Replacement drive for RAID 1

Bad drive model no longer available

[Wlauzon]

One of our (Dell) computers with a dual drive RAID-1 has a bad drive. That model (Seagate st3250824as) is long out of production.

Can any SATA drive of equal or higher capacity be used to replace it, or does it need to match something specific?

We are planning on upgrading & replacing it in Jan, but this is (or was) a pretty high end machine in 2007 and would still be useful for other duties in the sales office.

[Leosghost]

Seagate st3250824as is for sale new all over the web at around $60.oo just use your favourite search engine ..term = "Seagate st3250824as"

[lammert]

You can replace bad RAID drives with a drive with at least the same size. There is no need to exactly match the same model number.

[Wlauzon]

I have seen those drives listed, but would prefer not to buy another one - this is the 3rd one to go out of that exact model in 3 years. Nearly all seem to be "refurbished" - Seagate says they stopped making them in 2007.

So I will just get an upgraded and/or newer model and plug it in, looks like the worst that can happen is that it not work.

[J_RaD]

same size.

but if you seem to be having problems with those drivers in your RAID, why not rebuild your RAID with new bigger drives? Drives arn't expensive

[BillyS]

Any size, you're just limited by the smallest drive (you waste storage).

[kaled]

Given the nature of the question, you are clearly relying upon another of these drives exclusively even though you know them to be unreliable! I would say, as a matter of urgency, ditch it.

Opinions and experiences will always differ, but Seagate have never (to my knowledge) had a reputation for good reliability. I would tend to recommend Hitachi, Maxtor, IBM and Fujitsu, roughly in that order, but I don't really follow hardware developments these days.

<oops>Just did a quick check, apparently, Seagate bought Maxtor, Hitachi bought IBM's hard drive business and Toshiba bought Fujitsu's hard drive business.</oops>

Kaled.

[Wlauzon]

From what I gather, I could just buy a pair of upgraded drives, replace the bad one, let it rebuild, and then do the same for the other one.

[J_RaD]

or just ghost the drives and not have to wait for a rebuild.