Motherboard RAID 5 Questions

[OllieDixon]

EP45-UD3R with ICH10R

I currently have 3 SATA drives running in IDE mode. Older 640 WD Black running Windows 7, Older 1TB Black with misc stuff, and a 2TB Green (EARS) with important stuff on it. I have another identical 2TB drive in an external case that i connect every Friday to back up the one in my pc. This has worked well for the last year but now my 2TBs only have about 100GB left on them.

I am looking at buying 2 more (EZRX) to do the same as above. But then i realized i could just buy 1 and try a 3 drive RAID5. I realize its not as "safe" as my other system but i have a few questions..

- Do i need to switch to ACHI
- Will i be able to build the array and keep the data on the original 2TB i have now.
- Will 2xEARS and 1xEZRX work together.
- Will the performance suck and or really tax my CPU.

I am not super concerned about performance as the drives are not accessed by more then just me. Its not serving files to multiple HTPCs or anything.

Thanks

 

[GhislainG]

- You need to switch to RAID.
- You'll lose the data. All important data should be backed up even when a RAID is used.
- You should use drives that are optimized for RAID, e.g., WD Red.
- Performance will not be very good (you can find lots of reviews), but it's free. I decided against RAID on my EP45-UD3P for that reason and because I have Black drives that won't work reliably as RAID drives.

 

[OllieDixon]

I did a bit of reading last night and decided to take my (basically new) 2TB back up drive and put it in my comp. Then buy a new 3TB drive for the external encloser. I will just continue what i have been doing. But, back up my important folders (Instead of the entire internal 2TB drive) every week. Should last me a while. Long enough to save up for a FreeNAS box.