacement.

At the end, if needed, you also can leave your server with 5 disks including one in the ODD bay.

 

OK I've bought a new eSATA cable and it's working. Finally.

I'm struggling to picture what you mean though.

 

Since all 4 internal bays are in use PLUS the fifth on board SATA, how would one do this?

 

I connect a 6TB to the eSATA which would give me the full 6TB, but then if I pull one from the first volume and replace with a 6TB I still only have 6TB on the SHR1? I'd need a 3rd to get the capacity to even out?

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I'm 500gb shy of the max. I can't remember how much you lose over 16TB, I think it's about 15.2TB so I'm at 14.7TB

 

I've got shed loads of 2, 2.5 & 3 TB WD green drives lying around so will see how much I can get on a backup. It may be a case of having to totally build from scratch but recover from backup. Which is shit. But at least it's an option.

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It may be the best option then to make backup to multiple drives and rebuild, unless you want to upgrade all 5 x 4TB drives at once. Another option is if you have a spare desktop to build temp server with many smaller drives, and make backup to it. (or buy and return or rent a large NAS)

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