According to this, it may not work that way: [URL] But then it may ... I've never tried it on this controller.  One thing you could do - that would keep you from doing a full backup/restore - is remove the disk from port 2, attach to port 0, then rebuild/resynch, freeing up ports 2,3. I don't think your last idea will work (recreate without initializing) ... unlike the PERC's, I don't think the SAS 5/6 have the option to initialize separately from VD creation - VD creation starts the initialization process automatically.
Dell PowerEdge 840, SAS 5I/R controller, two 500gb drives in RAID-1. Ok. The mirrored drives for some reason are running on ports 1 and 2 of the controller. Ports 0 and 3 are empty. I want to add two new drives and create a second mirror array. The problem is because one of the new drives is going into Port 0 Windows will not boot. It is my understanding that this controller does not have an option to select the VD to boot from. So my question is, can I take the drive on Port 1 and move it to Port 0 and then take the Port 2 drive and move it to Port 1 and expect Windows to boot normally without the array breaking? Will the controller auto detect the existing array on the new ports or do I have to create a new array without initializing? I'm not too keen on the last option.
SAS 5IR, move drives to different port on controller.