Can you RAID 0 two drives that aren't the same capacity?

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jamesh10

Honorable
Oct 16, 2013
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0
10,510
Hi guys currently in my rig i'm running a 1 TB Caviar Black drive, and has been a good storage drive for my games but I only have about 40 gb left. I definitely want to RAID this, but was wondering, if I want to "future-proof" myself, than can I RAID this 1 TB drive with a 2 or 3 TB drive? thanks!
 
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R
Just add another drive, you don't really need RAID. you can RAID two drives with different sizes, but the size will be of the least amount of space. ex: you have 1TB and put an 2TB beside it. you'll only use 1TB+1TB. to setup a RAID you'll need to erase all hdds. RAID0 is for performace, with the risk of loosing data if a drive fail, because the data is split in half between hdds. In RAID1, this is for backup, you mirror your hdd on another one. you have 1TB+1TB, you only use 1TB. for the rest of the RAID configuratons you'll need 3+ drives. If you really want speed, go for an SSD, if storage, just add another drive.
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ahnilated

ahnilated

Splendid
Nov 9, 2006
3,648
2
23,460
You can but it isn't recommended. You get the size of the smallest drive and the speed of the slowest drive can hamper your max speeds. Doing Raid 0 also leaves no data security if that matters to you. You would need to make good backups because each drive you add to a raid 0 increases the complete failure ratio.
 
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ahnilated

ahnilated

Splendid
Nov 9, 2006
3,648
2
23,460
You can but it isn't recommended. You get the size of the smallest drive and the speed of the slowest drive can hamper your max speeds. Doing Raid 0 also leaves no data security if that matters to you. You would need to make good backups because each drive you add to a raid 0 increases the complete failure ratio.
 
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R

razvan_mz

Distinguished
Jun 25, 2011
421
0
18,960
Just add another drive, you don't really need RAID. you can RAID two drives with different sizes, but the size will be of the least amount of space. ex: you have 1TB and put an 2TB beside it. you'll only use 1TB+1TB. to setup a RAID you'll need to erase all hdds. RAID0 is for performace, with the risk of loosing data if a drive fail, because the data is split in half between hdds. In RAID1, this is for backup, you mirror your hdd on another one. you have 1TB+1TB, you only use 1TB. for the rest of the RAID configuratons you'll need 3+ drives. If you really want speed, go for an SSD, if storage, just add another drive.
 
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