Migration from RAID 0 to RAID 1

[cpradip1069]

I'm currently running a Raid 0 configuration and wondering if I could switch it to a Raid 1 config without losing any data currently on the 2 drives. Is there any software that will allow it to happen? Do I have to create a complete image of the raid 0; reconfigure and re-format and then restore the image? I currently have 600 gig drives running Raid 0 & having 2 partion on it.(C:200 & D: 400). How i proceed for Migration?
Please help

Thanks

[Matti_Kurkela]

First, switching from RAID 0 to RAID 1 will reduce your available disk capacity to half, so you must first make sure your data fits to within 300 GB.

The correct procedure (and whether it is possible at all) depends on the make and model of your RAID.

Is your RAID software- or hardware-based? If you don't know, please describe the model and configuration of your server.

Some HP SmartArray hardware RAID controllers can do RAID level migrations, but it usually requires that the controller is equipped with a BBWC module (Battery-Backed Write Cache). Low-end SmartArray models may not be able to do it.

If you have a SmartArray RAID controller that is able to do RAID migrations, you do them through the ACU (Array Configuration Utility) software. If your current logical disk(s) occupy more than 50% of your total disk capacity, the option to migrate to RAID 1 won't be displayed - so you must first shrink your partitions and logical disk(s) to a total of 300 GB or less.

In short: read the documentation of your RAID.

MK

[kris rombauts]

Hi,

you did not specified your server model and raid controller type/model, so this answer is provided with some assumptions in mind or with a scenario that might not fully apply to your situation.


- if you don't want to touch your data/partitions then you can only migrate your 2 disk RAID0 to a 4 disk RAID 0/1. This means you need to add 2 disks of the same capacity and migrate from a 2 disk RAID0 to a 4 disk RAID0/1 which most SmartArray controllers can do. This assumes your server has 2 free disk slots on the same RAID controller.


- any other scenario will mean you have to backup/reconfigure RAID / reinstall OS/ restore backup.

As long as your partitions of 200 and 400 Gbyte cannot be shrinked to a value below or equal to a total of 300 Gbytes, there is no way you can ever migrate with just 2 disks because you are using 600 Gbyte at the Windows filesystem level with those two partitions, even if they only have a couple of GBytes data that does not matter because the hardware RAID controller underneath is unaware of the filesystem usage.


It's a good idea you plan to implement some redundancy because a single disk failure now will mean you loose your data/server completely.
For the price of a hard disk these days against the cost which you will be faced with when having to rebuild a server i think it's an easy choice....


HTH

Kris