Problem migrating from RAID 5 to 6 - ProLiant DL320s

[Nuno Mota]

Hi everyone.

I recently bought a HP ProLiant DL320s server (with HP Smart Array P400/256MB Controller with BBWC Battery) and 4 500GB SATA hard drives but I’m having problems when migrating from RAID5 to 6 and since I couldn’t find an answer in Business Support Center nor here, I’m writing this thread. Here’s what I did so far (twice):

1. Started with 3 drives in RAID5;
2. Installed Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition in one of two partition configured (20GB + 980GB);
3. Added the fourth drive just to see if it was possible to migrate the array to RAID6 and yes, it was possible;
4. Removed the drive and checked to see if everything was working perfectly;
5. Removed another drive to see if RAID5 was working flawlessly;
6. Added an empty drive to make it rebuild de volume;
7. After having all the 3 drives again in RAID5 and after all the parity checks, inserted a fourth drive;
8. Made the expansion and extension of the volume to use the new drive, everything without a single problem (SmartStart diagnostic says everything is ok with the 4 drives working perfectly in RAID5);
9. But from this point on, I can’t migrate to RAID6…
10. Used the diskpart.exe Windows application to add the unpartitioned space to the second partition;
11. Even so the problem remains…

Isn’t it possible to migrate to RAID6 after an expansion? I’ve followed all the steps described in the guides and did the above procedures twice to make sure I didn’t committed any error, but the outcome is always the same...
Can someone please tell me if this is supposed to happen or if I’m doing something wrong? Thank you very much!


Best regards,

Nuno Mota

[Nuno Mota]

To see if my problem was related to the array reconstruction (in RAID 5), I tried:

1. Started again with 3 drives in RAID5;
2. Installed Windows in one of two partitions configured (20GB + 980GB);
3. Added the 4th drive just to see if it was possible to migrate the array to RAID6 and yes, it was possible;
4. Made the expansion and extension of the volume to use the new drive, everything without a single problem
SmartStart diagnostic says everything is ok with the 4 drives working perfectly in RAID5);
5. From this point on, I can't migrate to RAID6...
6. Used the diskpart.exe Windows application to add the unpartitioned space to the second partition;
7. Even so the problem remains...

Later on it hit me: point number 3 is the answer, I was thinking about this the wrong way! How can it migrate to RAID6 if all the available space is occupied?! To migrate to RAID6 I can't do the expand or I have to add a 5th drive! So simple and basic...