Do HighPoint RAID controllers support mixed drive configurations?
Written by Support Team
Updated at August 20th, 2021
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Do HighPoint RAID controllers support mixed drive configurations?
Yes – RocketRAID series SAS/SATA controllers and SSD series NVMe RAID controllers can support RAID arrays created using a mix of drives (different models and/or capacities).
However, we would recommend avoiding mixed drive configurations. RAID arrays created using an assortment of drives are subject to the performance and storage capacity limitations of the smallest/slowest drive.
Example:
The capacity of a RAID 0 array is calculated by multiplying the capacity of the smallest drive by the total number of drives.
For example, creating a RAID 0 array using three 8TB hard drives, and one 6TB hard drive will result in 24TB of useable space (6 x 4).
If the 6TB drive is capable of performing at the same level as the 8TB models, this may be worth the capacity tradeoff. Our controllers allow you to configure the leftover space as a separate array (6TB in this case).
However, if the 6TB performs at a lower level, (100MB/s vs 200MB/s for the three 8TB models), performance would be limited to approximately 400MB’s. You would have been better off using this drive separately.