Adding disk space to a Windows 2000 Compaq DL380 G2 Server

[CA1067191]

I have a win2k server partition with a 5 GB C drive and 40GB E drive. Now they want to expand the E as it is filling up fast. I have two 18 GB drives which I have inserted into the empty slots on the server.

I open the Compaq Array Config Utility and it immediately notices the unassigned drives are present.
I am presented with two options: Extend the logical drive of the existing array, or create a new array.

I know I want to extend the current one because I want to make the E drive (logical) larger. So I click next, but then there is this warning that array expansion is not supported under W2K and data loss may occur. ??? I have to do this so I guess I will click yes to continue.

Can I do this during the day and in a production environment?
When it is done will it automatically be part of the E drive? I seem to remember doing this a long time ago and when the array expansion finished, I had to boot with Partition Magic and make the new unallocated space part of E.

Anyone done this lately?

[CA467151]

You can do the array expansion...and you do remember correctly. The result of the array expansion will be free disk space in the Windows 2000 Disk Manager. So extending an existing RAID array will not change any of your W2K disk partitions, drive letters, etc. After completing the array extension (and rebooting W2K once to allow it to update the changes), your options are dependent on what is available with W2K Disk Manager - or 3rd party utilities such as Partition Magic.
If you have further questions, need to know if your disk partitions in Windows as Basic or Dynamic. And do you have just the C: & E: drive partition s(D: being CD-ROM I assume?)

[CA1067191]

Thank you - I did the extension during the day without any problems. It took about 3 hours to add 36 GB. Later I rebooted and used Partition Magic to expand the E drive to include the new space.

[CA850077]

I would not recommend you follow your current plan of action. Before you expand capacity please consult the follow document link. Please follow these recommendations or you are almost guaranteeing yourself a server rebuild from a server crash. Another point before I start is this is not just a HP issue. (ProLiant Customer advisory EM000915_CW)

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=PSD_EM000915_CW01&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=316587&locale=en_US

Basics of this document:
1.) Be at least to Windows SP3
2.) Update firmware on Raid controller
3.) Update ACU
4.) A ton of thing to be aware of in regards to your servers setup.

Additionally I would recommend updating you SA controller driver by running the most recent Softpak. This can be downloaded at: (DL380 G2 Windows 2000 drivers download page)

http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/locate/20_1342.html

After performing previous suggestion, once you extend your array the space should show up in disk manager as unpartitioned free. Then depending on where you partition is basic or dynamic is how you proceed form here. Here is an article form Microsoft on using diskpart.exe to extend a basic partition. The article has a link to download this utility. (MS Article # Q325590)

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;325590&Product=win2000

If it is a dynamic disk manager can volume set the free space into the same drive letter.

You should be able to perform logical drive extension during the day but it will slow down the performance of the server. How much it will slow your machine depends on what your rebuild priorities are set to. It would be best to perform extension during time of low access time to the machine.

Andrew Balliet

[CA1067191]

Thanks for your advice, but I alread did my plan of action and it went off without a hitch.