Smart 3200 9Gb drives to 32Gb

[Jasp80]

Hi

Have got a Proliant 5500 with Smart 3200 array controller with various drives in it. OS is NT4 SP6a. A set of four 9Gb in RAID5 config (seen in disk administrator as d:) are rapidly running out of space. I believe it is possible to take out one drive at a time and replace with a 32Gb drive, wait until the disk has been "rebuilt" until all have been replaced. I'm assuming when all 4 have been updated the server/array will see the extra drive space, but how will NT react? Will Disk admin just see the extra space on the drive and continue or will it have to be created as a volume set and added on to the existing d: config. If this is the case does it affect fault tolerance? Thanks in advance.

[Sunil Jerath]

Hello Neil,
Before you do the HDD upgrade please do the following:
BACKUP,Update the system BIOS as well as the firmware of SA3200 controller. Here are the links for BIOS as well as the firmware:
BIOS:
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/locate/7_1108.html#4
(Please select the appropriate version)

Firmware:
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/14979.html

Now once the above is done. Then start replacing the HDDs one by one and when this finishes you will see extra space for which you will have to create an extra logical drive. This is how it's been done in the past but if somone has a different experience that I don't know.

Regards,

[Jasp80]

Hi,

Sorry re-reading that I have not explained it very well. The d: drive needs to have the extra space assigned to it, so the drive gains the extra 30Gb or so. The drive has a SQL database which has grown quicker than anticipated and thinking of the easiest way to implement a solution.

Thanks

[Martin Breidenbach]

NT will see that new logical drive as a new hard drive. You can add this to your D: drive by creating a volume set.

[e4services]

Disk Administrator will just see the extra space on the drive as free space. To Extend the OS Logical Drive, Go into Disk Admin and highlight the existing logical drive (your D:), hold the CTRL key down and then click on the free space. Both will be highlighted black. Then goto PARTITION and choose Extend Volume SET.It should then turn both yellow. Then go to PARTITION and choose Commit Changes Now. IT will then ask for a reboot.