1

I have a Dell R710 current with on RAID-0 setup and I have 12 disks in the server not being used.

I was wondering if I could setup a second RAID (5 with hot spare) with these other disks.

I couldn't find data on if the mini can manager multiple arrays.

user2363318
  • 361
  • 1
  • 3
  • 11
  • Most of your modern RAID controllers can handle multiple arrays. The limitation being the type and size of the array depending on the controller. Is yours a mini blade or mini mono? see this link for reference http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/04/campaigns/dell-raid-controllers – Mike Naylor Aug 13 '14 at 19:50

1 Answers1

4

Yes, this is definitely supported. As Mike Naylor stated, most modern RAID controllers should be able to do this (even desktop systems that support RAID with an integrated controller on the motherboard support this).

The documentation makes no mention of the number of supported disk groups. Limitations are stated in terms of virtual disks, spans, and supported physical disks. As long as your configuration is within those limits, you should be good.

User's Guide

Double Faults and Punctures in RAID Arrays

Based on how much familiarity you seem to have with these controllers and RAID technology in general, I would highly recommend that you read through those two PDFs.

Also note that RAID5 is not generally recommended according to current industry standard best-practices. With the capacities that today's drives are reaching, a 12-disk RAID5 can be particularly prone to issues with data integrity. Don't use RAID5 if the data is important to you - consider RAID6 as an alternative.

JimNim
  • 2,736
  • 12
  • 23