Question: Upgrading to Larger Harddrives ML350 G2

[Scott_377]

I am looking for the best way to upgrade the harddrives on my server with the least amount of downtime. I want to replace the current 36.4gb mirrored drives with 146gb drives. Here is my current configuration.

Proliant ML350 G2 (Windows 2000 Adv Server sp4)
Smart Array 532 controller.
36.4gb mirroed drives.

I would appreicate some feedback on a solution for this. Sorry if this has been dicussed before, but i could really find any info. Thanks alot.

[Der Kinderen Filip_1]

You can replace the disks one by one. The controller wil rebuild the mirror set and enable the extra space afterwords.

I just tested this on a DL360, replaced the first drive, after the rebuild completed replaced the second drive. When this was also finished, I had the remaining part of the disk as unused space. This space can be used to create new logical drives, or even to extend your existing logical drives (supported from w2K SP3 and up).

Advantage of this upgrade path is, of couse no downtime, but the removed disk can always be used as a backup. This obviously doesn't mean that you shouldn't take a full backup before every step, just in case.