RAID Drive Selection

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I’m facing a problem. A couple of years ago I built a new system with a RAID 5 array and I populated it with Western Digital Caviar Blue 2Tb drives. I’d like to add another drive or two to the array, but WD seems to have discontinued the 2Tb Blue drives; they don’t have anything larger than 1Tb anymore. I’ve also read that their Green and Black series drives (which still have a 2Tb unit available) are known to have issues when used in RAID arrays. Can I use any 2Tb drive? Do I need to match platter and head configuration to the existing drives? Any recommendations?

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Cavourite,

Let’s keep you’re feet firmly planted on the planet!

It is my understanding that you should always use identical drives in Raid arrays.
Of course that’s purely academic knowledge since I’ve never actually done it myself.
:cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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I’ve always been under the impression that in RAID one will need the exact same SIZE (or larger) of drive, and that the make and model is less important.
So, you should be able to use any drive you like, provided that it is equal in size or larger.

Can someone else verify?

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I have a mixed RAID 5 4-bay NAS (Seagate Black Armor) that I just threw 2 TB drives into. I remember one was rejected for some reason but there’s definitely a Samsung in with the Seagates. Ideally I would go with red label WD drives now, they are built specifically for RAID arrays and their more demanding response time fault tollerance. Its not so much that other drive have issues but that they don’t always respond consistently enough to avoid occasionally being dropped from an array. Red labels run more like green labels (slower rotation speeds to keep them cooler and from vibrating too much) except they are Johnny on the spot so to speak when the call comes.

That said, my mixed manufacturer array has been working just fine except once in a while coming back from a sudden power outage there is some problem reported on the little scree readout but a quick proper power cycle always brings it back to full strength (knock on wood).

That said, I would love to upgrade the system to 4, three TB WD red labels, but I’m a little short on the green-backs it would take to make that happen.

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Oh! Just got a email flier from Newegg, 3TB Reds for $150 with promo code!

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All that matters is that the drive be as big or bigger than the existing drives. Any space beyond the size of the smallest drive will not be usable.

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Would be better to have same size drives so not to waste usable space, as leonk stated.

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