Rebuild RAID 1 with bigger HDD

[SIMONI]

Hi All,

I have a server with two RAID 1 hard drives configration:
2 X 300GB RAID 1
2 X 300GB RAID 1
all together 4 SAS drive.

One of the raid 1 SAS for the SQL server DB is running out of space and i was thinking about how to increase the size.

I was thinking getting 2 X 500GB SAS HDD and then:
Take one 300GB drive and rebuild the RAID with the 500GB, than after completed insert 2nd 500GB and rebuild again.
Will it work?
Will it give me 500GB after the process is done?

Thanks

 

[wolluf]

Don't think so - as when you rebuild the RAID with the first 500GB drive, only 300GB will be used by the RAID - to match the original drive. Better way might be to clone a 300 to 500, then use this 500 as base to rebuild RAID with other 500.

 

[SIMONI]

At first the space will be 300GB but if I insert the second 500GB wouldn't it build it again to 500GB?

thanks

 

[monsterjta]

I would just burn an image. Pop in the new drives. Configure the array. Apply image.

Hope This Helps,

Good Luck!

 

[58sniper]

Simoni - no. You'd be at 300GB, as the RAID controller is set to deal with a 300GB volume/stripe set.

There probably are some third party solutions that would let you do things the way you want, but the supported solution would be to delete the stripe set, replace the drives, recreate the stripe set, and rebuild & restore from backup.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt

 

[TheLad]

I know that with some hardware, once you have replaced both disks and it has all restriped you can extend the logical volume (in your case from 300Mb to 500Mb) and then use something like Partition Magic to extend your OS partition, so it would depend on whether you can achieve this with your hardware or not. You might be best off following the advice of others and backup/recreate/restore.

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"Insert funny comment in here!"
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[58sniper]

Plus, last time I checked, MS doesn't support extending the partition with third party software. (I'm not saying it won't work, but your support options might be limited)

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt

 

[djtech2k]

I think this can be done MUCH more simple.

I would suggest using something like ghost to ghost out the RAID 1 disk or even partition to some external storage (if you have storage). I would use network storage, usb, crossover, or something like that. If you have the space, ghost it over, then remove the drives and replace them with the new ones. Create the RAID array on the hardware level and then put the ghost image down on the new RAID 1 array. WHen you ghsot it back down, you can tell it to use the whole new array,so theres no need to extend partitions.

 

[SIMONI]

Hi,

thanks for all the information.
after thinking and reading all your posts, i have decided to add an HP StorageWorks from a diffrent server, create a raid 5 with 5 X 300GB SCSI discs and move all the SQL server data to the new drive.
I forget to say that the sever holds 6 Virtual machines using VMware GSX, which make the process of rebuilding and restore all too risky.

I'll post after the process is complete.

Thanks