Add disks to raid 5

[gpetrom]

hi
I have a compaq server ml380 with three disks 36.2 and i want to add 3 more is this a problem and should i take my data backup?
Thank you all in advanced

 

[bkuepers]

It is possible if your volume is RAID 5. It's a three step process.

1. Within the HP Array Controller Config. tool add the three drives to the 3 disk RAID array. This may take significant time to rebuild the RAID array across 6 disks. You will then have 6 disk RAID 5 with a bunch of unused space.

2. Using the HP Array Controller Config. tool extend your logical drive(if you want to add the new space to your existing volume) or create another one(will show up as a second disk in your operating system). If your going to extend the logical drive be sure your running 2000 server SP4 or windows 2003 server. I don't think extending logical drives supported before that.

3. Extend your partition in the OS using Diskpart(

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590).

It may take a reboot on the server but you should see a bunch of free disk space on your current disk in disk management. Diskpart will change the size of the partition for you.

Good luck and be very careful as this can be data destructive if not done right. Try it in a test environment if you can first.