Extending disk space on Proliant ML350 G4/SmartArray 641/Win Server 2003 SP1?

[RPohjonen]

Dear all, We have a HP Proliant MML350 G4 with SmartArray 641 (RAID 5, 3 x 36.4 GB discs) running Windows 2003 Small Business Server (Service Pack 1). We are running out of disk space and are therefore looking for option to add fourth disc and extend the disc capacity, preferably by extending the logical drives. I have been going through the manuals and various sites and forums and it looks like that there are somewhat conflicting information whether or not it is possible to do this on our system. The manual says that we should be able to extend the array in order to gain more space but states that not all operating systems support logical drive extension. Furthermore, some sources say that a battery enabled array accelerator (BBWC) is needed to do this (and yes, we don't have one). Does anyone know if this is possible and if it is, what is exactly needed to carry our the upgrade?

[Trygve Henriksen · Accepted solution]

You can ignore the 'OS warning' as I think that was mostly for the WinNT age. (2003 has no problems that way)

You will need a BBWC (Battery Backed Write Cache) module as the controller won't let you do an expansion without it.
This is because an expansion requires a lot of write operations, and any interruption at all can cause a corrupt array.

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12067_div/12067_div.html

As this BBWC includes 128MB RAM it will also give you improved performance, so...

The alternative is to back up the data on the RAID, delete it, recreate it with additional disk(s) and restore the data.
This is assuming that your OS isn't on the RAID.
(I really hope not as RAID5 is a bad idea for a system disk)

[RPohjonen]

Thanks for the clarification! I have now purchased and installed the BBWC and I am waiting for the new hard disk to arrive.

Regards,

Risto Pohjonen