Areca ARC-1200 - Ease of Use Features

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APPENDIX
In the illustration, volume 1 can be assigned a RAID level 1 of op-
eration while volume 0 might be assigned a RAID level 0 of oper-
ation. Alternatively, the free space can be used to create volume
2, which could then be set to use RAID level 1.
Ease of Use Features
• Online Array Roaming
The SATA RAID controllers store RAID conguration information
on the disk drives. The controller therefore protect the congu-
ration settings in the event of controller failure. Array roaming
allows the administrators the ability to move a completed RAID
set to another system without losing RAID conguration infor-
mation or data on that RAID set. Therefore, if a server fails, the
RAID set disk drives can be moved to another server with an
Areca RAID controller and the disks can be inserted in any order.
• Online Capacity Expansion
Online Capacity Expansion makes it possible to add one or more
physical drives to a volume set without interrupting server op-
eration, eliminating the need to backup and restore after recon-
guration of the RAID set. When disks are added to a RAID set,
unused capacity is added to the end of the RAID set. Then, data
on the existing volume sets (residing on the newly expanded
RAID set) is redistributed evenly across all the disks. A contigu-
ous block of unused capacity is made available on the RAID set.
The unused capacity can be used to create additional volume
sets.
A disk, to be added to a RAID set, must be in normal mode (not
failed), free (not spare, in a RAID set, or passed through to
host) and must have at least the same capacity as the smallest
disk capacity already in the RAID set.
Capacity expansion is only permitted to proceed if all volumes
on the RAID set are in the normal status. During the expansion
process, the volume sets being expanded can be accessed by
the host system. In addition, the volume sets with RAID level 1,
is protected against data loss in the event of disk failure(s). In