Converting basic disks into dynamic ones on W2K3 to expand them?
Hi,
I've got a Windows 2003 server with two internal disk (hardware RAID 1) and one array with two sets of external disks (each time hardware RAID 5).
The disk created inside of W2003 from the first set of external disks is getting full. It is also a basic disk.
The disk created inside of W2003 from the second set of external disks has still a lot of unallocated space on it. It is also (for some reason) a dynamic disk.
Is it now possible at all to add some of the unallocated space from the second set (dynamic disk) to the first set (basic disk)? Would I need to convert the basic disk into a dynamic one for this to work or can't I add space across sets (or RAID sets actually)?
Thanks!
I've got a Windows 2003 server with two internal disk (hardware RAID 1) and one array with two sets of external disks (each time hardware RAID 5).
The disk created inside of W2003 from the first set of external disks is getting full. It is also a basic disk.
The disk created inside of W2003 from the second set of external disks has still a lot of unallocated space on it. It is also (for some reason) a dynamic disk.
Is it now possible at all to add some of the unallocated space from the second set (dynamic disk) to the first set (basic disk)? Would I need to convert the basic disk into a dynamic one for this to work or can't I add space across sets (or RAID sets actually)?
Thanks!
CaptainGiblets
if it is the volume that has the operating system on it i believe it cant be expanded.
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CG:
No, it's not the volume with the OS. It's a data volume (the OS is on the internal hard disk, I'm talking about the two sets of external RAID 5 hard disks.
Thanks.
No, it's not the volume with the OS. It's a data volume (the OS is on the internal hard disk, I'm talking about the two sets of external RAID 5 hard disks.
Thanks.
sorry dont know how i missed the external part its in there about 6 times! To extend volumes to a different drive they both need to be dynamic. It can only be done on basic disks if you are expanding it on the same drive.
You can convert to Dynamic, the first set of disk, and then create a RAID 0 (Striping) with the second set of disk.
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CG:
No problem!
So does that mean that I can simply convert the basic disk into a dynamic one and then add some unallocated space from the already dynamic disk to it? Won't it mess up my (hardware) RAID5?
Thanks.
No problem!
So does that mean that I can simply convert the basic disk into a dynamic one and then add some unallocated space from the already dynamic disk to it? Won't it mess up my (hardware) RAID5?
Thanks.
RAID 0 is software, with Windows 2003 (from disk management)
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Mino:
My RAID is hardware based, not software based. And I've got data on the basic disk and on the dynamic disk (of course not on the unallocated part of the dynamic disk).
My RAID is hardware based, not software based. And I've got data on the basic disk and on the dynamic disk (of course not on the unallocated part of the dynamic disk).
Do not add a bit of space, but the whole disc
ASKER
I've added a picture ... I'm wondering if I could add the 5 Gb of unallocated space from Disk2 to the E: partition on Disk0 (I've got more than 5 Gb on the external storage, it's just for testing purposes).
screenshot.jpg
screenshot.jpg
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CG:
Yeah, that's what I was wondering!
Yeah, that's what I was wondering!
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may solve this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307889/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307889/en-us
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CG:
Windows is asking me now "File systems on any of the disks to be converted will be dismounted. Do you want to continue this operation?"
I won't risk loosing data here, do I? I've got a backup though of course.
Windows is asking me now "File systems on any of the disks to be converted will be dismounted. Do you want to continue this operation?"
I won't risk loosing data here, do I? I've got a backup though of course.
No, do not lose data
it just means it will take the disk offline while it converts it to a dynamic disk, its just to stop people accessing files etc. I think the convert process normally lasts a few seconds.
ASKER
Ok, I've converted the disk. It has worked. There's a little problem though:
I still see the data locally but not remotely anymore. Even though the share still connects to the disk but the folder looks empty.
Any idea why??
Thanks!
I still see the data locally but not remotely anymore. Even though the share still connects to the disk but the folder looks empty.
Any idea why??
Thanks!
have you checked the share and the ntfs permissions?
ASKER
Hm, two share worked immediately, one didn't. I've unshared it and then shared it anew. Now I can see it again too! So it seems to work again now as before ...
you can try to restart the server and to try again