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Expanding drives w/ Adaptec XD084
I have a PowerEdge 830 (running SBS2003) w/ an XD084 6ch SATA controller. It currently has 2 x 250GB drives. I'd like to upgrade the server to SBS2008 and create a larger RAID1 configuration (using 1TB or larger drives). Can you tell me what configuration options/limitations are available w/ this controller? Thanks.
theflash1932
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March 1st, 2012 08:00
The CERC SATA 1.5/6CH is a 1.5Gbps (SATA I) controller, so it would be a waste to get SATA II or III, unless they are the same price or cheaper (likely) and/or they will be repurposed at some point.
Yes, each array is treated individually and separately, so you can have two RAID 1's of differing (or the same) drive size ... you can even have a RAID 1 and a RAID 5.
The Best Practices that I linked to in my last post is probably he best (and the only I could find) documentation on it:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/storage/RAID/CERCbest.pdf
theflash1932
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February 28th, 2012 09:00
That is the CERC SATA 1.5/6CH controller ... its limitations are:
- 750TB max physical disk size (although 1TB drives are rumored to work, many report problems)
- 2TB max virtual disk (array) size
So, if using 750TB drives, you can do a RAID 1 (750GB) or a 3-disk RAID 5 (1.5GB) ... or you could do multiple RAID arrays (three 2-disk 750GB RAID 1's, for example).
support.dell.com/.../CERCbest.pdf
slaugra
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March 1st, 2012 05:00
Thanks for the response. What about SATA version - any incompatibility issues? Also, can I mix drive sizes for different arrays (one pair of 250GB drives in RAID1 and another pair of 750GB drives in RAID1)? Is there any technical documentation for that controller available? Thanks again.