Raid 5 - Increasing Free Space?

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shakes1

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Hi all

Need a bit of advice please.

I have a server with a RAID 5 array. On the OS, it is partioned into two drives, a C: and a D: drive.

Now, I would like to increase the free space on the D: drive. I am under the impression that if I insert a new physical HDD into the array, it won't increase my available free space. Is that correct?

Any ideas on increasing the free space?

Thanxs!
 
You can't just insert a new physical HDD into an array. You would need to recreate a new
array making use of all the HDDs, however this would also erase all data on your current
array.
 
Got RAID Driver disk?

Hirens BootCD -> Mini XP -> Press F2 (I think) to load RAID driver -> In MiniXP -> Hiren Menu -> Partition Tools -> Something Wizard -> Shrink C and give space to D ??? I have never done this so I dont know if it will work or solve your problem. But try it out.
 
Having split 1 Raid array into 2 drives you've put yourself in a bit of a tight spot. If the array doesn't have spare unassigned space your life is now 10x more entertaining. You can backup/clone the C and D drives,put in new Drives into the array,rebuild and clone back,or resize ( ouch )

Ideally if it isn't a midget box you'd Raid1 the first two drives for OS,and then build a second array ( Raid10 preferable but 5 if you are really in a pinch ) for your Data array. Saves you having to backup OS every time you want to rebuild the Data Array

There are Some raid controllers that can rebuild and resize when new drives are installed,but these are rare
 
Personally I'd have my c: as a physical drive, disjointed from the RAID configuration and backed up (image) periodically on the RAID drives.

Sorry I can't give you any advice. IMO, anyone that partitions a drive (or an array that acts as a single drive) into 2 or more drives thinking they're keeping their OS separate from their data and thus safer from any failures in case the OS needs to be re-done (especially in an array setup), should go back to whatever teacher taught them that and punch them square in the nuts. RAID is somewhat protected from failure (RAID 5 is a bitch though, I'd definitely consider RAID 10), but since your OS is on the same array, if you were to lose something due to failure (RAID 5 ... sucks... did I mention it? Guess what issue I had in the past.. lols), then you're screwed. If the OS is separate from the RAID on it's own dedicated drive, it's a lot better.

This is just my opinion. I'm not a techie in anyway, even though I had to setup and run a server like this before. Learning very very expensive, mind-altering, soul sucking lessons.
 
How much space are we talking about?

Oh, and that raid system gives you the option to grow the size of the cluster?
 
spiderz said:
Oh, and that raid system gives you the option to grow the size of the cluster?
Click to expand...

There's a few methods to do this,some controllers use a modified version of OCE and ORLM ( HP and Dell has a few of these ),otherwise you can try a more manual method as described by http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/919 by replacing drives 1 by 1 and mirroring/rebuilding after each,then growing the raid and resizing the Logical partitions
 
This is what I get for inheriting a messed up infrastructure *oops, I didn't say that lol*.

Thank you for the advice guys, think the options are a bit too risky for my liking. Perhaps I should at alternative ways of freeing space.

Thank you for all the advice!
 
This RAID5 array - is it software RAID or a decent, pukka RAID controller? If it's the latter, then see if it supports OCE (Online Capacity Expansion) of RAID5 arrays. If it does, then you can connect an additional drive to the controller and extend the RAID5 array into the new drive. Once that is done you can use a partitioning tool (Acronis, Partition Magic, etc) to extend the D: partition.
 
Cruelty said:
This RAID5 array - is it software RAID or a decent, pukka RAID controller? If it's the latter, then see if it supports OCE (Online Capacity Expansion) of RAID5 arrays. If it does, then you can connect an additional drive to the controller and extend the RAID5 array into the new drive. Once that is done you can use a partitioning tool (Acronis, Partition Magic, etc) to extend the D: partition.
Click to expand...
It is hardware RAID, the decent kind on a HP server.

Thank you, homework time!
 
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