I currently have a 3-disk nForce RAID 5 array (3x 750 GB Seagate 16 MB cache 7200 RPM drives). Today I purchased a new drive of the exact same model and intended to add said drive to my existing RAID 5 array. The new disk appears as a "Free Disk" under nVidia's RAID Manager and I can click "Migrate Array", however when I do, the only RAID mode available to me is "Stripe Mirroring" (which is RAID 0+1) and not RAID 5. Does anyone have any idea how I can add this disk to my RAID 5 array (preferably without deleting the existing array)? Thanks for your help! "Everything begins with Nu and everything ends with Nu. This is the truth! This is my belief... at least for now." - Mysteries of Life Volume 184 Chapter 26

I suggest reviewing the motherboard manual. If it is possible to add a disk to the array it should be covered there. It may be that some of your controllers and ports are included and some are excluded. Might be that you are simply using the wrong port, or the BIOS settings are incorrect. Or maybe you are limited to what you have. I would think not, but again, the manual should have the answers.

I have checked the nForce 7 manual and it says that RAID 5 migration to RAID 5 is possible where m > n (where m is the new number of disks and n is the old number of disks). Granted I am moving from 3 to 4 disks, I believe I meet this criteria, however it only lists Stripped Mirroring as the only migration option instead of RAID 5. Should I convert my RAID to Stripped Mirroring (RAID 0+1) and then back to RAID 5 or should I continue to search for RAID 5 -> RAID 5 solutions? "Everything begins with Nu and everything ends with Nu. This is the truth! This is my belief... at least for now." - Mysteries of Life Volume 184 Chapter 26

If the manual doesn't allow the procedure then you probably can't do it. Hardware RAID controllers are more flexible then what you have. If you don't mind my asking, what are you using this rig for? I am wondoering why RAID 5. I did some Googling and learned something I didn't know before. Normal PC hard drives are not really suitable for RAID 5. If one of the drives performs any check or repair on the fly the RAID array may drop that drive out of the array. There are supposedly drives made by WD & Seagate that are certified for RAID. I am not referring to SCSI either. IDE & SATA.

I'm using this as my main storage and I'd preferably not lose any data (hence the RAID 5). The nForce manual says I CAN migrate from a RAID 5 to a new RAID 5, however the application is not providing me the option to do so, is all it has come to. The application, however, allows me to convert my RAID 5 + my 1 new disk to a RAID 0+1. Additionally, the nForce manual shows that a RAID 0+1 can be converted, then, into a RAID 5. Presumably, if the manual is followed, this should also work. Then again, the RAID 5 -> RAID 5 doesn't work, even though the manual says it should. I have submitted a ticket to nVidia Tech Support, but they are abhorrently slowly, sadly. "Everything begins with Nu and everything ends with Nu. This is the truth! This is my belief... at least for now." - Mysteries of Life Volume 184 Chapter 26

RAID 5 doesn't really give you any redundancy. Gives some protection against data loss without using double the drive space. There are other better methods of protecting your data.

While I will disagree with OtheHill that RAID5 has no redundancy, I will agree that RAID (any type) is not protection. RAID (except 0 and JBOD) is meant to decrease downtime due to a drive failre. It should never, ever be considered a backup. So, I would have to ask why it would be a problem to destroy the array, rebuild as a 4-drive array and then restore your data from the backup (you do have a backup, right?). RAID arrays fail, your motherboard cound fail, etc, etc. There are any number of scenarios that could make the array fail. And tehre would be no way to recover your data. Hech, I would consider the process of migrating/converting an array a "risky" operation. Having said all that I do run a RAID5 array on my home file server. But, I also have a backup of everything that is important to me. So, do yourself a favor, backup and then recreate the array as a 4-disk array. Michael J