On 2005-09-07T23:39:57+0200, Kjetil Kjernsmo wrote: > Now, what I was thinking: If I buy a four channel RAID card now, and two > S-ATA disks (which is what I want), set them up in RAID 1, can I add a > third disk later, and convert this system seamlessly to RAID 5 without > a reinstall? Some controllors claim to support online raid conversion. Make sure you check product literature and that you have a backup of the data prior to doing so. > Every Linux geek I know says "no, I don't think so", but I think my old > sysadmin did that routinely on Tru64 years ago... If a disk blew up, > he'd just throw it away and replace it, no worries. If you have redundancy (raid 1 or 5 for instance), then yes you can lose a disk and yet have your data survive. All bets are probably off during conversion. > Finally, would you buy disks from the same or different manufacturers? I > would guess that similar disks are easier on the controller, but OTOH > if there is a flaw in one, it is likely to be in the other too.... I would refer to the manufacturer for the raid controller, they may require identical disks in raid 1 for optimal performance (certainly you waste space if they are not exact same size). The better ones certify specific disks with controllers, and I imagine there is good reasons for that. /Allan
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