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What limitations are there to the configuration of SAS/SATA drives on a PERC 6/i raid controller. Can I have 2 virtual disks - RAID 1 SAS and RAID 5 SATA, or the other way around? Does it matter that the first VD is SAS/SATA or is it not important? What do Dell recommend?

Can't seem to find the technical guide...

Kryptonite
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2 Answers2

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http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/storage/RAID/PERC6/en/UG/HTML/index.htm

Couldn't locate drive mixing in my brief search of the manual, but I am fairly certain you can mix drive types in the server/controller (SAS/SATA/SSD). You cannot mix drive types in the VDs (can't have a RAID 1 with a SAS and a SATA drive). It's been a few years , but I've used a MD 3000 before which was pre-PERC 6 and you could mix drive types in that enclosure (SAS/SATA) so I assume you can do the same with a later PERC. It shouldn't matter what your first VD drive type is either. I would typically make a RAID 1 SAS for the OS, then whatever else is required afterwards for the server.

August
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  • Excellent. Why would you choose SATA for the OS? My instinct is to have fast SAS 15k drives in RAID 1 for the OS; then larger capacity, cheaper SATA drives in RAID 5+1 for the data. – Kryptonite Nov 01 '11 at 13:38
  • whoops meant to say SAS for the OS. Too much switching between typing SATA/SAS in my answer I guess. I edited my answer. – August Nov 01 '11 at 16:34
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you can mix drive types, though for some SATA disks you will need an interposer card. You cannot mix disk types within the same VD of course. ordering does not matter. Of course you need drives supported by Dell (others might or might not work, but you know how brand vendors are about this)

dyasny
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  • Dell's web configurator won't let me have SAS RAID1 + SATA RAID 5. Is this a hardware restriction in the PERC or even a design fault on their website? If you are right about being able to mix drive types then why do you think Dell would be restricting it? – Kryptonite Nov 01 '11 at 13:53
  • last time I've done this (about 1.5 years ago) it did work for me, I wonder what you're doing wrong there... in any case, why not call dell techsupport? they can guide you through the right procedures – dyasny Nov 01 '11 at 14:18