Raid 1 Question

[thomamon]

So I have a couple of LaCie Raid 1 set up.

One of my hard drives is going and it doesn't look like they have the 3tb drive anymore to replace it on amazon. Can I get a different drive? Does it have to be the same size?

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[velocityg4]

Yea, same size or bigger. Not sure how the Lacie is setup. Either the remaining space will be unusable or just be a separate partition you can use without RAID.

Just to clarify. You could go smaller. But you'd have to redo the RAID and lose any data on it. So, go bigger.

Edit: Also only use drives meant for a NAS or Enterprise RAID. This has to do with how drives deal with TLER/CCTL issues. As the RAID will just ignore them and move on. While a regular drive will try to recover them. Which can cause the RAID controller to think the drive has failed and want to rebuild with a new drive.

 

[thomamon]

Yea, same size or bigger. Not sure how the Lacie is setup. Either the remaining space will be unusable or just be a separate partition you can use without RAID.

Just to clarify. You could go smaller. But you'd have to redo the RAID and lose any data on it. So, go bigger.

Edit: Also only use drives meant for a NAS or Enterprise RAID. This has to do with how drives deal with TLER/CCTL issues. As the RAID will just ignore them and move on. While a regular drive will try to recover them. Which can cause the RAID controller to think the drive has failed and want to rebuild with a new drive.

Good to know. So if I wanted to go bigger I can do one at a time?

 

[velocityg4]

Good to know. So if I wanted to go bigger I can do one at a time?

My experience is doing a Software RAID on Mac or using an Intel RAID controller on PC. How it'll specifically workout with a Lacie external RAID is all a matter of how the Lacie works. As to whether you can grow the RAID, split it or if the remaining space is just leftover that can't be used in RAID without redoing it.

I'd plan along the lines of you can add the single larger drive now. If you want to add a second large drive later. Plan on breaking the RAID and creating a single larger array. Then restoring your data from a backup. That way you aren't disappointed.

Most likely you'll be able to setup a second RAID. Usually you can with RAID controllers. So, if your current is 2TB and you replace with 4TB. One at a time. You'll end up with 2x2TB RAID1 arrays. Not a single large 4TB array.

Being able to grow from 2TB to 4TB is less likely. Not impossible. As some systems support this.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Doubtful you can grow the volume nondestructively. Two new drives, a bigger volume, sure.

There are some exceptions (like Synology hybrid RAID), but most controllers require erasing and starting over to increase volume size.

Regardless, it would be wise to be sure you have a backup before doing anything. If a RAID volume goes sideways for any reason....say goodbye to your data.

And if you do go through the full backup process, then it becomes a great time to replace both drives, build a new, big array, and then restore the data.