Online reconfigure RAID

[BC73]

Hi

Wonder if someone can point me in the right direction please?  I have a Proliant DL380 Gen9, with HP Smart Array Controller HP 440ar.  6 disks in the server.  2 x 300GB 10K SAS as RAID1, 4 x 600GB 10k SAS which is being reported as RAID1.  Running out of disk space.  Is it possible to add an additioanl 600GB 10K SAS (all my budget will permit) and perform an online conversion to RAID5 without data loss (i.e. 5 x 600GB SAS in RAID5)?  If so, what is the procedure?

Grateful for any advice.

Regards

BC

[Edwin Eppel]

According to this thread it is possible using ACU. I am assuming that the same would apply to a Gen9 with 440ar.
http://community.hpe.com/t5/ProLiant-Servers-ML-DL-SL/Convert-RAID-1-to-RAID-5/m-p/6570560#M144330

OK, I found the quickspecs and the 440ar does support online raid migration:
http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/c04346299.pdf?ver=1.0

Note however that any time you are working with hard drives you should have a full backup to safe guard your data. You also must have a working cache module for write caching.

[Lucy_Ellis]

Using HPE Smart Storage Admistrator will be the best route.  Follow RAID migration.  The user guide for HPE SSA is located here: http://www.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03909334

[Jimmy Vance]

While online migration is possible, I'd make a good backup of the data, wipe the array and re-create with the new disk and RAID level.  The online migration will take time, and even longer if the system is online and still in use.  If something hiccups during the migration there is a chance of data loss.  Once the migration is finished you still have to manipulate the patition table in the OS to get access to the new available space