Hi there, I currently have 5 Maxtor 120GB drives, and I'm thinking of converting them to a RAID 5 array. I know I'll lose the storage space equivalent to one of those drives, but I'd like to avoid as much disk-shovelling as possible for the rest, because at the moment I'm limited to a CD-Writer for backup, and even if I get a DVD writer, it's still a heck of a lot of shovelling to do. So what I'm really looking to do is: * Create the Raid Array with the minimum of drives possible (which am I right in assuming can be two to start with?) * Copy data over and then expand the array as I finish copying each disk over. Now, Having read back on this list the stock answer to "I want to expand my RAID5 array" seems to be (at the moment) "Use raidreconf, but at your own risk, and it'll take ages". I don't have a problem with the "ages" bit, but I'd like to be as datasafe as possible. Having found, somewhere, the Boot + Root + Raid + Lilo: Software Raid Mini-HOWTO <http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/mini/Boot+Root+Raid+LILO.html> it talks about setting up RAID arrays with failed disks which you can then raidhotadd into the array later, although it mostly talks about Raid 1 and mentions Raid 5 as an afterthought. So I'm wondering: Could I start up a Raid 5 array with one or two real disks and three or four faulty drives which I would then activate as and when copying from them onto the new array has finished? Is this any safer then using raidreconf? Do I just have completely the wrong end of the stick? On a slightly similar note, I'm used to using ext2 and ext3, but I've heard a lot of people talk positively about XFS recently, so I'm wondering if any of you have any opinions on whether I should use ext3 or XFS for this new array? Thanks in advance for your advice, Moof -- G.A.Radford_ | Moofing at you from Mallorca, Spain |\/| _ _ |_ me@ | Take a glimpse into the microCosm: | |(_)(_)| .org.uk | http://moof.org.uk/
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