changing SCSI drives on IBM Xseries 232 server

[Aggiedad]

Hello,
My office has IBM series 232 server with 6 (18.8GB) SCSI hot swappable drives. I am replacing them with the 36GB. This is what happened: I took the 1st one out, then #6 started blinking amber light. I then inserted the new #1 in the slot. Waited a while until the amber light from # 6 turned off. Now it looks like # 1 is my reserve since the rest of the drives are accessible (green blinking lights on HD 2-6). No activity on # 1.
I don't want to take # 2 out fearing that # 1 may not be working. Is this the normal result? Can somebody enlighten me?
thanks

 

[jsavely]

The best way to accomplish this feat is the make sure you have a good backup. Also backup your raid configuration.
Replace all your drives with the new ones, configure the new array, load the OS and restore the data from backup.
I am not sure that replacing the drives 1 at a time and letting them rebuild is the way to do this.
Starting fresh usually produces the best results.

 

[dubya02]

Adding to what has already been said...simply pulling an 18 and replacing it with a 36 will only give you 18 gigs.

 

[Aggiedad]

Thanks for the responses. Still working with the drives. Installation is completed but still shows the original size of space. I've done a complete back up and will reload the OS so I'll just have 2 partitions.
thanks

 

[catorze]

The way ServeRAID works woth Hot Spares is that as long as the replacement is at least the same size as the "failing" drive, it will rebuild. However, it will assume the replacement was the same size as the "failed" drive. The only way to replace the drives with larger drives is to back it up (and verify you can restore!!!), then recreate an Array with the larger drives. Then you can create your larger Logical Drive.

 

[catorze]

The way ServeRAID works with Hot Spares is that as long as the replacement is at least the same size as the "failing" drive, it will rebuild. However, it will assume the replacement was the same size as the "failed" drive. The only way to replace the drives with larger drives is to back it up (and verify you can restore!!!), then recreate an Array with the larger drives. Then you can create your larger Logical Drive.