Upgrading drives raid 5, HP Server, server 2008 STD SP1

brendy · 8 Jun 2011 at 11:28

My next task is to upgrade the mirrored 2x250gb array in one of our satellite sites, I have bought 2 new 500gb hot swap drives ready for the job.
Am I right in thinking that I can swap in each drive (which will keep the 250gb partition), let each rebuild then use the server 2008 disk management tool to extend the partition to use the full 500gb?

droyden · 8 Jun 2011 at 16:06

Its software raid? Yes you can do this and I've done it before, although it can be quite hairy..

brendy · 8 Jun 2011 at 19:35

I haven't had a chance to look but feel it is a low quality card, certainly doesn't show in hp management software.

Sin_Chase · 8 Jun 2011 at 19:53

It's a hardware RAID so not unless the controller supports expand. You CAN put 500GB disks in but the controller will only rebuild to 250GB, no extra space will be exposed to the OS.

Depending on the server you should be able to expose the card (be it embedded or expansion) through the bootable PSP. If it's a really low end one the chances of it supporting expand are slim. It will be an image/backup otherwise, fresh RAID config and a restore job.

If it is just data this process is rather simple. If you have OS on there it becomes a little more tricky.

brendy · 9 Jun 2011 at 10:42

It is an HP 1u server, Im guessing a DL320 G5 as it only has the two drive ports otherwise it would have been a lot easier.
even the HP website only mentions a 2 port sata controller ffs!

I have a copy of Acronis Server (possibly have the universal restore also). Will this do the job onto a usb drive or other location then pull both disks, install new ones and create hardware mirror then restore? I get the feeling I am going to need drivers for this controller. I will be over for two days and one night to get this done, downside is zero daytime downtime.

paradigm · 9 Jun 2011 at 10:55

Erm, if this is 2x 250GB drives, how can it be RAID5?

brendy · 9 Jun 2011 at 11:09

Lol I must have typed the title by accident (read the first post!) apologies, all of our other servers are raid 5.

Sin_Chase · 9 Jun 2011 at 14:04

brendy said:
I have a copy of Acronis Server (possibly have the universal restore also). Will this do the job onto a usb drive or other location then pull both disks, install new ones and create hardware mirror then restore? I

Yes this should work. If it contains the OS then you may need to fix the MBR and reset the disk signature so Volume Shadow does not break.

If the current drives already contain the OS and are on the controller you will be using with the new disks you will not need drivers.

If you are CHANGING controllers the OS is going to whine, lots

(unless Acronis software handles this.)