Add hard drive to an array

[Jeffry Araya_1]

I have a Netserver LH 6000 and I need to add a new hard drive to an arrray configured as RAID 5. Someone told me it can be done with Disk Array Utility tool that comes in Netscape Navigator CD. Is that true??
Is there any other way to do it without shutting down the server??
I really need help and quickly.
thks.

[Sean T. Craig]

Hello Jeffry,

You can use the NetRAID Assistant to expand an existing RAID-5 array provided the new drive has the at least same number of megabytes of the smallest drive in the array. The Netserver Navigator CD has been discontinued but you may still be able to find one by searching the internet. Your best bet is to download it from this link:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/CoreRedirect.jsp?targetPage=ftp%3A%2F%2Fftp.hp.com%2Fpub%2Fsoftlib%2Fsoftware2%2FCOL3578%2Fns-12645-1%2Fut_win2000_nt40_win2003_b0203_1_en.exe

If you're running Windows 2000 or better, you do not need to reboot when prompted; NT does require a reboot.

Now, here comes the technical part: when you run NetRAID Assistant with the new drive in place, it will show "Ready". Click on it to highlight it and click on LD0 in the Logical Devices section to highlight the array. Then right-click on LD0 and, from the menu, choose "Advanced Menu" and then click on "Add Drive".

This will expand your RAID-5 to include the new drive. What it will not do is add capacity to your partition. Windows Disk Management (or Disk Administrator in Windows NT) will show Unallocated Space after a reboot.

You then have three choices:
1. Partition that space into another drive letter (i.e. D:, E:, etc)

2. If you have multiple partitions, you can use diskpart.exe to expand an extended partition. Microsoft does not allow you to expand primary partitions. If your RAID-5 is a single C: drive, you cannot use this utility.

3. You can use a 3rd party partitioning software to expand the primary partition. This solution is not supported by HP and you do so at your own risk.

Either way, after you expand a RAID-5, you have to restart the server in order for Windows to detect the new space.

Let us know how that goes,

Sean T. Craig Sr. C.E.T., M.C.P.