DL 360 G4 Raid Config (Breaking the mirror)

[jcgarrard]

Hello. I have a DL 360 G4 with two 36gb drives mirrored. I need more space on the server.

Is it possible to break the mirror, remove the second 36gb drive and load an unmirrored 142gb drive in it's place?

I understand the risk of not having a mirror any more, and that's cool. I just need more space.

HP has made it sound like I will get a mirror on the second drive as soon as I plug it up with only 36gb of useable space. That doesn't sound right.

If anyone could step me through the procedure, I would appreciate it. I'm not much of a hardware guy.

Thanks.

[jcgarrard]

FYI - Here is the Configuration View from the Array Configuration Utility.

> Smart Array 6i Controller in Embedded Slot
>> Parallel SCSI Array A
>>> Logical Drive 1 ( 34727 MB, RAID 1+0 )

I don't know if that helps, but there it is.

Also, let me say again, the idea way of running this would be to have NO raid at all so I'm left with a single 36gb C: drive and a 142gb D: drive. Is that even possible?

I've been doing some reading about how you can replace a drive with a larger one and it will rebuild itself. That's swell. I might can live with the 36gb lost on the 142gb drive (maybe).

But here's the question about that. Which drive do I do first? The one on the left or right? Will the 'extra' space outside what will be the mirrored 36gb be shown in Windows 2003 Disk Manager as 'unpartitioned space'?

[Igor Karasik]

Hi,
I suggest backup server/replace drives/do restore. It is safe and simple method.
You can replace drive with a larger one and it will rebuild itself, but after rebuilding and array extend you will have unused space. In order to use unused space you need to use diskpart, but if you have only "C:/" drive you cannot expand drive "C:\" using diskpart.
And you have no freeware 3-th party tools to expand system drive.
See this recent thread as well
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1027500&admit=-682735245+1149572320000+28353475

>>> idea way of running this would be to have NO raid at all so I'm left with a single 36gb C: drive and a 142gb D: drive. Is that even possible?

It is possible, but very not recommended in production environment. Nevertheless - it depends only on your Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) .

>>Which drive do I do first? The one on the left or right?

Doesn't matter

>>Will the 'extra' space outside what will be the mirrored 36gb be shown in Windows 2003 Disk Manager as 'unpartitioned space'?

Yes.


Anyway, DO FULL BACKUP FIRST.

[Steven Clementi]

Since your original configured Logical Disk is 36GB, this is what will happen...


Replace one 36GB disk and wait for it to rebuild. Once complete, replace the second one and wait for it to rebuild. The order does not matter.

Once complete, you will have @110GB available for allocation, either a new logical drive or you can extend your existing drive or you can do both.

If you only want to make a new drive, a D: drive... then you do not need ANYTHING else except ACU and Windows Disk Management.

If you really need extra space on your C: drive, then you will need some 3rd party utility to extend it.

You can also back it up, blow it away and rebuild as well, but it depends on your needs.

Definitely do a backup first.

"HP has made it sound like I will get a mirror on the second drive as soon as I plug it up with only 36gb of useable space. That doesn't sound right." THis IS how it works. Once you replace BOTH drives, the "lost" space than appears in the ACU.

"Will the 'extra' space outside what will be the mirrored 36gb be shown in Windows 2003 Disk Manager as 'unpartitioned space'?"

The answer here is NO. Once you complete the replacement, you need to allocate that un-used space fisrt. It will not automatically appear in Windows Disk Manager. If you create a new Logical Drive, it will appear as a second Disk. IF you extend your existing Logical Drive, then it will appear as unpartitioned space.


Steven