Single drive to RAID 1 (Dell PERC 3/DCL) 1

[SwiftAU]

I have a Dell PE 1650 with a Dell PERC 3/DCL RAID Controller. Currently the system has a single hard drive (36GB SCSI). Can I add an extra hard drive (same type/size drive) and configure it as a RAID 1 mirror without destroying the existing data? If so, what's the process? I've had bad experiences with PERC controllers not working the way they were supposed to in the past, so would prefer to get some advice before taking a chance.

Thanks.

 

[DanZeMan]

First advice - make sure that you're running the most recent f/w and drivers!!!
You didn't mention your OS, so I'll assume W2K or XP
Ensure that you're also running the latest Array manager.
If your box supports Hot-Swap, simply plug in another driver, and rescan the controller, from that point, you'll see the disk, and it's just a matter of setting the 2nd disk to be amirror of the 1st. (you should b/u the disk before doing this, just in case!)

 

[SwiftAU]

Hi DanZeMan,

Thanks for your reply.

O/S is RedHat 9 actually. I've run the latest Dell snap update which supposedly fixes problems of disappearing RAID arrays (yet another reason for my lack of faith in Dell PERCs).

I was hoping it would be a simple case of adding the drive, and setting it to be a mirror, however in the past I've noticed the PERCs to be a little stubborn at times, and it wouldn't suprise me if it said "Sorry pal. You set this array up with a single drive, so I'm buggered if I'm going to let you change it to a RAID 1 array now!" I just wanted some sort of confirmation that it would work, before I shell out some dough on the second drive. Of course worst case I can create a new array with the two drives and re-install/restore everything, but not the route I'm willing to go at the moment.

Thanks again,
Swift