[Discuss] Adventures in N40L Land

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On 02/14/2012 11:57 AM, Richard Pieri wrote:
> On 2/14/2012 11:32 AM, Bill Bogstad wrote:
>> Reason?   Also, do you mean actual physical geometry or the lies that
>> all drives seem to give now?  (Which from what I've seen on a random
>> collection of drives seem to all be the same anyway.)
>
> Unbalanced disks generate unbalanced I/O loads which the RAID system
> may not be able handle properly.  This can cause the RAID controller
> to fault good disks that aren't keeping up with the faster-performing
> disks in the set.
>
Yes. You certainly want to match drives that have comparable properties.
You also need to consider which RAID you are using. The issue I'm trying
to point out is that if you have a RAID array that has all identical
drives, same manufacturer and same lot number, you run the risk of a
potential multiple simultaneous failure. But, as you point out, if the
drives do not have the same characteristics you may be causing the
problem. 

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
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