102 with mixed size disks

[tenforty]

Hi,

After a lot of years a 2TB disk is failing.  It turns out to be cheaper to upgrade to 3TB.  Can I mix a 2TB with a 3TB?  Let raid do its magic with redundancy and then upgrade the second disk to 3TB?  Is this a rational strategy?

Thanks

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@tenforty wrote:

Hi,

After a lot of years a 2TB disk is failing.  It turns out to be cheaper to upgrade to 3TB.  Can I mix a 2TB with a 3TB?  Let raid do its magic with redundancy and then upgrade the second disk to 3TB?  Is this a rational strategy?

Thanks

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Yes, this works (and is called "vertical expansion").

One caveat is that the array isn't protected during the resync.  So it is important to have a backup of the data before you manipulate disks in the array.

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

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@tenforty wrote:

Hi,

After a lot of years a 2TB disk is failing.  It turns out to be cheaper to upgrade to 3TB.  Can I mix a 2TB with a 3TB?  Let raid do its magic with redundancy and then upgrade the second disk to 3TB?  Is this a rational strategy?

Thanks

---

Yes, this works (and is called "vertical expansion").

One caveat is that the array isn't protected during the resync.  So it is important to have a backup of the data before you manipulate disks in the array.

[Sandshark]

And take a look at your potential future use.  It's a lot cheaper to go bigger now than go small and have to completely replace again later.

 2 x 4TB (or even bigger) now instead of 2 x 3TB now and another 2 x 4TB later.

[StephenB]

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@Sandshark wrote:

And take a look at your potential future use.  It's a lot cheaper to go bigger now than go small and have to completely replace again later.

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I agree - it's cheapest to plan ahead, and not upgrade too often.  The sweet spot for $/TB starts at about 4 TB at the moment, and seems to be moving up.  And at the moment a 4 TB ironwolf costs $100 (US Amazon) - the 3 TB model costs $97.  

[tenforty]

Very helpful responses.  Thank you all very much.