<div>
You can add the new drives into the server provided that you have free slots and create a new RAID array. Then create logical drives in it.<br />
<br />
It won't affect the exisitng RAID or Windows/Exchange setup.
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So you can have more than one RAID array on a single controller?
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<div>
No you need atl least one controller for each RAID but you can have more than one RAID in a box.
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Off course. Suppose if your server have 6 SATA ports then you can use 2 for RAID 1 and 3 other for RAID 5 or 2 HDDs for RAID 1. Since, RAID 1 is already configured, you can add additional HDDs and then configure RAID on it. Regarding speed RAID 0 is best and if you need fault taulerance RAID 1 is good. Refer more here:<br />
<a href="http://www.intel.com/products/server/demo/raid/player_raid.htm" rel="ugc">http://www.intel.com/products/server/demo/raid/player_raid.htm</a><br />
Usually, if you configure 2 arrays on onbe server, RAID 1 is used for OS booting and RAID 5 for data.<br />
<br />
For HDD cache and more, please refer<br />
<a href="http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/intel_raid_controller___best_practices_white_paper.pdf" rel="ugc">http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/intel_raid_controller___best_practices_white_paper.pdf</a><br />
<br />
I hope you will find this useful. Thanks<br />

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simple answer, there's no way that you can avoid rebuilding the server if you want to replace the 80GB with 1TB. <br />
<br />
MPECSInc's suggestion will definitely work and it is the way i would do.
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I am relatively new to RAID setups.<br />
<br />
If I disonnect the existing 80GB HDD's and connect the 2 new 1TB Hard Drives and setup the RAID and that all works fine. &nbsp;What would happen if I put teh 2 80GB HDD's back into the system at a later date(removing the 1TB drives). &nbsp;Does the RAID need to be rebuilt or will the system remember the RAID config and boot as normal?
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<div>
Will Acronis True Image be able to clone the RAID to another disk. &nbsp;So I can then clone the image onto the new 1TB RAID?
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Mark the current location of each drive. Yes, you will be able to put them back into the system and boot as though nothing had happened hardware wise.<br />
<br />
Acronis has similar features to ShadowProtect.<br />
<br />
Philip
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<div>
Not familiar with ShadowProtect but i assume it's the same as Acronis.<br />
<br />
No, Acronis will not clone the RAID. You need to understand how RAID works. I assume it's hardware RAID.<br />
<br />
When it's hardware RAID, all RAID is handled by RAID controller (set up RAID etc), to everybody else, it's transparent as if the RAID does not exist; however, Windows must use a RAID controller driver to read those disks/array/partitions you have set up in RAID controller. Another thing is that RAID information is typically stored in both controller and hard drives; you have the option to copy from one to another - dangerous if you do this wrong, but you cannot copy this RAID information from one RAID card to another without using the hard drives.<br />
<br />
Now, if you don't plan to change the RAID controller, you don't need to worry about &quot;clone the RAID&quot; with Acronis.<br />
<br />
In your case, step by step<br />
1. backup your information with Acronis or whatever imaging tool to an NAS or external USB drive.<br />
2. mark the drive positions<br />
3. take out the old drives, keep them safely and put in new ones<br />
4. upon reboot, the RAID controller software will report a RAID mismatch between the RAID controller and new hard drives.<br />
5. go into the software, delete old RAID info, set up RAID.<br />
6. Use Acronis to restore from your image which was stored on NAS or external USB drive<br />
7. reboot, and re-arrange drive letters if necessary<br />
<br />
You are done.
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PaperTiger:<br />
<br />
If I run through those steps and the new RAID fails can I simply connect the 2 old 80GB HDD's and the system will boot fine(as you said RAID info is stored on the card and the HDDs)
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<div>
actually, the system won't even boot because it will detect a mismatch. After you tell the RAID controller to replace its RAID information with the one from the HDD, it should boot properly.<br />
<br />
I am not familiar with your RAID controller. some low end controllers may not be able to perform this function. Most server RAID controllers work this way.
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Agree to PaperTiger for Acronis (best for increasing/resizing currect partition). However, adding another array with 1TB SATA drives can provide you more space (keeping the current HDDs intact). Thanks
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<div>
I agree with Sandy. Adding 1TB is much safer than replacing the 80GB.<br />
<br />
afterwards, you can just move files over to the large drive. no hassle, except that you still need to do a full backup with Acronis or some sort.
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<div>
We replace drives all the time using the ShadowProtect (we don't use Acronis...but the methodology is the same) method here in our shop and on site a lot.<br />
The method works for us.<br />
Keep in mind that the 80GB drives are older. The further they get into their life cycle, the more prone they will be to failure.<br />
With the 1TB drives as your primary with a data partition, you can be a lot more assured that things will continue on as they should.<br />
Philip
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<div>
I am going to proceed with clone tommorrow using the method described by MEPCSInc.<br />
<br />
1. Image RAID to a single 160GB SATA drive using Acronis Enterprise server from within Windows 2003 SBS.<br />
2. Remove old 80GB drives.<br />
3. Connect 2 new 1TB drives and create a second RAID 1 array(the Adaptec RAID hardware controller allows more than 1 RAID array)<br />
4. Image the clone image to the new 1TB RAID 1 array from the Acronis boot CD.<br />
5. Test, test and relax OR jump off the nearest building :)
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Replaced the current RAID successfully by following steps below.<br />
<br />
1. &nbsp;Cloned RAID to external USB 160GB HDD using Acronis Echo Server.<br />
2. &nbsp;Tried to boot from 160GB drive(would not boot, probably because it was looking for RAID array).<br />
3. Connected 2 new 1TB drives and created a new RAID 1 Array.<br />
4. &nbsp;While RAID was in build/verify status cloned the RAID image from the 160GB to the new 1TB RAID array using the Acronis boot CD(Acronis had no issue detecting teh RAID controller)<br />
5. &nbsp;Booted PC and all was fine, everything worked and all drive letters were correct.<br />
<br />
<br />
Thankyou for your input
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<div>
<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
We currently have a HP ML110 G3 Server that has a RAID 1 setup with 2 SATA 80GB drives. &nbsp;We are running out of space and are looking for options to increase it.<br />
<br />
Ideally we would like to change the 2 80GB SATA drives to 2 1TB SATA drives but dont want to have to rebuild the server - is this possible.<br />
<br />
Alternatively is it possible to add a second RAID controller and setup a second RAID for extra storage (this way we dont have to reinstall SBS 2003 and setup exchange again etc.<br />
<br />
OR do we even need to have a RAID setup, are the new SATA drives with 16MB or 32MB Caches fast enough to handle a network with approximately 10 users(the reason for using RAID would be for speed not redundancy)<br />
<br />
Long question but thanks in advance
</div>
</div>


We currently have a HP ML110 G3 Server that has a RAID 1 setup with 2 SATA 80GB drives.  We are running out of space and are looking for options to increase it.

Ideally we would like to change the 2 80GB SATA drives to 2 1TB SATA drives but dont want to have to rebuild the server - is this possible.

Alternatively is it possible to add a second RAID controller and setup a second RAID for extra storage (this way we dont have to reinstall SBS 2003 and setup exchange again etc.

OR do we even need to have a RAID setup, are the new SATA drives with 16MB or 32MB Caches fast enough to handle a network with approximately 10 users(the reason for using RAID would be for speed not redundancy)

Long question but thanks in advance

Replacing RAID

Servers are computing devices that are similar to desktop computers in that they have the same basic components, but are significantly different in size, configuration and purpose. Servers are usually accessed over a network, and many run unattended, without a computer monitor, input device, audio hardware or USB interfaces. Many servers do not have a graphical user interface (GUI), and are configured and managed remotely. Servers typically include hardware redundancy such as dual power supplies, RAID disk systems, and ECC memory, along with extensive pre-boot memory testing and verification. Critical components might be hot swappable, and to guard against overheating, servers might have more powerful fans or use water cooling.

Server Hardware

Small Business Server (SBS) is a line of server operating systems targeted at small businesses by bundling the operating system with a number of other Microsoft products that would normally need to be purchased or licensed separately. The most notable inclusions are Exchange, SQL Server, SharePoint and ISA/TMG (Microsoft's firewall and proxy server).

Storage devices include any device used for storing and retrieving digital information. Hard disk drives (HDDs) use one or more rigid ("hard") rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material. Data is accessed in a random-access manner, meaning that individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order and not only sequentially. The primary competing technology for secondary storage is flash memory in the form of solid-state drives (SSDs), but HDDs remain the dominant medium for secondary storage due to advantages in price per bit and per-device recording capacity. CD-RW (Compact Disc-ReWritable) is a digital optical disc storage format that allows information to be stored outside the mechanical HDD.

Storage Hardware

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Acronis

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks.

RAID is data storage technology that allows multiple drives to be used together as a single virtual drive for reasons such as fault tolerance, reliability and performance. 

There are several different levels of RAID that determine how the data is stored and the level of redundancy achieved across the drives.