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The most important difference is that it allows you to increase the flexibility for disk replacement. It is better detailed below along with a number of other recommendations.

One should consider to use a partition instead of the entire disk. This should be under the general recommendations for setting up an array and may certainly spare you some headaches in the future when further disk replacements get necessary.

The most important arguments is:

Disks from different manufacturers (or even different models of the "same" capacity from the same manufacturer) don't necessarily have the exact same disk size and, even the smallest size difference, will prevent you from replacing a failed disk with a newer one if the second is smaller than the first. Partitioning allows it to workaround this;

Side note on why to use different manufacturers disks: Disks will fail, this is not a matter of a "if" but a "when". Disks of the same manufacturer and the same model have similar properties, and so, higher chances of failing together under the same conditions and time of use. The suggestion so is to use disks from different manufacturers, different models and, in special, that do not belong to the same batch (consider buying from different stores if you are buying disks of the same manufacturer and model). This is not uncommon that a second disk fail happen during a resotre after a disk replacement when disks of the same batch are used. You certainly don't want this to happen to you.

So the recommendations:

1. Partition the disks that will be used with a slightly smaller capacity than the overall disk space (e.g, I have a RAID5 array of 2TB disks and I intentionally partitioned them wasting about 100MB in each). Then, use /dev/sd?1 of each one for composing the array - This will add a safety margin in case a new replacing disk has less space that the original ones used to assemble the array when it was created;

2. Use disks from different manufacturers;

3. Use disks of different models if different manufacturers are not an option for you;

4. Use disks from different batches;

5. Proactively replace disks before they fail and not all at the same time. This may be a little paranoid and really depends on the criticity of the data you have. I use to have disks that have 6 months differences in age from each other;

6. Make regular backups (always, regardless if you use an array or not). Raid doesn't serve the same purpose of backups. Arrays assure you high availability, Backups allow you to restore lost files (including the ones that get accidentally deleted or are damaged by viruses, some examples of something that using arrays will not protect you from).

OBS: Except for all the non-neglectable rational above, there aren't much further technical differences between using /dev/sd? vs /dev/sd?#.

Good luck

The most important difference is that it allows you to increase the flexibility for disk replacement. It is better detailed below along with a number of other recommendations.

One should consider to use a partition instead of the entire disk. This should be under the general recommendations for setting up an array and may certainly spare you some headaches in the future when further disk replacements get necessary.

The most important arguments is:

Disks from different manufacturers (or even different models of the "same" capacity from the same manufacturer) don't necessarily have the exact same disk size and, even the smallest size difference, will prevent you from replacing a failed disk with a newer one if the second is smaller than the first. Partitioning allows you to workaround this;

Side note on why to use different manufacturers disks: Disks will fail, this is not a matter of a "if" but a "when". Disks of the same manufacturer and the same model have similar properties, and so, higher chances of failing together under the same conditions and time of use. The suggestion so is to use disks from different manufacturers, different models and, in special, that do not belong to the same batch (consider buying from different stores if you are buying disks of the same manufacturer and model). This is not uncommon that a second disk fail happen during a resotre after a disk replacement when disks of the same batch are used. You certainly don't want this to happen to you.

So the recommendations:

1. Partition the disks that will be used with a slightly smaller capacity than the overall disk space (e.g, I have a RAID5 array of 2TB disks and I intentionally partitioned them wasting about 100MB in each). Then, use /dev/sd?1 of each one for composing the array - This will add a safety margin in case a new replacing disk has less space than the original ones used to assemble the array when it was created;

2. Use disks from different manufacturers;

3. Use disks of different models if different manufacturers are not an option for you;

4. Use disks from different batches;

5. Proactively replace disks before they fail and not all at the same time. This may be a little paranoid and really depends on the criticity of the data you have. I use to have disks that have 6 months differences in age from each other;

6. Make regular backups (always, regardless if you use an array or not). Raid doesn't serve the same purpose of backups. Arrays assure you high availability, Backups allow you to restore lost files (including the ones that get accidentally deleted or are damaged by viruses, some examples of something that using arrays will not protect you from).

OBS: Except for all the non-neglectable rational above, there aren't much further technical differences between using /dev/sd? vs /dev/sd?#.

Good luck

One thing to consider here is to use a partition instead of the entire disk. This should be under the general recommendations for setting up an array. This may certainly spare you some headaches in the future when further disk replacements get necessary.

The most important arguments is:

Disks from different manufacturers (or even different models of the "same" capacity from the same manufacturer) don't necessarily have the exact same disk size and, even the smallest size difference, will prevent you from replacing a failed disk with a newer one if the second is smaller than the first. Partitioning allows it to workaround this;

Note on why to use different manufacturers disks: Disks will fail, this is not a matter of a "if" but a "when". Disks of the same manufacturer and the same model have similar properties, and so, higher chances of failing together under the same conditions and time of use. The suggestion so is to use disks from different manufacturers, different models and, in special, that do not belong to the same batch (consider buying from different stores if you are buying disks of the same manufacturer and model). This is not uncommon that a second disk fail happen during a resotre after a disk replacement when disks of the same batch are used. You certainly don't want this to happen to you.

So the recommendations:

1. Partition the disks that will be used with a slightly smaller capacity than the overall disk space (e.g, I have a RAID5 array of 2TB disks and I intentionally partitioned them wasting about 100MB in each). Then, use /dev/sd?1 of each one for composing the array;

2. Use disks from different manufacturers;

3. Use disks of different models if different manufacturers are not an option for you;

4. Use disks from different batches;

5. Proactively replace disks before they fail and not all at the same time. This may be a little paranoid and really depends on the criticity of the data you have. I use to have disks that have 6 months differences in age from each other;

6. Make regular backups (always, regardless if you use an array or not). Raid doesn't serve the same purpose of backups. Arrays assure you high availability, Backups allow you to restore lost files (including the ones that get accidentally deleted or are damaged by viruses, some examples of something that using arrays will not protect you from).

OBS: Except for all the non-neglectable rational above, there aren't much further technical differences between using /dev/sd? vs /dev/sd?#.

Good luck

The most important difference is that it allows you to increase the flexibility for disk replacement. It is better detailed below along with a number of other recommendations.

One should consider to use a partition instead of the entire disk. This should be under the general recommendations for setting up an array and may certainly spare you some headaches in the future when further disk replacements get necessary.

The most important arguments is:

Disks from different manufacturers (or even different models of the "same" capacity from the same manufacturer) don't necessarily have the exact same disk size and, even the smallest size difference, will prevent you from replacing a failed disk with a newer one if the second is smaller than the first. Partitioning allows it to workaround this;

Side note on why to use different manufacturers disks: Disks will fail, this is not a matter of a "if" but a "when". Disks of the same manufacturer and the same model have similar properties, and so, higher chances of failing together under the same conditions and time of use. The suggestion so is to use disks from different manufacturers, different models and, in special, that do not belong to the same batch (consider buying from different stores if you are buying disks of the same manufacturer and model). This is not uncommon that a second disk fail happen during a resotre after a disk replacement when disks of the same batch are used. You certainly don't want this to happen to you.

So the recommendations:

1. Partition the disks that will be used with a slightly smaller capacity than the overall disk space (e.g, I have a RAID5 array of 2TB disks and I intentionally partitioned them wasting about 100MB in each). Then, use /dev/sd?1 of each one for composing the array - This will add a safety margin in case a new replacing disk has less space that the original ones used to assemble the array when it was created;

2. Use disks from different manufacturers;

3. Use disks of different models if different manufacturers are not an option for you;

4. Use disks from different batches;

5. Proactively replace disks before they fail and not all at the same time. This may be a little paranoid and really depends on the criticity of the data you have. I use to have disks that have 6 months differences in age from each other;

6. Make regular backups (always, regardless if you use an array or not). Raid doesn't serve the same purpose of backups. Arrays assure you high availability, Backups allow you to restore lost files (including the ones that get accidentally deleted or are damaged by viruses, some examples of something that using arrays will not protect you from).

OBS: Except for all the non-neglectable rational above, there aren't much further technical differences between using /dev/sd? vs /dev/sd?#.

Good luck

The most important arguments are:

1. Disks from different manufacturers (or even different models of the "same" capacity from the same manufacturer) don't necessarily have the exact same disk size and, even the smallest size difference, will prevent you from replacing a failed disk with a newer one if the second is smaller than the first;

2. This is not actually a second reason, but a complementary reason to the above on: Why use different manufacturers disks? The point is: Disks will fail, this is not a matter of a "if" but a "when". Disks of the same manufacturer and the same model have similar properties, and so, higher chances of failing together under the same conditions and time of use. The suggestion so is to use disks from different manufacturers, different models and, in special, that do not belong to the same batch (consider buying from different stores if you are buying disks of the same manufacturer and model). This is not uncommon that a second disk fail happen during a resotre after a disk replacement when disks of the same batch are used. You certainly don't want this to happen to you.

1. Use disks from different manufacturers;

2. Use disks of different models if different manufacturers are not an option for you;

3. Use disks from different batches;

4. Partition the disks that will be used with a slightly smaller capacity than the overall disk space (e.g, I have a RAID5 array of 2TB disks and I intentionally partitioned them wasting about 100MB in each). Then, use /dev/sd?1 of each one for composing the array;

5. Proactively replace disks before they fail and not all at the same time. This may be a little paranoid and really depends on the criticity of the data you have. I use to have disks that have 6 months differences in age from each other;

6. Make regular backups (always, regardless if you use an array or not). Raid is doesn't serve the same purpose of backups. Arrays assure you high availability, Backups allows you to restore lost files (including the ones that get accidentally deleted or are damaged by viruses, some examples of something that using arrays will not protect you from).

The most important arguments is:

Disks from different manufacturers (or even different models of the "same" capacity from the same manufacturer) don't necessarily have the exact same disk size and, even the smallest size difference, will prevent you from replacing a failed disk with a newer one if the second is smaller than the first. Partitioning allows it to workaround this;

Note on why to use different manufacturers disks: Disks will fail, this is not a matter of a "if" but a "when". Disks of the same manufacturer and the same model have similar properties, and so, higher chances of failing together under the same conditions and time of use. The suggestion so is to use disks from different manufacturers, different models and, in special, that do not belong to the same batch (consider buying from different stores if you are buying disks of the same manufacturer and model). This is not uncommon that a second disk fail happen during a resotre after a disk replacement when disks of the same batch are used. You certainly don't want this to happen to you.

1. Partition the disks that will be used with a slightly smaller capacity than the overall disk space (e.g, I have a RAID5 array of 2TB disks and I intentionally partitioned them wasting about 100MB in each). Then, use /dev/sd?1 of each one for composing the array;

2. Use disks from different manufacturers;

3. Use disks of different models if different manufacturers are not an option for you;

4. Use disks from different batches;

5. Proactively replace disks before they fail and not all at the same time. This may be a little paranoid and really depends on the criticity of the data you have. I use to have disks that have 6 months differences in age from each other;

6. Make regular backups (always, regardless if you use an array or not). Raid doesn't serve the same purpose of backups. Arrays assure you high availability, Backups allow you to restore lost files (including the ones that get accidentally deleted or are damaged by viruses, some examples of something that using arrays will not protect you from).