I have an existing LSi (9280 4i4e) HW RAID5 array consisting of 7 IronWolf SATA drives that I want to:
1) Expand capacity with an additional 4 drives.
2) Raid Level promotion from Raid5 to Raid6.
I am looking for advise on what is the least risk, with the least amount of wear on the drives themselves.
As much as I would like to do it all at once, I am sure there is a best practice.
Currently the array is @ approx 70% capacity, so free space isn't an issue, as I just want to consolidate an older/smaller array's data.
Something tells me that the 'safe' bet is to promote Raid levels first, then proceed with the drive expansion once complete.
The array doesn't consist of anything mission critical (Media Storage) and although I have a cold backup, I would rather not have to take the time to repopulate a new array.
Although I have done similar in the past, it has been with less care and on a much smaller scope.
As I am still using (what some may consider archaic) HW Raid, you can also assume that this is running on a Windows Server box.
Any advise is appreciated.
thanks,
Allan
1) Expand capacity with an additional 4 drives.
2) Raid Level promotion from Raid5 to Raid6.
I am looking for advise on what is the least risk, with the least amount of wear on the drives themselves.
As much as I would like to do it all at once, I am sure there is a best practice.
Currently the array is @ approx 70% capacity, so free space isn't an issue, as I just want to consolidate an older/smaller array's data.
Something tells me that the 'safe' bet is to promote Raid levels first, then proceed with the drive expansion once complete.
The array doesn't consist of anything mission critical (Media Storage) and although I have a cold backup, I would rather not have to take the time to repopulate a new array.
Although I have done similar in the past, it has been with less care and on a much smaller scope.
As I am still using (what some may consider archaic) HW Raid, you can also assume that this is running on a Windows Server box.
Any advise is appreciated.
thanks,
Allan