RAID 0+1 w/ hot spare

CerealKiller · 26th February 2003, 5:17 PM

ok, firstly if you've got no idea of the above then keep quiet please.

scenario:
i have a Promise SuperTrak SX6000 (6 Channel IDE RAID Controller) & 4 Western Digi WD1000JB (8MB) HDD's. They're configured in a RAID 0+1 configuration so i've got 200Gb's spanned and mirrored. I'd like to have a hot spare just incase something happens.
I'm told from my wholesaler and other sources that 100Gb JB drives are no longer available. my only option is to go bigger (120Gb).

question: if i have a 120Gb drive as a hot spare will the raid array still work fine as 200Gb RAID 0+1 if the hot spare got kicked into action?

kiwimeat · 26th February 2003, 5:23 PM

Yes - so long as the physical drive is equal to or larger than the failed drive you should be fine.

My only direct experience is with SCSI RAID systems but I have worked with plenty of scenario eg replacing failed 2GB drive with 4GB with no problem.

A word of warning - if you have an on-line hot-spare and a drive fail the array will start to rebuild immediately (unless you have a configuration option to prompt before rebuild and control over rebuild priority). On SCSI systems this would often render the storage effectively unusable until the array rebuilt. We used to replace failed drives and rebuild outside business hours for many servers.

26th February 2003, 5:17 PM	#1
CerealKiller Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Sydney King Posts: 5,826	RAID 0+1 w/ hot spare ok, firstly if you've got no idea of the above then keep quiet please. scenario: i have a Promise SuperTrak SX6000 (6 Channel IDE RAID Controller) & 4 Western Digi WD1000JB (8MB) HDD's. They're configured in a RAID 0+1 configuration so i've got 200Gb's spanned and mirrored. I'd like to have a hot spare just incase something happens. I'm told from my wholesaler and other sources that 100Gb JB drives are no longer available. my only option is to go bigger (120Gb). question: if i have a 120Gb drive as a hot spare will the raid array still work fine as 200Gb RAID 0+1 if the hot spare got kicked into action? __________________ [ Folding@Home V5 6500 Club Member \| Skylines Australia \| 2 ways to live... ] "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them! " - John 3:17

26th February 2003, 5:23 PM	#2
kiwimeat Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Brisbane, QLD, Australia Posts: 1,825	Yes - so long as the physical drive is equal to or larger than the failed drive you should be fine. My only direct experience is with SCSI RAID systems but I have worked with plenty of scenario eg replacing failed 2GB drive with 4GB with no problem. A word of warning - if you have an on-line hot-spare and a drive fail the array will start to rebuild immediately (unless you have a configuration option to prompt before rebuild and control over rebuild priority). On SCSI systems this would often render the storage effectively unusable until the array rebuilt. We used to replace failed drives and rebuild outside business hours for many servers. __________________ Car - MY10 Audi S3 Sportback - S-Tronic, APR Stage I ECU, HP DSG Tune, FBSW & Park Assist! Home Theatre My Blog Latest purchase Sony SLT-A99V + Vetical Grip Notebooks Sony Vaio SA36GG, Lenovo X200s & T400 Other PCs Too many Camera Sony A99 + A77 w/Vertical Grips + A55 SLT bodies + Sony 24-70CZ/2.8, 16-50/2.8, 35/1.8 + HVL-F43AM flash + Tamron 18-270PZD