On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 14:05, Kyle <[email protected]> wrote:
> it appears one of the disks in my s'ware RAID is failing. So I've come to
> SLUG for some consensus and confirmation.
>
> 1. How do I go about rebuilding the RAID with ALL brand new disks (obviously
> no longer the same disks, but now newer spec larger disks) such that I don't
> lose not only the data but don't have to rebuild the whole machine again?
Replace the disks one at a time, allowing the rebuild to fully
complete between each disk. Once you have the entire array running on
the larger disks, mdadm can increase the size of the array, and you
can resize your file system inside it. (...and check you *can* do
that before you go to the trouble.)
My advice is to read the mdadm manual page to find out how; if that
doesn't make sense, don't tackle this replacement yet, but keep
learning until it does make sense - because a slip here can cost you
all your data.
It is highly advisable to have good backups, though, while doing this.
The most likely time to discover that you have a bad block on a
second disk is during a rebuild, and that could result in the array
going away. This is not unrecoverable, but it is hard. :)
Obviously, create a new array and copy data works too, and isn't a bad
choice if you can manage it. Practical issues like space in the case
might make it hard though.
> 2. I'm better sticking with linux s'ware RAID rather than setting up a
> m'board BIOS supported RAID aren't I?
Absolutely. Unless you have a real hardware RAID card, use Linux
software RAID. Even then it isn't a bad choice. :) The built-in
stuff on your motherboard isn't hardware RAID, but software RAID with
a bit of BIOS glue to support booting from it.
> 3. It's been a while since I delved into h'ware etc. So SATA II disks will
> simply plug into, and function correctly, SATA plugs, yes or no? Or are we
> now at a stage where I also have to worry about whether or not the m'board
> will actually support the disks I want to put in?
Yeah, it should be just fine.
Regards,
Daniel
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