Raid 0

[Thepixelbro]

if i have a full 1 tb hdd and i want to add another hdd then turn it into a raid can i do it?

[Akolyte]

Ideally make sure the models are identical.  So, if you have a Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm, get that same identical drive. 

[Imaginaerum]

If you set up RAID with a full hard drive it will erase everything on that drive. You'd have to buy another drive to backup all your data then a second one to set up the RAID, but by that point you'd have two empty drives so you should just use those to make into a RAID. Either way you'll need two drives to keep your data, or you can go without RAID and buy a 3TB if you need more space.

[ionbasa]

That depends:

 

• If it is hardware raid, all drives are erased before being initialized in a pool, so the answer here is "no".
• If you are talking about software raid or LVM, the answer is maybe, but YMMV, and there can be some data loss if not careful.

 

You are probably better off backing up all your data before proceeding with raid 0.

PS: Also, with RAID 0, if a drive fails you lose all your data.

[felixthemaster1]

That depends:

 

• If it is hardware raid, all drives are erased before being initialized in a pool, so the answer here is "no".
• If you are talking about software raid or LVM, the answer is maybe, but YMMV, and there can be some data loss if not careful.

 

You are probably better off backing up all your data before proceeding with raid 0.

PS: Also, with RAID 0, if a drive fails you loose all your data.

Damn loose data, we need some belts

[ionbasa]

Damn loose data, we need some belts

Oops, it was past midnight when I typed that... Fixed.

Next thing you know, people might start using loctite on their HDDs.