[deeppow]

That is the basic problem. It is an array of four 80G 7200RPM IDE IBM drives (2MB cache I would assume). Good news is the array will recover and I can run on the backup set (as one would hope) and the array boot services say I can recover (and recopy onto a replacement HD). Bad news is that the drives are not available any longer.

Question is: I've read to use identical drives in RAID setups but I can no longer do that. I would assume Ireplaceing it with a similar drive should work as well. Should I stick with the 2MB cache or does it matter.

Obviously I'm pretty much a newbie as far as HDs go. Thanks for your suggestions!

[deathman20]

They say go with the same sized drives because if the drive happens to be slightly smaller it won't work in an existing raid. You have to have the same size or a bigger drive.

As for the drive it self it could be a 5400 RPM to 7200 RPM drive for that size and it wouldn't matter if it has 2-8mb of cache. Only thing that is that the raid would run slower if its on a slower drive then your current, then again if the newer drive is faster it would run at the speed of the current drive you got.