topic LC2000 U3 with Netraid1MB increase raid 5? in Netservers

LC2000 U3 with Netraid1MB increase raid 5?

Chris Rowe_3 — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 14:16:22 GMT

Hello,
I have a LC2000 U3 w/1MBNetRaid and windows 2000 Advanced Server. I want to increase my raid 5 array. I have two particians on a raid 5 array which are labeled drive C: (7.3 gig Operating System Partician) and drive E: (43 gig for content).

Is it true that since I have 2 particians on the same raid 5 array, that I will not be able to expand the raid 5 array?

Also, can I do a complete back up of my server, then add an additional 18gig HD into the array and restore back using HP's 1-button disaster recovery. Will it be able to restore as long as I configure the Raid and its particians of 7gig on one and the rest of the space for the other one?

Any suggestions on the best way to do this would be appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Chris

Re: LC2000 U3 with Netraid1MB increase raid 5?

kris rombauts — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 06:10:54 GMT

Hi Chris,

their might be some misunderstanding here, if your raid5 array has only one logical drive in it (so the logical drive capacity is 100% of the array capacity) then their is no problem to add a disk online and expand the raid5 array using the Netraid Assistant utility. When it's migrated,you can extend the Windows partitions (drive E: but not the boot partition C:).
This procedure is explained in the Netraid manuals which are available on the HP website.

If the array is made out of more then one logical drive then you cannot expand the array, this is a limitation that also exits on other raid controllers in the industry and is not limited to the Netraid controller.

Since you mentioned having 2 partitions, i guess you were confused with the terminology of logical drives at the Netraid level and partitions at the Operating System level (Windows). Best way to be 100% is to look in disk administrator in Windows and if the C: and E: partition you have are located on the same DISK in disk administrator (i.e. DISK0) then you are ok. If however C: and E: are on DISK 0 adn DISK1 i.e. then you cannot extend the raid5 as this indicates their are more then one logical drives the raid5 array is divided into.

HTH

Kris

Re: LC2000 U3 with Netraid1MB increase raid 5?

Chris Rowe_3 — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 11:33:30 GMT

Thanks, I really appreciate your detailed answer.