reirembar
asked on
Extending a Windows 2k3 system partition in a raid 5 array
Hi,
I have a Dell PowerEdge 2950 with a RAID 5 array. I use bays 0,1 and 2 for the 3 hard drives that form one virtual disk. 300 Gbytes in that array (only one virtual disk in the server) are not allocated and I need part of it to extend the current volume in use. File system is NTFS and I am running Windows Server 2003 x64 in that server.
I have no partition management tool to use so my idea is to use diskpart. Problem here is that the partition I want to extend is the system partition and as so, I cannot do it. So I install another hard drive in the server (in the last bay), configured it as a RAID 0 virtual disk, install Windows Server 2003 x64 in it (no updates or anything, just the normal installation which includes SP1) and once I had it up and running I put back the three disks (0,1 and 2 that I took out previously), imported them properly in PERC Configuration Utility and booted the server from the RAID 0. Now I can see the RAID 5 volume where the real OS for the system resides in Disk Management but it does not show the partition as an NTFS partition. I have not tried to extend it under those circumstances because I do not wan to risk the partition but I do not know why I cannot access that partition as a secondary (or not system partition) in Windows. No need to say that if I browse to My Computer, that partition does not shows up. A last comment is that the partition shows as healthy in Disk Management ( but not file system). The unallocated space in that virtual disk shows as is.
Could somebody give me an idea what could I do to make windows see the NTFS file system in that volume so I can then extend it?
I have a Dell PowerEdge 2950 with a RAID 5 array. I use bays 0,1 and 2 for the 3 hard drives that form one virtual disk. 300 Gbytes in that array (only one virtual disk in the server) are not allocated and I need part of it to extend the current volume in use. File system is NTFS and I am running Windows Server 2003 x64 in that server.
I have no partition management tool to use so my idea is to use diskpart. Problem here is that the partition I want to extend is the system partition and as so, I cannot do it. So I install another hard drive in the server (in the last bay), configured it as a RAID 0 virtual disk, install Windows Server 2003 x64 in it (no updates or anything, just the normal installation which includes SP1) and once I had it up and running I put back the three disks (0,1 and 2 that I took out previously), imported them properly in PERC Configuration Utility and booted the server from the RAID 0. Now I can see the RAID 5 volume where the real OS for the system resides in Disk Management but it does not show the partition as an NTFS partition. I have not tried to extend it under those circumstances because I do not wan to risk the partition but I do not know why I cannot access that partition as a secondary (or not system partition) in Windows. No need to say that if I browse to My Computer, that partition does not shows up. A last comment is that the partition shows as healthy in Disk Management ( but not file system). The unallocated space in that virtual disk shows as is.
Could somebody give me an idea what could I do to make windows see the NTFS file system in that volume so I can then extend it?
ASKER
Hi rindi,
thanks for the quick answer. I will take a look but I am still concerned about the fact that W2k3 does not see the partition file system. It gets to see the volume but not the file system so I do not think that the problem is in the RAID controller in this case.
thanks for the quick answer. I will take a look but I am still concerned about the fact that W2k3 does not see the partition file system. It gets to see the volume but not the file system so I do not think that the problem is in the RAID controller in this case.
If you can still boot the original OS everything should be fine. So just first return the server to it's original state and boot normally. After that boot to the PartedMagic LiveCD and try expanding your array.
ASKER
Yes, I am able to boot from the original OS. I should be missing something in that website you sent me because I do not see how to download that for free.
Before you try to extend it take a screen shot of Windows Disk Management and post it here. What you describe is looking a bit strange if you are not mixing unallocated space with not formatted partition.
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ASKER
I was unable to try all the possible solutions suggested and what I tried did not solve my problem. Working on the issue I got a way around by myself and that is what I posted. I cannot say that some suggestion would not solve the issue but as I solved it my own way, that is why I picked that as a solution.
http://partedmagic.com