Logical Drive and Array Expansion rebuild time

[Ste7N]

Hi All,

we currently have an Array of 8x 8TB 7.2K disks running on an P816i-a Smart Array (Apollo 4200 Gen10).

Need to expand the array with 4 additional 8TB disks.

What is the fastest path in your opinion?

Option A - Add one disk by one (it thakes 4 weeks to expand each disk)

Option B - Add all the 4 new disks to the Array in one shot

We are not sure if the rebuild time is "array used space" dependent or "new surface" dependent. Sorry for the tech definition

Thank you. Best regards. Stefano

[support_s]

System recommended content:

1. HP Smart Array 641/642 Controller - Period Of Time For Rebuild An Array Expansion Logical Drive Extension Or Period Of Time For a Logical Drive Migration

2. RAID 1: breaking mirrors and rebuilding drives, 4th Edition

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[Cali]

Hi,

I did this last week.

Add 4 additional SATA Drives as "One Shot" and start expanding.

Expansion is running over the Weekend.

One by One is not good, because you have multiple Rebuilds.

In my Case during the expansion one "Old" Drive went Dead.

This happens sometimes because the existing Drives get a lot of "Stress".

After replacing (and rebuilding), Yesterday I finally expand the Volume, this needs only Seconds.

In the end, I am stuck now, because the Windows Volume is 8k formated and this is too small for a 40TB Partition.

:-0

Cali

[Ste7N]

Hi Cali,

thank you for your reply.

The array is quite new, hopefully we will not encouner issues during the expansion. 

Last time we did it (with one 8TB 7200RPM Disk) it took like 20 days to restripe... crazy.

So, one shot seems the right way....

By the way, the volume is 64k ReFS.... there is room for space improvement  

Regards.

Stefano

[Cali]

Prior to starting Expansion, I set Rebuild Priority to "High" on the Array Controller.