I'm going to get my new small business database server in a couple days. It comes with one hard drive, but I plan on setting it up initially with a 3 disk RAID 5 system. Unfortunately, the extra drives won't be in for a few days after I get the server.
I'm using a hardware RAID controller. I want to get a head start on configuration. How "smart" is RAID in this sense? If I install and configure the OS on the single drive and then add the other two drives later to have it rebuild my data across the 3 disks?
If this is possible, is there any special procedure I need to follow?
Best Answer
It depends on your RAID controller, but most likely it won't support that. It would have to move all the data around to lay it out in a clean way.
You best bet is to either be patient and wait for the other drives, or buy a 4th drive and then you'll have a spare for later.
If you buy a 4th, then you'll install on the one you have now, and then migrate the install over to the RAID once the other drives come in, using something simple like dd. Then that initial disk will be your spare.