topic Re: Smart Array: convert an existing JBOD drive with DATA to RAID0 in Servers - General

Smart Array: convert an existing JBOD drive with DATA to RAID0

smour42 — Mon, 12 May 2025 08:39:22 GMT

Dear All,

I have multiple servers misconfigured... Drives are attached to HPE Smart Array P408i-p SR Gen10 and are being in Unassigned state, but they are in use under the OS (RHEL 8), with one partition which has an ext4 FS created on top of each drive.

I need to move each of these drives to a single RAID0 on each DRIVE, and I would like to avoid copying all the data out and in.

If I create a RAID0 with ssacli on top of existing "Unassigned drive", is it still possible to recover the FS and the data? I've been told in a past, it was possible, but also I heard that ssacli write a metadata header (which can be big), which can overwrite the GPT partition table (1MB) and then data.

I dont have a test lab to try, please share your experience.

Thank you!

Cheers,

Re: Smart Array: convert an existing JBOD drive with DATA to RAID0

Sebasbin — Mon, 12 May 2025 08:33:01 GMT

Hi,

Regarding RAID Metadata: When you create a RAID array (including RAID 0), the controller writes metadata onto the drives. This metadata contains information about the RAID configuration, such as the RAID level, stripe size (for RAID 0), and which drives belong to the array

Recommended Action:

Given the high risk of data loss, the only truly safe and recommended approach is to:

Backup All Data: Before making any changes, perform a full backup of all the data on these drives. This is non-negotiable.
Create the RAID 0 Array: Once you have a secure backup, you can then use ssacli to delete the existing logical drives (if any are mistakenly configured) and then create your new RAID 0 array spanning the desired physical drives.
Create Filesystem and Restore Data: After the RAID 0 array is created, you'll need to create a new filesystem (ext4 in your case) on the newly formed logical drive.
Finally, restore your data from the backup.

Re: Smart Array: convert an existing JBOD drive with DATA to RAID0

smour42 — Mon, 12 May 2025 08:39:28 GMT

Hello,

Thank you for your reply,

Yes of course, we considered this approach, but at this customer ther 40 drives, each 18 TB ....

So trying to find any other magic method,

Cheers,