HP Proliant ML350 G5 Server Hard Drive Upgradation
Currently having HP Proliant ML350 G5 Server with 2x146GB hard drives (SAS).Now we were running out of space so thought to upgrade the hard drive space more by adding 300GB of another Hard drive.The issues is that i tried to fixed this 300GB of single hard drive in try and when i started the server.It wasn't showing up any kind of new hardware identification.Looking at the size of existing hard drives,i came to know that the existing one are configured as RAID.So now i need some help to configure this new 300GB of hard drive i have added.I have downloaded HP Start Smart from HP website and Array Configure Offline Utility.If it is useful.The hard drive is in the tray still.Thank you
patilsudarshan
What type of existing RAID has on this server?
well, if you had two 146gb drives, i hope you had a raid mirror (146gb total usable)...
if that's the case, you can't add anything to that.... but you can add the drive, convert it from a mirror, to a raid5 array... but you'll be wasting half of the new drive (146+146+146 to match the stripe, the rest of the 300gb will be unused)
you're much, much better off just getting a set of 3 300gb drives, make a new raid5, and clone the stuff over to it... then set it as bootable in the control-a bios of the raid card
if that's the case, you can't add anything to that.... but you can add the drive, convert it from a mirror, to a raid5 array... but you'll be wasting half of the new drive (146+146+146 to match the stripe, the rest of the 300gb will be unused)
you're much, much better off just getting a set of 3 300gb drives, make a new raid5, and clone the stuff over to it... then set it as bootable in the control-a bios of the raid card
ASKER
Can you please tell me ,how to know which RAID i am having currently,as the server is running and it is must to be always online.The only issue is i cant take any kind of risk by configuring it and end up reinstalling the server.Thank you.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Hi Bryon.You were right about the configuration utility.But now the issue is ,i am having option of "Create Array on Unassigned Drive" ,i dont want to compress the size again by creating an array and want to use full 300GB.Is there any way i can do that.
ASKER
Thank you but i guess i should search before posting any question on EE.
ASKER
One question i am having is.Its showing RAID 1 for my old hardrives and RAID0 on what i just added.I used Express Settings to add this new hard drive and making a partition from it.Thank you.
raid1 is the mirror between the 2 original drives
raid0 on the new drive is nothing, no fault tolerance, no array, just space. if the drive dies, all the data on it die too
you need to see if your hardware (via the software you installed) will let you migrate the original array from raid1 to raid5
however, there's a catch - it will only use 146gb of the new drive, because it has to match the original 2 drives. this will give you about 280gb of usable space, while maintaining your data, doing it online without a reboot
instead of the 300gb drive, if you get 1 or more identical 146gb drives (identical to the originals) you can add as many drives as you can physically hold... and migrate the raid1 to raid5 using all the new drives.
raid1 means you have the usable space of ONE of the drives in the mirror (total space of both drives divided by 2)
raid5 means you have the usable space of ALL BUT ONE of the drives (total space of all drives, minus one drive (one drive is kept for parity))
in raid 1, if one drive dies, you're fine, just replace the dead drive with an identical new one
in raid 5, if one drive dies, you're fine, just replace the dead drive with an identical new one
in raid 0, if one drive dies, you better have good backups
raid0 on the new drive is nothing, no fault tolerance, no array, just space. if the drive dies, all the data on it die too
you need to see if your hardware (via the software you installed) will let you migrate the original array from raid1 to raid5
however, there's a catch - it will only use 146gb of the new drive, because it has to match the original 2 drives. this will give you about 280gb of usable space, while maintaining your data, doing it online without a reboot
instead of the 300gb drive, if you get 1 or more identical 146gb drives (identical to the originals) you can add as many drives as you can physically hold... and migrate the raid1 to raid5 using all the new drives.
raid1 means you have the usable space of ONE of the drives in the mirror (total space of both drives divided by 2)
raid5 means you have the usable space of ALL BUT ONE of the drives (total space of all drives, minus one drive (one drive is kept for parity))
in raid 1, if one drive dies, you're fine, just replace the dead drive with an identical new one
in raid 5, if one drive dies, you're fine, just replace the dead drive with an identical new one
in raid 0, if one drive dies, you better have good backups
clarification: you can't add any new drive to raid1... you can only MIGRATE the raid stripe from raid1 to raid5
ASKER
Thanks for the info bryon.Its working now without any issue.But it was quite strange,EE was able to solve my problem before HP support,till now they are saying that my part number is not in their database support.Its been 4 hours and the guy is still on chat taking my information and did nothing.Thank you very much.
wow :)