[UFGrayMatter]

I know I saw this once, but can't find it again.


I'm going to be expanding a RAID array in the future, adding 3 1TB drives to 5 current drives. There are two ways to do this - through the BIOS of the card or through the Windows interface. I know I read somewhere that one was significantly faster, but I forget which one, and I can't find the source again.


Card is RocketRaid 2220


thanks

 

[mjfink]

What's the hurry? Do it in Windows and let the drives restripe (it will take a LONG time if you're using RAID5/6). You will still be able to access the data, and the server will just handle the restripe in the background.


I don't know that specific card, but usually, BIOS expansions will be faster. The reason is pretty simple, there's no competing IO; so the RAID card can JUST work on expanding the array, with no "breaks" to read/write the data that the OS is requesting.


I've never done my RAID expansions through the BIOS. I always do them in Windows and just wait the 1-2 days (seriously) that it can take to restripe the data (this is why things like UnRAID are so good, they don't stripe!).

Quote:
Originally Posted by UFGrayMatter /forum/post/15480677


I know I saw this once, but can't find it again.


I'm going to be expanding a RAID array in the future, adding 3 1TB drives to 5 current drives. There are two ways to do this - through the BIOS of the card or through the Windows interface. I know I read somewhere that one was significantly faster, but I forget which one, and I can't find the source again.


Card is RocketRaid 2220


thanks

 

[DJWikiera]

Use the Windows interface to expand, you'll have two choices, background or foreground. Foreground quicker, background slower.That is your speed difference because you can use computer during background expansion. I have two of those cards and used the Windows interface to expand. The BIOS will create your drive assignment but not expand.

 

[kapone]

I don't about "LONG" time, but my Ciprico cards (and they aren't even hardware RAID cards), expanded from five 1.5TB drives to eight 1.5TB drives in about 18 hours. All through Windows, and the server (and array) was online the whole time.