I'm setting up a RAID 5 array for a media server in my home. I have 5 300GB SATA drives that I am using for the array. I am thinking about configuring the array in one of two ways. (1) Partitioning all 5 drives as one large 300GB partition each, giving me 5 for the array. (2) Partition each drive into 3 100GB partitions, giving me 15 for the array.

Any suggestions or comments regarding performance, problems or anything else would be very helpful. Thank you.

(1)

0,0,0 sda - 300GB

0,0,1 sdb - 300GB

1,0,0 sdc - 300GB

1,0,1 sdd - 300GB

2,0,0 sde - 300GB

(N-1)*S = 1.2TB Capacity
No Spare



(2)

0,0,0 sda1 - 100GB
sda2 - 100GB
sda3 - 100GB

0,0,1 sdb1 - 100GB
sdb2 - 100GB
sdb3 - 100GB (spare)

1,0,0 sdc1 - 100GB
sdc2 - 100GB
sdc3 - 100GB

1,0,1 sdd1 - 100GB
sdd2 - 100GB
sdd3 - 100GB (spare)

2,0,0 sde1 - 100GB
sde2 - 100GB
sde3 - 100GB

(N-1)*S = 1.2TB Capacity
2 Spares

the way I'm reading that, option2 would likely decrease performance.


create a raid5 array using 4 drives equaling 900GB free space & 300GB parity info.
Use the 5th drive as a hotadd spare in case of a drive failure.