Upgrade drive capacity

[xoopa]

Hi All,
Im new here. Im glad I found this forum. Alot of knowledgable people around here. I hope some of you can help me.

Here are my server specs:

Dell Poweredge 2650 servers
- 2x2.8GHz Xeon CPU
- Perc 3/di raid controller
- 3x36gig scsi HD (raid 5)
- 4gig memory
- Running Windows 2000 Advanced Server

I need to increase disk capacity from 36gig drives to 149gig drives.

Is it possible to go from raid5 3x36gig scsi drives to raid5 3x149 gig scis drive on a dell poweredge 2650 with perc 3/di.

What if I were to add 2 additional drives for a total of 5x149gig raid 5? Is there any bennefit to the drive speed or redundancy be adding more drives? Or is this not even possible.

How about if I just added 2 more 36gig drives for now for a total of 5x36gig and then upgrade to 5x149gig later in the future? IS this possible?


If any of the above are possible, please give me a step by step method of doing so.

Thanks in advanced,
Calvin C

 

[mbrooks]

I would first check the server specs to see if the motherboard even supports 149gig drives.

M. Brooks

http://mbrooks.info

 

[richsabe]

just went through upgrading a 2850 with W2K3 and had to whack the whole array and start over. There is, according to Dell, a problem with W2K3 that will not let you expand an existing array. You have to start over. Good Luck

 

[LawnBoy]

You should be able to add 2 more 36 GB drives without issue (make sure you have good backups!).

To change the size of the drives you will have to rebuild from scratch afaik.

 

[LWComputingMVP]

Don't know what problem Richsabe is talking about - but I haven't tried it personally.

In THEORY, you would just replace the existing drives, ONE AT A TIME, with larger drives, letting the array rebuild before replacing the next drive.

Then, you can use the Dell storage management software to extend the array so that it uses the entire available space. HOWEVER, it's important to understand that what this should do is enlarge the "physical disk" as it is reported to Windows. It will NOT enlarge the Partition.

The C: partition CANNOT be enlarged. And you may have difficulty enlarging other partitions on the same "physical" disk as the C: drive. You would normally enlarge it using the DISKPART tool.

 

[twwabw]

As others have stated, Dell tools and windows diskpart utility let you expand physical disk space, create new partitions on the space, etc., but have many limitations. Basically, they're a PITA. The limitation of not being able to expand the C:\ partition is one of the biggest.

I have used Paragon Partition Manage several times to expand partitions on client systems. It has never failed me. It is simple to use, and allows you to expand or resize partitions in just about any manner you choose. And yes- you can resize the C:\ partition with it too! I have used it to change the original 12 or 14Gb boot partition Dell OEM installs would create on systems I inherited (why did they do that??? ). Once you add your new drives to the array, you can easily add their free space to existing partitions, or create new ones, or any combination of the above.

You do all of this without deleting any existing partitions; resizing them, and restoring them. You do it on the fly. No data loss. No recovery necessary. Of course, you would be foolish not to make a complete backup prior to using the tool in the event something goes awry, but I haven't had one even hiccup yet.

You need to buy the Server edition for use on Windows servers. At $299, it's worth every penny in saved frustration and wasted time.

 

[NickFerrar]

I'd have to add my vote for Paragon Partition Manager to (in combination with their drive image software). It's a must if you'e increasing the C:, if not it's still nice to have a full system image before messing about with partitions on production servers.

Not sure what the bug is on Windows 2003 that richsabe mentions, I've done it several times on Windows 2000 though.