Adding Drives to Array

[Ayman Altounji]

I have a Proliant 3000 server with the Smart 221 Array Controller. It currently has (4) 9.1 Gb drives with one set as the spare. All drives are in Bay A on the Server. Can I add more 9.1 Gb drives to Bay B on the server and expand the array? How is this accomplished? Do I have to add them one at a time? Thanks.

[Ayman Altounji]

i had to do a similar task on a 1600 with a 221 array. The 221 does'nt have a battery backed cache, so it would not let me expand the array. I ended up using a 2sl from our in house server (with a battery backed cache), add the drives, expand the array, refit the origonal 221.
The expansion can either be by booting from smartstart, or by using the SSD installed array configurator under NT4

[Ayman Altounji]

Hello,

Yes, you can add new drives to the 2nd bay but you won't be able to use those new drives in the same array on the 221 controller. You will have to configure the new drives in a new array. The 221 controller doesn't support array expansion nor logical drive extension.

Have a nice day,

Mike

[Ayman Altounji]

If I add the drives to a second array in the second bay, won't I have to make them a new volume on my server and when I uncompress all of the files on the server on one volume will this even help me out. Should I just add bigger drives to the server?

[Ayman Altounji]

Yes, you'll have to make a new volume on the server and copy data from the original volume to your new one in order to free space on the original volume.

To your question about adding bigger drives, that is a decision that I can't help you with. It would depend on how much space you are going to need in addition to what you already have.

Have a nice day,

Mike