RAID 5 with different size disks

[Jerel Harwood]

>Fajar Priyanto wrote:
>> Is it possible to setup a RAID 5 array using different size disks? Such
as hda 
>> 9GB, hdb 36GB, hdc 40GB, hdd 80GB, hde 80GB.
>>   
>
>Gordon Messmer replied:
>No, it isn't. RAID5, by design, requires units of the same size.

Depending on what you are using to create the RAID5 (software vs. hardware.)
It is possible to create a raid5 with the disk configuration you spec, but
due to the nature of raid5 you will be wasting massive amounts of disk space
as the max amount of disk space it will use per disk is directly relational
to the smallest sized disk you use.  Thus it will only use 9GB of the 36,
9GB of the 40 and 9GB of the 80GB drives each. 

You will only get 4 x 9GB = 36GB of disk space (disk 5 is used for Parity)

Instead you could mirror (RAID1) the 2 80GB drives and put your critical
data on them.

-J Harwood