RAID5 - partition resize.

[urvishtrivedi]

Need assistance with partition resize on RADI5 configured disks. Here's how it looks like -

I am using Dell 1600sc server. In Disk Management I have got Disk 0- OS(C and Data(D OS=Win2000Server, and Disk 1- Data (G:,H:,I:,J

Disk1- RAID5 - Logical Size is 273GB, two physical disks 136GB each + 1 (136GB)for RAID5.

Disk1 has four partitions - G:50GB, H:50GB, I:100GB, J:73GB.
I am running out of the space on G: and I: drive and I do have some extra space available on H: and J: that I like to use. Here's what I want to accomplish.

Take 30GB from H: and allocate to I:
Take 45GB from J: and allocate to G:

I have heard of EASUS for partition can resize the partition. As a matter of fact, I have used the home edition one time.

Question:
1. What is the best way to accomplish without breaking RAID5?
2. When I see a logical size of 273GB, can I shrink the partition the way I want and increase the other partition, even though the partition resize might be going across physical disk?
3. What if RAID5 breaks? How do I recover?
4. Is EASUS Server Edition the best option? OR
5. Do I just simply delete H: drive from Disk Management and extend G drive? or both G drive and I drive.

I've asked Dell and they said, the paritioning is done under Window and RAID 5 configuration is being handled by RAID Contollers so I shouldn't run across to issues where RAID5 breaks but I still have to be ready with Plan B.

Thanks,
Urvish Trivedi
trivediurvish@hotmail.com

 

[xmsre]

As far as I know, Network Appliance or NetApp for short only supports RAID 4 and RAID DP. You might get more responses if you posted your question in a Dell Forum.

XMSRE

 

[technome]

He has a standard raid adapter....
You can use a partition manager such as Easus, Acronis,or Paragon etc. to shrink any partition, and use it to increase the size of another. They work at the OS level so the fact the volume is spread over multiple disks has no bearing. The partitions are at the OS level, not at the raid level.

"Do I just simply delete H: drive from Disk Management and extend G drive? or both G drive and I drive."

You can delete them, if there is no data on them, then use the partition manager.

As Alway have a backup. I have resized a few dozen partitions with no issues, though at times it got scary, as the programs sometimes appear to freeze (sometimes 2-3 hours it can sit at a screen during the resizing).

Failsafe.... attach a >273 gig SATA drive to a SATA interface, clone the raid 5 to it, test that it boots to the SATA drive, then boot with the original raid5 and make your adjustments to the partitions.



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