Expanding a XServe RAID and Striping

Greetings!
I have an XServe RAID with four 250 GB ADMs inside the 1-4 slots of the Upper or left controller. This one array totals 701.27 GB at RAID 5 showing up on my Desktop as one RAID.
I recently acquired two ADMs, a 750 GB and 500 GB, and I'd like to install them in my vacant second controller on the right, slots 8-9. I'm pretty sure I can create another array with these two drives setting them at RAID 5. Then what I'd like to do is stripe the two arrays, using Disk Utility, and create a software RAID that will show up on my desktop as one RAID. (I currently use this RAID as my Final Cut Pro media drive.)
My questions are: Am I on the right path?
If I stripe them together, I will lose my data on my existing array, correct? (I have the data backed up on another external drive so when I'm done I can copy it back)
I feel is best to have one RAID rather than several. Or should I consider having two RAIDs but being cognizant that I will have to stay on top of of my Final Cut Capture Scratch media folders as I edit? (ie, Two RAIDS = two separate Capture Scratch folders. So I'd have to choose what Final Cut media will be on what RAID, etc. rather than one folder where all the media can go)
My goal down the road is to completely populate the left/top controller with 250 GB ADMs. If I do, I would assume I can expand the side with the 250's by merely using the Expansion function? Would this "upset" the prospect of having a single RAID of two striped arrays?
Thanks in advance!
System: PowerMac G5 (June 2004), Mac OS 10.4.11
Xserve: Upper Controller, 4 ADMs, 250 each, 1 Array, 1 Slice, RAID 5, 701.27 GB Total

William Lloyd wrote:
This doesn't sound like a good idea. You're mixing stuff in a variety of configurations that don't match, and if you want to stripe the two sides, they should match for optimal performance.
As in: they should all be 250 GB ADMs, right?
With the 750 GB and 500 GB drives, your options are RAID 0 (with NO protection) giving ~ 1 TB of storage, or RAID 1 (mirror) giving ~450 GB of storage. The latter is probably preferable.
So I could install them into the right side controller and make an array of the two using RAID 1 (mirror) and end up with 450 GB of storage. I'll get the protection but losing the extra storage because it would defer to the smaller size 500 GB ADM. And I can't add them to the other side where the 250 GB ADMs are because you're not supposed to mix different size ADMs on the same controller. (This is the stuff that is not in Apple's fine print when they sell it to you. You find it out either through Discussion threads or Technical Articles.)
If you were to attempt to stripe this with the other side, you'd have either 1.4 TB or 900 GB of storage, respectively. In the former case, if one of the drives on the right side failed, you would lose 100% of your data on the entire volume.
My option(s) would be: install the two non-compatible sized drives into the right side controller, combine them as a RAID 1 array and then have two separate RAIDs on my desktop, with the second RAID being physically larger than the other but actually smaller because of the incompatible 750 and 500 GB sizes. Then, when editing with Final Cut, I'd have to choose which RAID that I wanted to store my media on.
So if I were you, I'd give up trying to make it look like one volume.
Agreed. But are there any other options I can explore? I purchased the 750 and 500 GB drives naively thinking I could expand the storage of my Xserve RAID by buying larger drives. Now I'm finding out I should have purchased only 250 GB ADMs-- but they weren't available from Apple when I was able to purchase additional drives and no one told me otherwise. Until now.
Thanks for your learned reply. I guess I should have consulted with you/Xserve RAID Discussions before buying anything.

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