Question : Problem: SCSI LVD as a SE drive with RAID - Is SCSI drive positioning in an array important?

Okay, the question may seem cryptic so please allow me to explain.

All my Single Ended SCSI drives are now depleted (I just suffered a power interruption that took out my last three ST39173W drives and I'm forced to use a "newer" Seagate ST318436LW  LVD drive for replacements in my older servers with the SE jumper installed for Single Ended emulation.

My question is: Since the Seagate ST318436LW doesn't have termination; this drive cannot be the last drive in any of these arrays.  So in the event that I lose one of the last drives in the array, can I simply swap the positions of any of the other two working drives without adversely affecting the array?  

Example (3 drives in a RAID 5 configuration):
1 - Good
2 - Good
3 - Bad (last drive in array)

Since I cannot install the ST318436LW in position 3, can I reconfigure the positioning as so:

1 - Good
3 - Replaced with ST318436LW
2 - Good

Note: I'm just moving the drives into different bays, their ID's do not change.

So does it matter about position?  I doubting it's an issue but I thought I'd check with you folks.  

Yes, I know I can install an internal term. but I haven't found one yet (even on ebay).

Hopefully, all this hard ware will be upgraded soon but it's complicated because this is all old NT 4 servers (try making this stuff compatible with modern RAID hardware).  I'm opting to upgrade the s/w to Exchange 2003 and Windows 2003 but it's a very expensive proposition.

Thanks it's been a yucky night,
Shawn  

Answer : Problem: SCSI LVD as a SE drive with RAID - Is SCSI drive positioning in an array important?

Sure it is.  Windows will do it.  I'm pretty sure Linux will do it.  I used to run an 8 disk SOFTWARE RAID 5 under NT4.

What RAID controller are you using?  

Besides, I think those drives DO have a termination option - see http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/scsi/st318436lw.html (Note the bottom jumper configuration).  Otherwise, I'd just add a terminator to the end of the chain.