Two RAID arrays on the same controller?

Question

I have a PE 2650 with 3 disks in a RAID 5 configuration on Dell PERC 3/Di. There are 2 more empty HD bays.

1. Can I add two 146 GB HDs and configure them in RAID 1?

2. Do I need to add another controller for that?

3. If all that is doable, I am planning to use the newly added for MS Exchange store. Is that wise or should I look into other options?

Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks.

Whiggy

pcmeiners · Answer

Yes you can place the drives in the slots and configure them as a separate raid 1 on the existing raid adapter.

Whiggy · Answer

Thanks for your reply. This helps a lot. Of course I have another question or two:
Would I have to use software RAID to do that or would it be hardware RAID? Is there documentation on dell.com on how to do that?

Thanks.

pcmeiners · Answer

Hardware setup, via the raid card..... Basically it is the same procedure as setting up the first array on the adpater, your just adding a new array to the system. The original array configuration is not touched. Dell does have documentation for setting up arrays.     Message Edited by pcmeiners on 02-09-2006 08:02 AM

hemerich · Answer

Depending on what size the original disks were, it could make sense to add more drives to your original array. You can expand an array and then make the unallocated space part of the existing partition using the  EXTPart utility (from Dell).  It depends on what size your current drives on the RAID 5 are. If they are also 146GB drives that would make sense, but if they are small drives it would not. If (for example) your existing drives are  36GB drives, you could add 4 more 36gb drives and bring your existing partition up by 144GB, which would be similar to the 146GB you would gain from the mirrored 146GB drives. You'd have to figure out which would cost more, 4 36GB drives, or 2 146GB drives, though I would think the big drives would cost more. Also you would still have room to expand by one more drive.

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

Two RAID arrays on the same controller?

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