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AR15.COM
12/9/2015 1:58:22 AM EDT
So long story short, I setup a RAID 0 setup when I first installed my server (originally on Ubuntu 12.04, now 14.04) using 2 2.5 TB hard disks three years ago. Got a boot error related to drive errors so I decided it was time go ahead and order another 2.5 TB disk and move to RAID 5. Current setup uses mdadm but what I have not been able to discover is whether or not I can add the extra disk and move to a RAID 5 level without loosing data already populating the disks. I've only got about 900 MB of data across the two disks. Anyone have any experiences thus far? My google-fu is not great with this one.
12/9/2015 2:53:17 AM EDT
[#1]
You're gonna lose data no matter what you do.  This is why I've gone all software defined storage.
12/9/2015 10:36:09 AM EDT
[#2]
To confirm, you want to add some disks to your RAID 0, and move it to RAID 5? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels#RAID_5



Yes, you're going to lose data, all of it. It's a brand new volume with data/parity written across all the drives in the array.



Your best best is to back up what you have, create your new RAID 5 array, and restore the data.


12/9/2015 11:42:13 AM EDT
[#3]
Okay. That's what I needed to know. Thanks.

Looks like I will be rsyncing everything of importance to either the new disk I bought or my external (which I haven't seen in a few years). Looks like a good opportunity to move to Arch as well since the wife and I are moving across the state at this point in time as well.