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identifying whether the server is RAID or not for adding extra physical disk

Hi;

I have an access to a server which i cannot give too much detail (or i don't know which detail is needed, so ask for the details, if i can give)

The disk space on that Windows 2008 server is depleting and I need a strategy to add physical disk on that server, but i don't know whether it is RAID or not. And i have no background information about proposing adding a RAID disk (whether it's achievable or not).

My aim is proposing the extending the C drive space (as it's really getting smaller) and extending the D drive. What to do? How to do? Possible to do? (without interrupting the server process?)

Can you help me?

Regards.

Seth Simmons

can you show a screenshot of disk management to see the volume layout?
what model server is this?

PowerEdgeTech

Impossible to answer without the server and controller model. Most brands will have utilities that can be used to see and work wit the hardware and RAID arrays.

Member_2_231077

If it's Windows device manager will tell you what controller it is (under SCSI controllers if I remember correctly).

noxcho

If your Windows Disk Management shows some amount of disk space you need to see how many phisical disks are in the server. Compare the size of disks and the actual size available in disk management. If the space is bigger than size of physical disk - you have RAID. If you tell us how many physical disks are and size of each plus the size you see in Windows then we can tell what type of RAID you have.

jazzIIIlove

ASKER

Hi;

Attached image is the RAID and relevant information for you, guys. Anyone wants to comment on this?

Regards.

Member_2_231077

Serveraid MR10k is managed by the generic LSI Megaraid Storage Manager (MSM).

noxcho

Can you take a screen shot of Windows Disk Management and post it here as well?

jazzIIIlove

ASKER

Hi andyalder,

Thanks for the description. From that any insights?

Hi noxcho,

I will.

Regards

Member_2_231077

Google for ' megaraid + " Adding a Physical Drive to an Existing Array" ' to get the manual plus instructions, can't post link as browser automatically opens PDFs. Doesn't matter what manufacturer you download MegaRAID® Configuration Software User's Guide from.

jazzIIIlove

ASKER

Hi;

Please check the attached image for disk management.

For the documents before reading, assuming we put a new disk, will it require a restart of server?

Regards.
diskman.jpg

noxcho

How many hard drives are there physically connected to a server? And what is the size of each of these drives?

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jazzIIIlove

ASKER

Hi Noxcho,

There are 2 as in the shot.

Hi andyalder,

Where is and what is MSM?

Thanks for your effort and patience

Regards.

Member_2_231077

Pleas read my previous comment, " LSI Megaraid Storage Manager (MSM)". In general usage when something is spelt out in full with capitals for the first letter of each word and then followed by the initials in brackets those initials are then used to represent the full description. It's standard language usage, newspapers etc do it all the time.

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noxcho

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