HP Netserver 2000 storage upgrade question

[dkb_lee]

Hi!

Our HP Netserver 2000 is configured with RAID5 and there are 4 SCSI(36GB each) disk running as basic disk. The server is running on Win2000Svr stn edition with SQL2000 running on it.

What we plan to do is to add on one SCSI drive(72.8GB) to the existing array. We would like this new drive to be added into one of the existing partition.

From what i know is that i need to upgrade the Basic Disk to Dynamic disk first. The concern is that will the Basic to Dynamic disk conversion create any problem to the existing live server? Is it possible for anyone to list out steps that i need to do to add this new drive into the existing partition?

Thks!

[pabel]

Hi, take a look at diskpart utility (option extend):

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/tools/new/diskpart-o.asp

With this utility you don't need to convert basic disk to dynamic disk, but use it carefully.

Regards.

[Sean T. Craig]

Hi dkb_lee,

What you are proposing is not possible as-is. If you were to add a 72GB hard drive to your existing array, the controller would only use the first 36GB on the drive and the rest would be inaccessible.

If you did decide to continue with this option, you would be able to add 36GB to your current logical drive but that won't automatically change anything from a Windows perspective. It would still show your total partition space at 104193MB with 34731MB unallocated at the end of the disk. If your logical drive has multiple partitions on it, you can use Diskpart.exe to expand your extended partition to include this unallocated space. However, you cannot use it to expand a primary partition, so C: is not an option without using some 3rd party solution.

If you want to get the full 72GB capacity out of your new drive, you will need to set it up as a separate RAID-0 array and partition/format it as a different drive letter.

With regards to the Basic/Dynamic disk, this has nothing to do with hardware RAID configurations. Windows Disk Management sees a RAID-5 as a single drive and when you expand the array, the additional space still appears to be the same disk in disk management.

Sorry I don't have better news for you. Best of luck,

Sean T. Craig Sr. C.E.T., M.C.P.