RAID: Using different drives with the same capacity

[xc3ll]

Hey Guys,

 

I've wondered, if there is a penalty for using different drives in a RAID. The background is simple: I've got a used NAS with 4 identical drives and one of them is dead. For replacement I could just buy the exact same drive, but I would prefer another manufacturer.

So does it make a difference, if I "mix and match" drives from different manufacturers and product lines, or is just the capacity relevant?

 

[scottyseng]

7 minutes ago, xc3ll said:

-snip-

There isn't a penalty, but you may introduce instability in the RAID by having different manufacturers in the mix (Everyone has their own special way of reporting errors / SMART data). As long as the drives are all RAID rated, you should be fine. You would be in trouble if you installed a non RAID rated drive (WD Black, Blue, Green) instead of a RAID rated one (WD Red, Red Pro, enterprise).

 

Also the other thing to note is that you can't RAID SAS drives with SATA drives, but I'm assuming you're going to use SATA drives only.

[Lurick]

Just the capacity is relevant as far as I know. Never seen an instance where a RAID cared about who made the drive so long as the size was the same.

[Ronda]

Different drives ( or same model, but with newer hardware iteration or firmware even) may have slightly different capacity. This can create problems depending on the RAID implementation, especially if it's a hardware RAID controller, though if the NAS is from this decade, it's probably software RAID.

Check the manufacturer's help pages/manual/forum.