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multiple raid arrays with 1 controller?

S

Smokey0066

Senior member
I'm not sure if this makes sense but I was wondering if you can build 2 arrays with 1 controller card.

say i build a raid 1 mirrored array for my OS with 2 drives and a raid 5 array with 6 drives as my storage.

Does it make sense to run like this? Is it possible? am I nuts?
 
Makes perfect sense, and most likely those cards can do it. I did this on my Broadcom BC4852 (RAID 1 & 5). You just have to go through the manual to be sure.
 
My understanding from doing much homework on the Areca cards is that this is completely doable. Am getting ready to pickup a 1281ML myself here in a week.

Sweet cards if you can afford them (just my understanding, hope to report back that my experience verifies this to be true)
 
Originally posted by: Smokey0066
I'm not sure if this makes sense but I was wondering if you can build 2 arrays with 1 controller card.

say i build a raid 1 mirrored array for my OS with 2 drives and a raid 5 array with 6 drives as my storage.

Does it make sense to run like this? Is it possible? am I nuts?
Click to expand...

I cannot say if Areca will work or not, but I have done it using LSI Logic controller cards.

:heart:LSI:heart:
 
to expand on my question.

Say i initially setup 4 drives on my storage array. If i wanted to expand that array I understand this card allows it to be done live. But how does that affect the partitions that are already setup on the storage array? will I need another piece of software to recreate partitions to utilize the added space on the arrary or does the card recreate the partitions based on the previous percentages?


sorry for so many questions. first raid setup and i want to make sure i know what i'm getting into.
 
Originally posted by: Smokey0066
to expand on my question.

Say i initially setup 4 drives on my storage array. If i wanted to expand that array I understand this card allows it to be done live. But how does that affect the partitions that are already setup on the storage array? will I need another piece of software to recreate partitions to utilize the added space on the arrary or does the card recreate the partitions based on the previous percentages?


sorry for so many questions. first raid setup and i want to make sure i know what i'm getting into.
Click to expand...

I hope I understand you question correctly.


When you add or mount a drive to an array, the data or partition will be lost/destroyed. I suggest you download the PDF instruction manual or the knowledge base from Areca's website.

http://faq.areca.com.tw/modules/smartfaq/

 
I believe the Card adjusts the array to the new size, however it takes some serious time if you are doing this with a parity based array (5, 6, 10, etc...). You also can risk some data corruption due to the massive amount of write cycles that you need to do this. I would recommend just buying all the drives that you will need up front and build the array once. This is what I am working on doing in the near future.
 
Originally posted by: Twinpeaksr
I believe the Card adjusts the array to the new size, however it takes some serious time if you are doing this with a parity based array (5, 6, 10, etc...). You also can risk some data corruption due to the massive amount of write cycles that you need to do this. I would recommend just buying all the drives that you will need up front and build the array once. This is what I am working on doing in the near future.
Click to expand...

Where are you getting this information, if you don't mind me asking?

If you are talking about changing the size of an array while it's in, it is possible, but the RAID controller has to have the ability to do "online RAID capacity expansion" to increase the size of the array, or "online RAID level migration" to change the type of RAID array (such as RAID 0 to RAID 5). By the way, the Areca ARC-1210 style cards do have this capability (spec sheet here). Oh, and as per the spec sheet, you can have multiple RAID arrays on a single controller.

If you were talking about online RAID capacity expansion, then there are a few things you should know. Even though the RAID controller will expand the array, it is up to you to expand the partition. To do this in Windows on a system (IE partition that you are booted off of), you will have to use a 3rd party program to do so, and as such, incurrs some risks. If you are trying to do this on a non-system disk (like you mentioned earlier, doing your system disk as RAID 0, and then your storage as RAID 5, and you were trying to expand the storage array), then you could use diskpart.exe (it comes with windows)... Diskpart works great, but it doesn't work on system disks.
 
Originally posted by: Fullmetal Chocobo
Originally posted by: Twinpeaksr
I believe the Card adjusts the array to the new size, however it takes some serious time if you are doing this with a parity based array (5, 6, 10, etc...). You also can risk some data corruption due to the massive amount of write cycles that you need to do this. I would recommend just buying all the drives that you will need up front and build the array once. This is what I am working on doing in the near future.
Click to expand...

Where are you getting this information, if you don't mind me asking?

If you are talking about changing the size of an array while it's in, it is possible, but the RAID controller has to have the ability to do "online RAID capacity expansion" to increase the size of the array, or "online RAID level migration" to change the type of RAID array (such as RAID 0 to RAID 5). By the way, the Areca ARC-1210 style cards do have this capability (spec sheet here). Oh, and as per the spec sheet, you can have multiple RAID arrays on a single controller.
Click to expand...

Oh suuurreee...bring your so-called data and so-called fact in here why don't you :roll:

LOA, thanks for the link and for clearing the air of confusion Chocobo. :beer:
 
hey thanks for the quick reply guys. I did download the 170pg manual after posting and am slowly reading through it. I guess if i would've done this first all my questions would have been answered. Regardless I'm going to try to read the rest of the manual before making this purchase so I am better informed.

Thanks again guys. I will probably post up my system config before I purchase it to run it by you guys. People on here are so in the know.
 
Originally posted by: Smokey0066
hey thanks for the quick reply guys. I did download the 170pg manual after posting and am slowly reading through it. I guess if i would've done this first all my questions would have been answered. Regardless I'm going to try to read the rest of the manual before making this purchase so I am better informed.

Thanks again guys. I will probably post up my system config before I purchase it to run it by you guys. People on here are so in the know.
Click to expand...

Awesome, I always read the manual and check to see if there are drivers for my OS before even consider buying a product. It's all part of the necessary reasearch that will save you a truckload of headaches when purchasing hardware.

The result of doing my homework is that I always find the part I need, I gain new knowledge (of new technology), and I almost never have system incompatabilities (noobs seem to get those).
 
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