Increase storage of Raid 5

[atlantisnet]

I have a Compaq ML350 server with 4 9.1 GB drives in a raid 5 configuration using the Compaq Smary Array 431 controller. 1 of the 4 drives is an online spare.

We need more storage space. Since I can not physically add more drives, can I instead replace the 9.1 GB drives with 36 GB ones without backing up and restoring? If so, how?

 

[atlantisnet]

Also, the drives are Ultra2 Scsi. Can I replace with Ultra3?

 

[connollyg]

Its quite possible the Ultra3 drives are not qualified with the server and/or the controller, but they should work.

The Ultra3 drives should autonegotiate down to the bus speed.

 

[jeffpenn]

Depending on how much time you have, you can remove one drive at a time let it rebuild and then do the next one and so on and so forth.
you will then see your original space and also free space.

 

[connollyg]

No i dont think adding bigger drives will give you any extra space, the RAID controller will just treat the 36GB drives as 9GB and will not make the extra space available!

You could always add the spare disk to the array and get an extra 9GB that way!

So i am afraid you will have to backup the data, destroy all the raid sets, swap the disks, recreate the raid sets and restore your data.

Or

You could just add a new SmartArray and an external shelf (14 disk slots) in dual bus mode and with the new bigger disks create more space!

 

[jkallen]

Not correct - jeffpenn is correct except he failed to mention that you need to go back into ACU and create new logical drive from the new free space. You can then see it in the OS. This will not give you a larger C: drive without 3rd party spanning tools.

 

[visualsee]

Having done exactly this for a customer recently jkallen is correct as you must create a newlogical drive from the free space by enetering the ACU. This obviously creates a second drive unless a spanning tool is used but they have varying degrees of success and their own problems so its best to create the extra logical drive and transfer what user data and programs you can to the new drive and use the additional space. Incidentally we used 36gb drives with no problem. If you want to use larger drives or 3rs party drives then the controller will need to be changed to suit.

 

[visualsee]

Having done exactly this for a customer recently jkallen is correct as you must create a newlogical drive from the free space by enetering the ACU. This obviously creates a second drive unless a spanning tool is used but they have varying degrees of success and their own problems so its best to create the extra logical drive and transfer what user data and programs you can to the new drive and use the additional space. Incidentally we used 36gb drives with no problem. If you want to use larger drives or 3rd party drives then the controller will need to be changed to suit.

 

[atlantisnet]

Actually, I was able to increase the drive space of a single partition without any problems. The physical drives in the array were configured with 2 basic NTFS partitions. A C: partition of 4GB and a D: partition of 14GB. After the upgrade, I ended up with a D: partition of approximately 63GB. Here is how I did it:

1. Replaced the 4 9.1GB drives with 4 36.4GB U320 Universal Hard Drives (1&quot 10,000 rpm (286713-B22).

2. Each drive was replaced one at a time starting with the first data drive 0 and ending with the spare.

3. Installed Windows 2000 SP3.

4. Installed all Microsoft Critical Updates.

5. Upgraded the Compaq Array Configuration Utility to version 2.90.65.0.

6. Upgraded the Compaq Smart Array 431 ROM BIOS to version 1.22 B.

7. Upgraded the Compaq Smart Array-2 Controllers Driver for Windows 2000 to version 5.14.0.0 B.

8. Installed HP ProLiant Array Configuration Utility 1.10.20 (6.20.9.0) a.k.a. Compaq Array Configuration Utility XE.

9. Extended the drive using the Compaq Array Configuration Utility XE.

10. Rebooted.

11. Ran the Microsoft Diskpart Command Line Utility (diskpart.exe) to extend the D: partition and use the newly available unallocated space.

12. Rebooted.