I recently began supporting an office with a Dell Server. It has W2k Server 2.8 Xeon 1.5GB Ram. It also has 4 Hard Drives in a RAID 5 config. They are Seagate Cheetah 37GB SCSI drives attached to a PERC 4/SC Controller. Logically there are 2 drives, C: 12GB and 90GB. I am not all that familiar with RAID 5. Therefore I'm not positive what I'm looking at. The big issue is this, the company wants to upgrade them to 73GB drives because of space constraints. I'm not sure where to begin. The server is in production 24/7. Any suggestions? Thanks, GP
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Basically, what you're telling me is that I have to rebuild the server from scratch, then restore the data. Is there any other way of adding storage space? Perhaps adding another 36GB drive? Thanks GP
Generally the RAID array is set on a BIOS chip on the disk controller card. If you are changing the array, you will have to reconfigure it.
You may be able to add a drive to the existing array, but I've seen far too many cases where the entire array blows chunks after you have done this. I'd advise you to have a full backup just in case. And the server will have to be rebooted to add that disk to allow the array to reconfigure with the new array information.
If you are changing ALL the disks, which was what I thought you were doing, you will indeed have to rebuild it.
Another potential solution would be to look at network attached storage, a storage array network or to add a whole new array controller to the system; but, that is probably severe overkill for your issue.
If you're asking for technical help, please be sure to include all your system info, including operating system, model number, and any other specifics related to the problem. Also please exercise your best judgment when posting in the forums--revealing personal information such as your e-mail address, telephone number, and address is not recommended.
Upgrade Disks RAID-5 System
It also has 4 Hard Drives in a RAID 5 config.
They are Seagate Cheetah 37GB SCSI drives attached to a PERC 4/SC Controller. Logically there are 2 drives, C: 12GB and
I am not all that familiar with RAID 5. Therefore I'm not positive what I'm looking at.
The big issue is this, the company wants to upgrade them to 73GB drives because of space constraints.
I'm not sure where to begin.
The server is in production 24/7.
Any suggestions?
Thanks, GP