Why Are My HPE MSA Storage Volumes Not Expanding After Adding More Drives?

[JaneSwift]

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently added more drives to my HPE MSA Storage system, but I’m running into an issue where the volumes are not expanding automatically to utilize the new drives. I’ve checked the configuration settings and made sure the drives are properly added to the storage pool, but when I go to expand the volume, it doesn’t show the extra space.

Has anyone experienced this? What steps am I missing to ensure that the new drives are being used and the volume expands as expected?

[tisha56morris]

This sounds like a frustrating situation, but I’d be glad to offer some guidance. If your HPE MSA Storage system isn't automatically recognizing or utilizing the extra space after adding drives, here are some possible troubleshooting steps:

1. **Verify the Drive Addition**: Double-check that the new drives are correctly recognized by the system and visible in the storage pool configuration. If they aren't, you might need to initialize them or check for hardware issues.

2. **Confirm Storage Pool Configuration**: Ensure that the new drives are properly added to the same storage pool as your existing volume. If they're part of a different pool, the original volume won't be able to expand.

3. **Look at Volume Expansion Settings**: If the drives are correctly added to the pool but the volume isn't showing the extra space, verify if the volume expansion policy is enabled or configured to utilize available space automatically. Sometimes, manual intervention is required.

4. **Check RAID Settings**: Expansion may depend on the RAID configuration. For example, certain RAID levels might require additional setup or have limitations on the number of drives they support.

5. **Firmware Updates**: Outdated firmware can sometimes prevent new drives from being fully recognized or utilized. Make sure your system's firmware and software are up-to-date.

6. **Manual Expansion**: If the automatic process doesn’t work, use the HPE MSA Storage utility to manually expand the volume. There may be specific steps in the management interface or CLI that need to be followed.

7. **Logs and Diagnostics**: Check system logs and diagnostics for any warnings or errors related to the newly added drives or volume expansion.

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