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Growing RAID5 without back up data?

I am trying to build a media server for my home and still in the process of evaluating my OS options (Ubuntu Server, Fedora Core, or Win Server). I am planning to use four 1TB drives initially for the RAID5 array. Once it fill up i will add more 1TB drives.

My question is can Fedora Core create a RAID5 array and grow latter without having to back up data to external hard drive and re-create the array? I am looking for something that is easy to use and manage. If Fedora Core doesnt have this option, can you recommend other distributions that can do this?

Thanks.

Growing a software RAID is more a function of having current tools, rather than a specific distribution. This is the process on most any recent distro:

Code:

For example, going from 3-disk RAID5 to 4 disks:



umount /dev/mdX

#Unmount the array



mdadm --add /dev/mdX /dev/sde

#Add the new drive as a hot spare



mdadm /dev/mdX --grow --raid-disks=4

#Add the new hot spare as a md device



mdadm -D /dev/mdX | grep Reshape

#To watch the status (this can take a long time, don't continue until this finishes)



e2fsck -f /dev/mdX

#Before we resize the partition, we need to check for errors



resize2fs /dev/mdX

#To resize the partitions.



mount /dev/mdX /some/path

#Mount the partition and use as normal

Update the configuration file so it builds properly on restart. For example:

Code:

DEVICE /dev/sd[bcd]

ARRAY /dev/mdX level=raid5 num-devices=3 metadata=0.90 UUID=xxxxxxxx:xxxxxxxx:xxxxxxxx:xxxxxxxx

Becomes:

Code:

DEVICE /dev/sd[bcde]

ARRAY /dev/mdX level=raid5 num-devices=4 metadata=0.90 UUID=xxxxxxxx:xxxxxxxx:xxxxxxxx:xxxxxxxx

Thanks! I will try it out.