RAID problems

[Endeavour]

The last time I upgraded my PC and HTPC I thought I would be cautious. I bought 4 Maxtor diamond 9 SATA 160Gb drives and installed two each in the PC's in RAID1 format. Since then (May 05) I have had one disk in each array fail .

For understandable reasons I don't want to buy more more of the same disks and I was going to go for WD 400Gb RAID edition drives. So I need to move all the data from the HTPC array onto the new disks and then redeploy the working 160Gb into the other array.

I know that if I replace the duff 160Gb and build one of the 400gb drives into the HTPC array I will still only get 160b net. What I am not sure about is what happens when I remove the 2nd 160gb drive and replace it with the 400Gb. Will it see it as a 400gb array or still a 160gb one. Would I be able to get the other 240gb back?

[evolution400]

I am quite sure that it will auto update so once all the 160's are gone

[cmhunt]

Mind how you go.

You will need to check the rebuild capabilities of your RAID controller. Many of the cheaper integrated solutions have very poor recovery / rebuild options. Most cannot perform dynamic resizing of the array. Your safest solution is to perform a full backup of your valuable data files, recreate the array using your new 400GB disks and perform a restore. I know this is a lot of work, but it will guarantee that your new array has not inherited any corruption from the older 'dodgy' drives and that the maximum storage capacity is available. I have 4 WD250GB & 5 Seagate400Gb drives in seperate arrays , running over 16 months 24x7 with no problems. Your high drive failure rate might point to an overheating problem - how high is the temp in the HD enclosure.

Best of luck with the new array