I currently have a 1TB HDD in my PC. I just found 2 more 1TB Disks in my drawer, and I wanted to create a RAID 5 array, however I don’t want to lose the data which is already on the HDD is use.
I figured if I create a RAID 1 array from the two extra HDDs, then move the data from the current one to the array, would it be possible to add the current HDD as a 3rd one to the array, then convert it to a RAID 5 to prevent data loss?
would it be possible to add the current HDD as a 3rd one to the array, then convert it to a RAID 5 to prevent data loss?
No. That is not at all how RAID works.
A raid 1 array just clones the data to another drive so they both have the same data, a raid 5 array needs at least 3 drives but with this array one can loose one drive and the data will still be safe but typically you cannot expand the array to have more disk and when setting up an array the disk typical need to be the same size and spindle speed if using a standard hard drive this link seems to have good information on how raid array work I only skimmed through it though. https://www.microsemi.com/product-directory/raid-controllers/4047-raid-levels#:~:text=As the most common and,all drives (Figure 5).