HP Proliant ML350 G5 with E200i/128 BBWC, need to increase array size due to a drive failure

[SeanCamby]

We have a ML350 G5 with the 128 BBWC version of the E200i smart array controller.  There are 2 arrays set up - Array A is 1 RAID 5 logical drive composed of 3 physical drives (each 750 Gb in size) and Array B is 1 RAID 5 logical drive composed of 3 physical drives (each 1 Tb in size).  One of the 750 Gb drives failed.  Instead of purchasing another 750 Gb drive I wanted to purchase 3 drives (each 1 Tb in size).  What is the procedure I need to go through to replace the failed 750 Gb drive and the 2 still functioning 750 Gb drives in array A?  I want to end up with Array A utilizing as much hard drive space as possible in a 3 drive RAID 5 set.

[Dennis Handly]

There is an online and offline method.

If you have a backup you can just replace all 3 drives and restore.

For online, you replace the drives one at a time.

And somehow you tell the OS that the array has been expanded.

[SeanCamby]

---

@Dennis Handly wrote:

There is an online and offline method.

If you have a backup you can just replace all 3 drives and restore.

For online, you replace the drives one at a time.

And somehow you tell the OS that the array has been expanded.

---

I am interested in the online method but I'm unsure how to "tell the OS that the array has been expanded".  Any info on that for Windows 2008 Server Standard?

[Jimmy Vance]

---

@SeanCamby wrote:
I am interested in the online method but I'm unsure how to "tell the OS that the array has been expanded".  Any info on that for Windows 2008 Server Standard?

---

First thing, make sure you have a good backup in case something goes wrong!

The online method will take some time, replace your failed drive with one of the new larger drives, and wait for it to finish rebuilding the array. When the array is again healthy, remove one of the other drives in the array, wait for the system to go into a failed state, insert one of the new larger drives and wait for the array to rebuild. Once the array is healthy, rinse and repeat with the remaining drives until all the drives in the array are the new larger drives.  From the Array Configuration Utility, you can then extend the array to use the available free space. Once the array has extended, you then use Windows disk management tools to extend the partition or create a new partition.