I have an IBM eSeries 225 running Windows 2000 Server with:
5 - 36GB (34,715MB) SCSI drives (IBM Model: DTN036C1 PartNumber: 06P5323) and 1 70GB (70006MB) SCSI drive (IBM Model: DTN073C1 Part No: 06P5760) on a IBM ServeRAID-5i Controller. All 6 are on Channel 1. They are split into 2 arrays (138860MB) and (70006MB). 4 of the 36GB drives are for the first array and the 70GB drive is the only drive in the second array. The 5th 36GB drive is setup as a hot spare for the first array. Each array is used as one Logical drive (104145MB and 70006MB respectively). The first logical drive is split into C: (13GB/6.3free) and D: (88.6GB/2.44GBfree). The second logical drive is used for E: (68.4GB/43.9GBfree).
My problem is that D: is getting extremely low and the apps that are running there (Doc mgmt, Exchange 5, SQL 7, etc) don't lend themselves to easily moving data around. So what are my best options for getting some additional space? (second channel?, utilize spare?, shrink E: and give to D:...???).
Thanks,
Scott
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What type of HDD disk type dd you set for D: basic or dynamic? With dynamic disk type, you are free to move fre HDD space as you deem proper.
Else I suggest you backup all important data, re-do the partition and spacing as BPiotrowsk recommended but use dynamic disk type except for the os partition, and restore the data back. Yes you can do this and all of the security and permission are the same as original.
I don't think the RAID controller will let you add disks from a different channel - those disks would have to be on the same channel for the raid controller to even allow you to add them - then comes the question whether your RAID controller will even let you expand an existing Logical Drive - or if you will have to create a new one.
Hi scott_hitch,
Take note for the following advice:
"Shrink C and expand D !
Can be done with tools like, Acronis Disk Director Suite. Also found on the Hiren's BootCD."
that you should backup any important data before attempting the above, data loss can and will occur and as a rule of thumb i always backup before i do any form of partition reorg. Better be safe than sorry.
Cheers,
Alvin
If you have 5 drives on the first array with one hotspare running RAID 5 and then you say that you have a second 70GB. That 70GB disk must be non RAID because you need at least 2 drives to do a RAID 0. You can add two 146GB drives to the second channel on the SCSI card and do a RAID 1 config as BPiotrowski mentioned, and then use Norton Ghost to clone your 70GB hard drive to the 146 RAID 1. And then just disconnect your 70Gb drive and everything will now be on your 146GB RAID 1.
Actually it does work on server products http://www.ghost-corporate
I know that you can clone a non RAID drive to a drives that are on a RAID configuration. I've done it when I wanted to RAID my OS(which was Windows Server 2003) I stuck a Adaptec SCSI RAID card in with 2 73GB SCSI drives and did a RAID 1 configuration and formated them in Disk management then cloned the OS from the NON RAID SATA drive to the RAID, it worked fine. Here are the instructions on using Norton Ghost 2003 http://www.bay-wolf.com/gh
[quote]Hi scott_hitch,
Take note for the following advice:
"Shrink C and expand D !
Can be done with tools like, Acronis Disk Director Suite. Also found on the Hiren's BootCD."[/quote]
A good server admin always backs up, needless to say imo.
Besides i've done it quite a few times on servers with acronis disk director and it hasn't failed me once.
Just thought i'll let the TS know about this easy cheap solution.
Besides, even you do get bigger disks, and expand the logical drive. You will sitl need to expand the partitions. So its basically the same !!
Thanks for all of the input. Per the Symantec website http://www.symantec.com/sm
Ghost will only work in "Hardware RAID only supported with Ghost32.exe in Pre-OS environment (MS WinPE or similar) " for my Windows 2000 server.
It does look like Acronis will work
http://www.acronis.com/ent
"Yes, Acronis Disk Director Server supports RAID arrays. You can perform all available operations with partitions located on RAID volumes without any special precautions". But I'll definitely be doing a full backup before making any changes. Thanks for all of the great input!
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by: BPiotrowskiPosted on 2007-04-17 at 15:19:17ID: 18927926
What raid configuration are you running ? on each virtual disk ? (I will assume you are using RAID 5 for the first one and RAID 0 - on that single disk).
I would remove the spare - and remove the 70gb drive - put in 2 x 146GB disks and do RAID 1 on them.
Thus giving you 146GB of space - but if you can't move the data from the D drive to the E drive - you are kind of stuck.
I would suggest you contact IBM and see if your RAID controller supports resizing of the Array- if so - use the spare and add some space to your d drive. If not - You may also move your exchange data store to the 70gb single drive - but I wouldn't recommend that - unless you went ahead with two new drives - and some redundancy.
-B