ML 350 G5 HDD upgrade

[KamilVonderka]

Hello,

I have ML 350 G5 with 3 72GB, 3.5” 15k SAS hard drives configured as RAID 5. Controller is Smart array E200i with 1.86 firmware version. I would like to add 4 2TB WD RE4 SATA HDDs and reconfigure the arrays as follows:

2x 72GB 15k SAS (Raid 1) for OS (Windows server 2003 R2 x64)

4x 2TB WD RE4 (Raid 5) for data

Is this configuration possible?

I found thread about using normal SATA drive with this controller, but only as a single drive. Does anybody have experiences with this or similar configuration?

Thanks

Kamil

[shooreg]

The issue about using non-HP drives in RAID configurations is that "alien" drives are not truncated (in drive firmware) to the exactly same number of sectors (like HP does with same capacity drives regardlessly on who produced them). 

So, if HP drive fails, you replace it with the same in size or bigger HP drive (equal to or more sectors then the dead one), and controller rebuilds your array normally.

If a non-HP drive fails, you never know. You replace it with same size non-HP drive, both may be 2TB, but if sector count on new one is less (even 1 sector less) the controller wil not start rebuild.

[TVVJ]

The Smart Array E200i Controller supports upto a total of 6TB with 6 1TB SATA MDL hard drives Large Form Factor (LFF 3.5”. If 2.5” Small Form Factor (SFF) drives are used, then upto 2.4TB. Please refer to section capacity of the Smart Array E200/E200i Controller’s quickspecs, locatable at:

          http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12460_div/12460_div.html

This configuration is not possible as more than 8TB of storage is being planned to be installed. It is recommended to use four hard drives of 1TB each and check if the hard drives are detected in the Option ROM Configuration for Arrays (ORCA) and proceed to configure two arrays as desired. Ensure SAS and SATA drives are part of different arrays and not mixed in the same array.

Regards,

Vijayasarathy

[KamilVonderka]

Thanks for your replies.

to shooreg:

I would like to use Western digital RE4 HDDs, which are suitable for using in raid.

to Vijayasarathy:

I need maximum capacity. What would you recommend me?

One option is to use 6x 1TB HDD in RAID 5, but there is a problem with 2TB MBR limit. Is there any solution of this problem? I read about GUID Partition Table, but I'm not sure if I can use it with this server and OS.
OS will be Windows server 2003 R2 x64 Standard edition.

The whole 5TB disk would be divided into 2 partitions. The first for OS and the second for data.