RAID HD replacement question.

[NARSBARS]

I have two sata disks in a RAID array. I will check to see if Zero or one. How do I go about replacing the HDs to newer, faster, larger, without blowing away the information?


NARSBARS

 

[technome]

Go to the Dell site, Dell forums, poweredge ,raid... this has been answered many times over there, a common question. Almost all raid adapters have the same procedure.

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Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm

 

[Nelviticus]

By far the easiest way is to copy all the data to somewhere else, build a new array, then copy it all back again. That only works if you have enough spare room though!

Nelviticus

 

[NARSBARS]

Thanks for the suggestions. I checked and the Raid is set up as a mirror, so can I just replace one HD with a larger unit and rebuild?

NARSBARS

 

[Nelviticus]

Good question. It depends on your RAID controller but what I suspect will happen is that it will rebuild the mirror on your new disk to be the same size as the other (smaller) one, then when you replace that one it will rebuild the mirror again but also to the same size. If that happens, you will end up with the same size array that you started with and a lot of wasted space.

You could always just try it and see, although it will probably take a very long time to do two rebuilds.

Alternatively, have a look on Google:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=resizing+raid+array

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[NARSBARS]

I should have said I am running XP Pro, 32 bit, not as a server.
That said, after reading a number of the links with a lot of conflicting advice, it seems the general consensus is "Don't do it".

I had thought of Cloning the drive (array) to a larger single drive (1 of 2), removing both of the old drives and installing both of the new drives with the clone already resized with Partition Magic. At least this way, I will have both of my original drives in perfect condition to recover from letting the smoke out.
I learned a lot following the links.
Thanks to everyone.

NARSBARS

 

[Nelviticus]

One thing to consider - some RAID controllers let you attach one disk that already contains data plus a second blank disk, then create an array out of the two whilst preserving the data on the first one. If your controller supports this you could copy the data from your array to one of your new disks, then put both new disks on the RAID controller and let it make an array out of them.

Personally I wouldn't trust my data to that process but then I'm over-cautious!

Regards

Nelviticus