Score:2

RAID 5 with Windows Server 2016 R2 - 45 drives - 10 hot spare

de flag

I have a 45 drives server that will be running Windows Server 2016 R2. It will be fully populated and utilizing RAID 5 and I want 10 of the drives to act as hot spares. We have been searching all over and cannot find a way to do this. Is this even possible?

br flag
PLEASE don't even think about using R5, it's been essentially dead for well over a decade, we deal with at least one person a week who comes here for help when it's killed their data completely. Please only use R1/10, R6/60 or RAID-Z if you like that kind of thing, anything else is trouble.
Massimo avatar
ng flag
...Windows Server 2016 R2?!?
joeqwerty avatar
cv flag
`1.` There's no such thing as Windows Server 2016 R2. Please tell us the actual Operating System. `2.` What Make/Model is the server? `3.` What RAID controller are you using?
bjoster avatar
cn flag
If you want to use Software: Windows RAID (which shall not be used any longer) does not support any spare configuration. Windows Storage Spaces on the other hand, do. If you are going to use a hardware RAID controller, think twise about using RAID5 and consult the documentation on how it handles spares. Also, as mentioned, Server 2016R2 does not exist.
Score:1
cn flag

Windows Server software RAID (i'm fairly certain) will not let you set spares.

Windows Storage Spaces will let you add hot spares to a pool.

Hardware RAID cards will, depending on capabilities, let you define spares in a RAID set or even across RAID sets.

With the size of today's disks, I'd caution you to NOT make a big RAID-5 pool, and I'm also wondering why you would want 10 spare disks.

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