Changing Windows Server 2019 boot drive from single HD to RAID1

It's possible you can use Veeam Free Agent, restore to dissimilar hardware, because it very much depends on the storage controller in use!

Your current image (OS) may not have the RAID controller driver, you will need to check, or the controller may not be in RAID mode.

Both OS and Server need to be in RAID mode.

If you restore and there is a mismatch, you'll get a BSOD !

Andrew Hancock:  Thank you!
Well, this is a Dell T140 with H330 RAID Controller.
There is already a RAID1 array for data storage but not yet for the OS.
How to figure out what's in the current OS drive re: RAID controller?  I'd imagine it would already be there but.....

If you already have RAID 1 access for DATA volume the RAID driver will already be installed in the OS for access to that volume.

The question is what Storage driver is the OS volume using check device Manager and see if you can tell

<opinion>
Do be aware that when a system boots from RAID and not a standard drive, all sorts of complications are introduced.  If the RAID set unbinds, or fails, or the controller loses its settings, or the controller card fails without an on-the-shelf previously-configured backup, or any of a number of other problems occur, the system is unbootable and difficult to restore to operation.

I/M/O it is more prudent to run the system itself from an enterprise grade SSD and image that to an identical SSD "periodically", so that if the primary drive fails you can swap in the backup drive in five minutes without having to diddle a RAID setup that could take hours to rebuild.
</opinion>

Take a backup.
Add the second drive.
Open the RAID controller's software.
Migrate the single drive to RAID 1.
Done.

There should be no reason to back up and restore the OS as a RAID 1 array is essentially identical. You can do the opposite too. If one drive dies, flip the RAID setting off and the OS will boot.

Andrew Hancock:  Thank you again!  
In the Device Manager, both the single HD and the RAID1 are using the same driver version #.
But, under Storage Controllers, I see a Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller and it uses a different driver version.
And, similarly, a PERC H33 Adapter which uses yet another driver version.

Dr. Klahn,  Thank you!
Interesting points.  So, SSDs aside, we already have a spare HD for the OS HD drive.  By your suggestion, it might be "better" to periodically put the current OS disk image onto that spare.  
The challenge is to figure out how to assess the risks vs. the inconvenience and labor.
Hard drives remain a relatively high risk.
I have no experience with RAID set unbinding on an H330 controller.
Ditto re: failing, losing settings or controller card failing.  The latter, at least I assume, is much less likely than hard drive failure.  In truth, I rarely, if ever, see electronics failures and particularly after infant mortality.
If the Server were to have hot swap capability then perhaps.... but, alas, it does not.
(This isn't in a "server farm" where there are techs running around ready to swap drives, etc.)
My tendency is to rely on the VEEAM image and be prepared to swap the HD as a suitable approach.

Can you check using Dell Openmanage, or at boot whether this drive is attached to the RAID controller, and is configured as a single drive in a RAID 1 volume or is it attached to the internal SATA controller unaffiliated with the RAID controller.
H330 is the lower end of a perc raid controllers.

If it is connected to the H330 RAID controller and is configured as the sole drive in a RAID 1 configuration, ALl you would need to do is add the new uninitialized on the other H330 connection and then the drive will be added into the existing RAID group.and you are done.

Are your drives Hot-Swappable? T140 is an entry level server. Commonly will not be hot-swapable.


one option is to create a single drive RAID 1, then go through cloning the drive, while changing the Boot order to have the RAID 1 higher than the SATA drive.

arnold:  Thank you!
It appears it is not a single drive in a RAID1 volume.  
It is ON the PERC H330 adapter.
Its state is Non-RAID
Yes, there is no hot-swap.

Philip Elder:  Thank you!
So, the backup is a precaution, yes?
So, this is what I get:
Take a backup.
Open the RAID controller's software.
Add the existing single boot  drive to RAID1 .... ?????
Assure that the system will boot.
Add the second drive to the enclosure.
Assure that the second drive is empty or what????
Open the RAID controller's software.
Migrate the newly-added single drives to the existing RAID 1?
Done.

Go into Open Manage Server Administrator and select the controller then physical disks and see if the current disk is in RAID or non-RAID mode.

EDIT: hadn't seen your last post. Unfortunately you can't convert from non-RAID to RAID mode and still boot because configuration data is written to the beginning of the physical disk which will overwrite part of your OS.

You could always add the new disk as another non-RAID disk and use software mirroring using Windows if you want to avoid downtime.

The H330 is a more limited RAID controller.

One thing you can try, is add a new drive into the system,
Then see whether the non-RAId can be converted into a RAID.
Paying close attention that your current disk, Make sure theOS Boot disk is the reference disk. The one with the data to which the other is synchronized.

In effect it is a conversion of DISKA in a Raid0, to a two disk raid1
To confirm, when you look in device manager, the disks presented are Dell volumes from perc, versus the passthrough disk manufacturer info.




The change should not be transparent to the OS.

Typo in earlier, meant if you convert a non-raid volume to a RAID volume within the H330, that will be transparent to the OS as the current Volume Label will remain, the underlying scheme on the controller is the only thing that changes.

yes, make sure you have a backup.,

It is better still if you actually tested the backup before meaning you restored it and it worked.,

arnold and David Johnson:  Thanks!
By "testing the backup" I believe you mean:
1) Image the current boot drive.
2) Change the boot drive to RAID1
3) Test boot.  If it works then done.
3A) Could try retrieving the image onto the RAID1.
4) Test boot.  If it works then done.
5) If it doesn't work then COULD revert to Non-RAID and restore the image.

- 

working backup, means you take the backup and restore it in the lab on a similar system and confirm it boots.

you do not want to find out the backup when restored does not get the system too boot.
The main point of converting the Non-raid volume to a raid one, is that the change is within the controller and as such should continue to work as it has.

the H330 config is part of the data on the disk.

if this is a SATA drive, you could clone, image it. power off system. remove drive, clone/image it.
put clone back and new uninitialized drive, boot, the system and try the conversion to RAID1.

Not sure how you would convert back.
I do not believe the backups you have has any information on the Perc H330's configuration of whether logvol0 is a RAID0 or a RAID1.  the controller config is outside the backup data.

Another problem is that the available space on a hardware mirrored pair is fractionally less than on your current non-RAID disk because of the metadata, that means your image won't quite fit unless you shrink the partition and do a partition style image rather than a sector by sector image. Again software mirroring of non-RAID disks gets around that problem.

I should not proceed unless there is a foolproof method.  ............
I don't know what additional information to provide.

Software mirroring is foolproof, but rather complex if it is GPT, if the disk is MBR it's simple. You can check which type in disk manager.

I disagree with Andyalder, the h330 reserves the same portion to write its config to disk whether it is part of the RAID or non-raid volume.
The newer perc's like their megaraid, and others, no longer retain configs on the controller but maintain a copy on each disk. Simplified recovery when the controller failed.
Load config from disk was added. Versus having to properly designate which drive set was part of which volume without risking data loss.

Converting a non-raid to a raid shoukd utilize the same per disk header space

There is no such thing as foolproof, guess you've not met Mr. Murphy (Murphy's Law)

Beside the server what other resources do you have?

The shutoff system, pull drive clone, could be a test of Dr.Klahns suggestion which is somewhat gotten complicated since your non-raid drive is attached to the RAId controller versus the internal SATA controller.
Main thing to see whether the presence of unused/Unassociated drive on the raid controller whether a convert option is ungreyed, made available.

You can use your workstation that has more than two additional SATA ports, or borrow the cd/DVD rom port if any and use one of the drive provides disk cloning utility.
Acronis based disk-image.....
Clone the drive. Use the clone in the raid conversion attempt after you boot the system. The conversions are commonly done online in the raid1 conversion there should not be a performance hit by the additional overhead placed on the controller to duplicate the data into the newly attached drive.

The higher end H720/730 often have more capabilities including dedicated RAM versus the system ram which I think the H330 relies on.

arnold:  Thank you!

Main thing to see whether the presence of unused/Unassociated drive on the raid controller whether a convert option is ungreyed, made available.

Yes.  A "convert to RAID capable disk" selection appears to be available.  Of course, I have NO idea what it will or won't do except be "RAID capable".  Looked but didn't find.  What happens to the data?  But presumably, with an image of the original, one should be able to go back I guess.  That would depend on whether the opposite action is presented after the fact. i.e. Convert to non-RAID capable disk isn't on the actions list even grayed out right now.
I have plenty of computer resources for imaging drives .. but no spare H330-based systems.
That said, should I not be able to image the disk right from where it sits now?
The server only really runs 9/5 so there should be plenty of "idle" time to boot into an imaging system from USB or DVD.
I've seen Acronis mentioned a number of times and could use that.
Turning to RAID, it seems that Clonezilla splits the array into disks before imaging- otherwise my favored tool for images.

By "foolproof" I meant that each step can be vouched to work.  That comes as a result of Murphy.
I didn't say "certified proof"...   :-)  But this *is* a production system I'd be messing with.  Thus the due diligence.   I'm going to wait until there's a DFSR set before trying anything on it..  

Well hopefully I am wrong, With previous controllers they passed the whole disk through although that was by putting the controller into HBA mode rather than disk by disk. You can always prove it out since you have a spare disk. Create it as non-RAID, shove some data on it, convert it to RAID mode, create a RAID 0 on it without initializing and see what happens.

Here is a way to clarify the issue.
When you are in the dell open manage, and you view the Logical Volumes under the H330 controller.
Do you see two Logical Volumes one which contains the single Drive in a non-raid configuration and the other raid1 containing two drives for your Data Drive.

You can not image the drive while it is connected to the H330 as the image will only include the Data the H330 presents to the windows OS.
If you image the C:\ as it is and then try to attach it into the H330 I believe the Drive will be seen as Foreign or Uninitialized as it will lack the H330 header and metadata section.
To Image it, you would need to pull the drive from the system while it is TURNED OFF. (if the system has a hot swap drives, and you pull the drive while it is online, besides the system crashing. The Controller will mark the drive as dead within its configuration.)
Acronis provides version of its software for OEMs such as Western Digital and Seagate. using this you can clone/image the  which I believe is the same suggestion Dr. Klahn made. Possibly like I initially thought the OS individual drive was connected to the on board, non RAID, SATA controller.

Does the option to convert to a RAID exists with only the drive present?

I am not familiar with Dell but am with HP/Lenovo in which you have options for using SATA connectiion or RAID connection where RAID goes to the backplane.  The SATA connector is used mainly for DVD support .  In this scenario you cannot convert to RAID from NON-RAID .  If you don't want an array you select RAID0 and the virtual disk only has 1 physical disk.

If memory serves, the HP LSI Megaraid or HP Smart Array I do not believe it would allow a pass through
I think it would require the creation of a volume for each disk as the sole member. RAID0.
Often, these offer a way to convert a RAID0 single drive event RAID) span of two drives into a commensurate option. i.e. a person recognized their error in this creation, adding an additional pair of disks, and the RAID0 span, can be converted into a raid 0+1.or by adding another disk, to convert the RAID 0 2 disk span into a RAID 5.
All without losing data. BACKUP should be taken non-theless.

I've updated the original Question.

As before:

A "convert to RAID capable disk" selection appears to be available.  Of course, I have NO idea what it will or won't do except be "RAID capable".  Looked but didn't find.  What happens to the data?

So, to summarize:
The OS HD C: shows up in OMSA as connected via the H330 and is non-RAID there.
As above, it shows "convert to RAID capable disk" as an action that can be taken.
The other two HDs are in a RAID1 array on the H330.

This system is in production and is some distance away.  So suggestions for doing things and running some tests that may properly be done "in the shop" aren't going to be on my list of options.

Relying on historical option is not what is currently available to your current situation.

The option, situation in your case are not conducive to an easy conversion process.

The system is a three year old? best plan on implementing it during the upgrade cycle.

The conversion I thought of was non-destructive, raid0 volume would have the physical disk Mark, set, identified as RAID.
The convert to raid has a different meaning, it is more than a classification.

Testing in a lab is the only way before trying it on the production.

A prior version but sheds a clearer light that your path is more complicated.


https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000133007/how-to-convert-the-physical-disks-mode-to-non-raid-or-raid-capable

arnold:  Yes, that's helpful.  As it happens, I added 2 SATA HDs to two other systems yesterday.  They initially appear as non-RAID.  When converting to RAID-capable, there's a warning that all data will be lost.  So that's the answer to one of my key questions.

Other advice on this one suggests that the boot drive be "backed up" (without saying how).
Then, add the additional drive and convert it to RAID-capable.
Then convert the (backed up) boot drive to RAID-capable.
Then create a RAID array from those 2.
Then install Windows on that array/"disk"
Then recover the backup.  So .... I guess the backup was a Windows type backup.
That part's a little hard to comprehend re: how/if it works.

I feel like I'm getting closer.
I'll soon have DFSR implemented and then can more safely deal with the one in this discussion.

A question I posed that you have yet to respond to dealt with how the Drivers are being seen on your server.
The drivers for the RAID access are already active on the system.
So if you create a new RAID 1 Volume group even if it is containing a single drive.
you could try cloning the OS disk while on the server to the newly created RAID1 volume.

As I have no had your setup, whether the non-raid disk can be set at a lower preference on the RAID controller boot order as it relates to the newly created RAID1 Volume.

The other option, is to test your backup restore to the server you have, to see whether it will boot locally which will do two things.
Confirm the path. as well as when it boots, that the backup is good.

DFSR (fileshare replication, or you mean something else.)
DFS-R is not an alternative to a good backup.
a Deletion of a file one side, will be pushed to the other.
.

You actually had the opportunity to do the 5 minute experiment of seeing whether non-RAID is 2GB larger then RAID due to the RAID metadata and didn't do it?

andyalder:  I was focused on other objectives at the time.  But, it's not too late.  Thanks for the suggestion!

arnold:

A question I posed that you have yet to respond to dealt with how the Drivers are being seen on your server.

I found no earlier question that had the word "driver" in it... ???

andyalder:

Unfortunately you can't convert from non-RAID to RAID mode and still boot because configuration data is written to the beginning of the physical disk which will overwrite part of your OS.

Unfortunately one can't convert from non-RAID to RAID-capable and still boot because the data is erased ... from what I learned yesterday.  So, I'm not sure the test is going to tell us anything.

David Johnson and Philip Elder both suggested a procedure like this.  And it points rather succinctly to my current question:
This all boils down to: If I back up the current boot drive using some recommended backup tool.  
Then create an empty RAID1 array.
Then install Windows Server 2019 or some other Windows.
Then restore the original disk image from the backup.
Will the restored image be bootable?

Here's a test:
1) Backup the OS physical drive by the recommended procedure.
2) Remove the OS disk and replace with a matching, new blank disk (so the OS disk is preserved).
3) Make the new disk RAID-capable.
4) Make the new disk into a RAID1 array.
4) Restore the image using some process .. I'm not sure why I'd install Windows at this point unless something there is truly needed.
5) Ascertain if the new RAID1 disk can boot if yes:
   5a) now we have a system booting from a RAID.
   5b) Reinstall the original boot disk.
   5c) convert it to RAID-capable (which erases it)
   5d) Join it to the new RAID1.
   Done
6) If no:
   6a) Reinstall the orignal OS disk and stop there.

What might be a recommended procedure or tool for this particular backup / imaging?

arnold:  My comment about DFS-R wasn't about backups it was about operational redundancy.

In comment, Earlier comment

When you are in the dell open manage, and you view the Logical Volumes under the H330 controller.
Do you see two Logical Volumes one which contains the single Drive in a non-raid configuration and the other raid1 containing two drives for your Data Drive.

In comment, https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/29217698/Changing-Windows-Server-2019-boot-drive-from-single-HD-to-RAID1.html?anchorAnswerId=43299041asn#a43299041asnanother comment

In effect it is a conversion of DISKA in a Raid0, to a two disk raid1
To confirm, when you look in device manager, the disks presented are Dell volumes from perc, versus the passthrough disk manufacturer info.

As to your plan, I would not go this route. as you run into the issue that your backup will overwrite your data.
Load RAID controller drivers on a USB, as to not going through the live cycle bootup, as it may wipe the data from the Data drives which you want to retain.

Try it with the system you have.
mimic the setup, non-raid boot OS, add two raid1 volumes with a single disk each.
I would not be pulling

See whether you can change the boot order in the controller to the new RAID1 volume group from the non-RAID volume.

Did you test how long a restore from backup ?

I doubt it actually erases the data, if you delete a logical disk it gives a data loss warning but doesn't actually delete anything so if you recreate an identical logical disk and do not initialize it the data is actually accessible again. Whether that trick works going from non-RAID to RAID depends on whether non-RAID reserves the first and last 1GB for metadata as Arnold says or whether it passes the whole disk through as I suspect.

Andy,

To correct my prior, my comment relied that the Disk would be part of a logical Volume being passed. The non-RAID seem to be passed and treated differently, but is unclear as noted whether the H330 still reserves the space which I think it still has to have some config portion written out to disk. The RAID0 type is one thing, in the non-raid it is unknown to me.

testing is imperative.

One thing not covered yet is the boot options..

one of the bios boot options is RAID  & in the raid manager you have to set the virtual disk to boot.

now for the explanation of why to to a temporary installation.
the bcd process doesn't use the disk/partiton method used back in Windows XP/2003 days it uses a disk guid so what I want is to get the correct disk ID without the bootrec /fixboot procedure.

so when the disk is initialized it creates 3 partitions minimum on the system volume  system ]reserved, OS, recovery
I only want you to restore the OS partiton nothing else.. the disk id will not change so the BCD can find the bootmanager

Thanks all!