Windows Server

רומן · Guest

Hi,
I need to extand my 72G Hard Disks on Windows 2003 File Server with new ones.
Now I have 3 x 72G (RAID 5).
What I thought is to change one HD after other with RAID 5 rebuild, but
really have no idea if such way will be successful.
I don't want to recreate all folder/sharings/permissions.

Thanks,
Roman

MarkFox · Guest

Roman,

We have done this, I think what you are saying is you have a RAID array and
want to replace each drive, one at a time with a larger drive. Make sure the
rebuild is complete before swapping the next drive, and if you are using an
OnLine Spare, swap that drive first since if there were to be a failure, the
spare drive needs to be at least as big as the failed drive. Once all the
drives have been swapped with larger ones and the rebuilds have completed
successfully, you need to go into your Array configuration utility and expand
or grow your existing array so your logical drive sees the new space. this
may take a while to complete depending on the amount of existing space/files
etc. Once this has completed you should see the unallocated space in Windows
Disk Management. At this point you can use DiskPart at the command prompt to
Extend the partition to see the new space. This can be done on both Basic
and Dynamic disks though the procedures are slightly different. I believe
the only limitation of this process is that you cannot do this to the OS or
System partition. Hope this helps.
--
Mark

"רומן" wrote:

Brandon Baker · Guest

Assumptions:

Server A - hosts the current RAID 5 array with small disks.
Server B - a spare server with enough disk space to host an image of Server
A's array.

If your system or boot partition is on the array - then consider using ghost
to dump the small array to a flat file on another server with enough drive
space. Once the ghost process is complete - shutdown the first server
(hosting the small array you are upgrading) and replace all the disks with
the new ones. Setup the new RAID Array in the bios and then ghost the image
to the new array. Ghost is not supported, but I've performed this procedure
before with success using HP Proliant DL380s and Dell 2450, 6400, 6450
servers. Takes time, but so does rebuilding an array four time overs.

"MarkFox" wrote:

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