Calling out all RAID experts for some help...

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ghaynes

Member
Mar 1, 2002
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I am setting up a RAID 5 array using my MOBO (ASUS P5WD2) built in raid. Each drive will be a WD 320GB SATA2. This is my first time trying RAID. Now once the array is setup and running I have two questions.

Can I add more drives to this array in the future without affecting the data on the current 3 drives? I plan to have a total of 5 drives but for the time being 3 will be what I can do for now.

Next question, is that if one drive fails in the chain of 3 what will EXACTLY happen. I guess I need a guide on Raid 5 on help with troubleshooting. I want to be ready in case something happens that I don't just sit there wondering what I should do if I notice that a drive failed. What does the system do once the drive fails? Does is start moving data to drives 1 and 2 and waiting for me to replace the broken drive?

So anyone with some good experience that could help me I would really appreciate it. My main concern is that once I have all the data on the raid setup I want to ensure that my data is protected and that I have a fail-safe plan to make sure I don't lose any data.
 
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dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Originally posted by: ghaynes
I am setting up a RAID 5 array using my MOBO (ASUS P5WD2) built in raid. Each drive will be a WD 320GB SATA2. This is my first time trying RAID. Now once the array is setup and running I have two questions.

Can I add more drives to this array in the future without affecting the data on the current 3 drives? I plan to have a total of 5 drives but for the time being 3 will be what I can do for now.

Next question, is that if one drive fails in the chain of 3 what will EXACTLY happen. I guess I need a guide on Raid 5 on help with troubleshooting. I want to be ready in case something happens that I don't just sit there wondering what I should do if I notice that a drive failed. What does the system do once the drive fails? Does is start moving data to drives 1 and 2 and waiting for me to replace the broken drive?

So anyone with some good experience that could help me I would really appreciate it. My main concern is that once I have all the data on the raid setup I want to ensure that my data is protected and that I have a fail-safe plan to make sure I don't lose any data.
Click to expand...

RAID isn't a backup plan; it's a way to prevent loss if a hard disk goes out - that's IT. If you care about the data, you still need to back it up - integrated RAIDs on consumer motherboards tend to be cheap, poorly supported, and, sometimes (but more rarely now), flakey. Disk corruption, accidently deleting something, and the "Ooops!" factor still means you need backups.

This data you're looking for should be in the motherboard manuals; it's all very chipset-specific.

Generally speaking, if a single physical disk in a R5 array fails, the OS is sent a message to warn you, the buzzer on the R5 controller starts going off, and you'll get reduced performance. When you remove the failed physical disk and put the new physical disk in place, the controller will regenerate, again at reduced performance. With consumer integrated motherboards, there's probably no buzzer - hopefully there's a utility you can run in the OS to provide the same functionality.

As far as expanding RAID arrays, most arrays allow you to add members to the array, and then the disk volume becomes correspondingly larger. From there you'd use the vendor's disk expansion software to expand the RAID volume to take up all of the new space. Alternatives include doing something inside the OS (think: partition magic, diskpart).

 
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