Extending Logical Drive in Raid 1+0 Array

[Ron Reinhard]

I have a Proliant DL380 G2, Win2k server which I am trying to extend the size of the logical drive in a RAID 1+0 array. The machine originally had two 18GB drives, but I have replaced one drive with a 36GB and successfully mirrored it to work with the 18GB drive. Next I want to replace the remaining 18GB with a second 36GB. Finally, I want to extend the size of the logical drive from 18GB to 36GB. The help documentation in the Array Config Utility says that use simply highlight the logical drive of interest and select "extend" and enter the new size of the logical drive in a field. My problem is that my ACU doesnt display that option. I had the older ACU v7.15.19.0 and have since applied the ACU Update to bring it to v7.32.0, but I still dont get the option to extend the drive. This is a production server so I dont have the luxury of rebooting it to look at how the drives are partitioned to determine if the OS sees the entire 36GB on the 36GB drive. I forgot to check when I had powered it down to swap the first drive. Is this the likely cause of my problem? Is it possible that the ACU doesnt present the "extend" option because it doesnt recognize the additional space on the 36GB drive? I would greatly appreciate anyone sharing their thoughts or experiences, since system administation isnt my primary function. Thanks!

[Ron Moody]

You will not be able to resize the partition on the fly with Windows2k as the OS. It will require a rebuild.
If there are any 3rd party tools out there, we haven't found them...

[Carlos_61]

you cannot do this because when u change the first hdd the RAID recognize it as 18GB, when u put the second one RAID recognize again as 18 GB hdd, to the system u only have 2 18 GB hdd´s.

[Kedd Guyton]

Using Symantec Ghost or Acronis TrueImage create an image of the drive(s) on a network share.

Delete the existing array. Create a new array using the full capacity (2 x 36GB in RAID-1 = 36GB).

Restore the image to the new array resizing in Ghost / TrueImage where needed.

If you have a Gigabit network, you can probably accomplish this with no more than an hour of downtime.