Expanding a software RAID5 array in Windows 2003

June 22, 2008

Excuse the repost... for some reason my previous posts can't be found on the

server. Does Microsoft filter postings from users that don't use a MS NNTP

client?

I've got a Windows 2003 Server. I have several 500gig hard drives assembled

into a software RAID5 array. This array works well.

I've just installed a new 500gig hard drive into this PC. It comes up in the

Disk Manager and I was able to convert it to a dynamic disk, but I can't

figure out how to add this drive to the array.

I was able to do this the last time I added a drive to the PC, but I do not

remember how.

How do you expand a RAID5 array after installing a new hard drive into the

system???

Also, a related question... How can you see how big a single partition

assigned to a RAID5 array is? How can I see what size to allocate on the new

drive to match othe existing drives in the array?

All help is appreciated!!!

June 23, 2008

Re: Expanding a software RAID5 array in Windows 2003

Calab wrote:

> Excuse the repost... for some reason my previous posts can't be found on the

> server. Does Microsoft filter postings from users that don't use a MS NNTP

> client?

>

> I've got a Windows 2003 Server. I have several 500gig hard drives assembled

> into a software RAID5 array. This array works well.

>

> I've just installed a new 500gig hard drive into this PC. It comes up in the

> Disk Manager and I was able to convert it to a dynamic disk, but I can't

> figure out how to add this drive to the array.

>

> I was able to do this the last time I added a drive to the PC, but I do not

> remember how.

>

> How do you expand a RAID5 array after installing a new hard drive into the

> system???

>

> Also, a related question... How can you see how big a single partition

> assigned to a RAID5 array is? How can I see what size to allocate on the new

> drive to match othe existing drives in the array?

>

> All help is appreciated!!!

>

Simple process is to back up the data, break the array, recreate it and

restore the data.

You really should consider a hardware array. Software arrays are really

not a good thing. If the OS drive corrupted and lost, the software array

is gone. It's also inherently slower (in addition to being the slowest

RAID array). Buy a decent RAID adapter and build a hardware array....

--

Regards,

Hank Arnold

Microsoft MVP

Windows Server - Directory Services

June 26, 2008

Re: Expanding a software RAID5 array in Windows 2003

Seeing how the MS server is blocking posts from my choice of news client

(MesNews) I'll try this again...

"Hank Arnold (MVP)" <rasilon@aol.com> wrote in message

news:u2MzvuR1IHA.3860@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>> I've got a Windows 2003 Server. I have several 500gig hard drives

>> assembled into a software RAID5 array. This array works well.

>>

>> I've just installed a new 500gig hard drive into this PC. It comes up in

>> the Disk Manager and I was able to convert it to a dynamic disk, but I

>> can't figure out how to add this drive to the array.

> Simple process is to back up the data, break the array, recreate it and

> restore the data.

Where am I going to get two terabytes of space that I can quickly back my

data up to just because Windows can't handle it's own RAID system? I had no

problems adding drive space while using Debian Linux.

> You really should consider a hardware array. Software arrays are really

> not

> a good thing. If the OS drive corrupted and lost, the software array is

> gone. It's also inherently slower (in addition to being the slowest RAID

> array). Buy a decent RAID adapter and build a hardware array....

Have you priced out a PCI eight port SATA RAID controller?

Also, if the OS is trashed, format the OS drive and reconnect the array. It

works just fine. I've seen an array of software RAID drives moved from one

PC to another and Windows picked it up fine. Drives didn't even need to be

connected to the controllers in the same order.

If your hardware controller fails, you better hope that you have an exact

replacement ready, because hardware controllers aren't interchangable.

June 29, 2008

Re: Expanding a software RAID5 array in Windows 2003

"Calab" <myspam@csd.ca> wrote in message

news:uEW2kLz1IHA.2064@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

| "Hank Arnold (MVP)" <rasilon@aol.com> wrote in message

| news:u2MzvuR1IHA.3860@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

| >> I've got a Windows 2003 Server. I have several 500gig hard drives

| >> assembled into a software RAID5 array. This array works well.

| >>

| >> I've just installed a new 500gig hard drive into this PC. It comes up

in

| >> the Disk Manager and I was able to convert it to a dynamic disk, but I

| >> can't figure out how to add this drive to the array.

|

| > Simple process is to back up the data, break the array, recreate it and

| > restore the data.

|

| Where am I going to get two terabytes of space that I can quickly back my

| data up to just because Windows can't handle it's own RAID system? I had

no

| problems adding drive space while using Debian Linux.

|

| > You really should consider a hardware array. Software arrays are really

| > not

| > a good thing. If the OS drive corrupted and lost, the software array is

| > gone. It's also inherently slower (in addition to being the slowest RAID

| > array). Buy a decent RAID adapter and build a hardware array....

|

| Have you priced out a PCI eight port SATA RAID controller?

|

| Also, if the OS is trashed, format the OS drive and reconnect the array.

It

| works just fine. I've seen an array of software RAID drives moved from one

| PC to another and Windows picked it up fine. Drives didn't even need to be

| connected to the controllers in the same order.

|

| If your hardware controller fails, you better hope that you have an exact

| replacement ready, because hardware controllers aren't interchangable.

Anyone else? Is it just not possible to grow a Windows software RAID 5

array?

I also thought of another reason to use the Windows software RAID... With

different size drives you can still create partitions on the remaining bits

of the drive not used by the RAID array. For example:

Two 640gig hard drives and one 500gig hard drive.

Create a three drive RAID5 array consisting of three 500gig partitions. You

can then create 140gig partitions on the two 640gig drives (use them for

RAID1 for your OS).

With a hardware controller, don't all the drives simply get treated as the

smallest drive an the remaining space is wasted?

July 1, 2008

Re: Expanding a software RAID5 array in Windows 2003

Hi,

On a software RAID may be you can see partition table through some

partition manager software.

I found the information bellow on a website:

"A RAID-5 volume is a fault-tolerant volume whose data is striped

across an array of three or more disks. Parity (a calculated value that

can be used to reconstruct data after a failure) is also striped across

the disk array. If a physical disk fails, the portion of the RAID-5

volume that was on that failed disk can be re-created from the remaining

data and the parity. A RAID-5 volume cannot be mirrored or extended."

http://www.easeus.com/resource/dynamic-disk-recovery.htm

Hope helpful!

Calab;8421485 Wrote:

> Excuse the repost... for some reason my previous posts can't be found on

> the

> server. Does Microsoft filter postings from users that don't use a MS

> NNTP

> client?

>

> I've got a Windows 2003 Server. I have several 500gig hard drives

> assembled

> into a software RAID5 array. This array works well.

>

> I've just installed a new 500gig hard drive into this PC. It comes up

> in the

> Disk Manager and I was able to convert it to a dynamic disk, but I

> can't

> figure out how to add this drive to the array.

>

> I was able to do this the last time I added a drive to the PC, but I do

> not

> remember how.

>

> How do you expand a RAID5 array after installing a new hard drive into

> the

> system???

>

> Also, a related question... How can you see how big a single partition

> assigned to a RAID5 array is? How can I see what size to allocate on

> the new

> drive to match othe existing drives in the array?

>

> All help is appreciated!!!

--

yutao

July 2, 2008

Re: Expanding a software RAID5 array in Windows 2003

"yutao" <yutao.3buye9@no-mx.forums.yourdomain.com.au> wrote in message

news:yutao.3buye9@no-mx.forums.yourdomain.com.au...

| Calab;8421485 Wrote:

| > Excuse the repost... for some reason my previous posts can't be found on

| > the

| > server. Does Microsoft filter postings from users that don't use a MS

| > NNTP

| > client?

| >

| > I've got a Windows 2003 Server. I have several 500gig hard drives

| > assembled

| > into a software RAID5 array. This array works well.

| >

| > I've just installed a new 500gig hard drive into this PC. It comes up

| > in the

| > Disk Manager and I was able to convert it to a dynamic disk, but I

| > can't

| > figure out how to add this drive to the array.

| >

| > I was able to do this the last time I added a drive to the PC, but I do

| > not

| > remember how.

| >

| > How do you expand a RAID5 array after installing a new hard drive into

| > the

| > system???

| >

| > Also, a related question... How can you see how big a single partition

| > assigned to a RAID5 array is? How can I see what size to allocate on

| > the new

| > drive to match othe existing drives in the array?

| >

| > All help is appreciated!!!

| On a software RAID may be you can see partition table through some

| partition manager software.

|

| I found the information bellow on a website:

|

| "A RAID-5 volume is a fault-tolerant volume whose data is striped

| across an array of three or more disks. Parity (a calculated value that

| can be used to reconstruct data after a failure) is also striped across

| the disk array. If a physical disk fails, the portion of the RAID-5

| volume that was on that failed disk can be re-created from the remaining

| data and the parity. A RAID-5 volume cannot be mirrored or extended."

|

| http://www.easeus.com/resource/dynamic-disk-recovery.htm

|

I have been able to do this on a Linux machine, so I know that it's possible

to do this without a hardware RAID controller.

Could I add a new drive to the array, then use software like Partition Magic

to expand the RAID partition?

I don't see any way to add a drive to the array in Disk Management. I know

about the DISKPART command line utility, but not how to use it.

Below is what I currently have in the machine. Disk7 is the newly added

500gig drive that I'd like to add to Volume0

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---

Disk 0 Online 56 GB 0 B

Disk 1 Online 466 GB 513 KB *

Disk 2 Online 76 GB 8033 KB

Disk 3 Online 466 GB 513 KB *

Disk 4 Online 466 GB 513 KB *

Disk 5 Online 466 GB 513 KB *

Disk 6 Online 466 GB 1015 KB * *

* Disk 7 Online 466 GB 466 GB *

DISKPART> select disk 7

Disk 7 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list partition

Partition ### Type Size Offset

------------- ---------------- ------- -------

Partition 1 Dynamic Data 466 GB 32 KB

DISKPART> select volume 0

Volume 0 is the selected volume.

DISKPART> list volume

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info

---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------

Volume 0 D Raid5 NTFS RAID-5 1863 GB Healthy

Volume 1 TMP NTFS Stripe 504 MB Healthy

C:\Temp\

Volume 2 E Backup NTFS Partition 76 GB Healthy

Volume 3 V DVD-ROM 0 B Healthy

Volume 4 C NTFS Partition 56 GB Healthy

System

Volume 5 F Win2K3 Srv UDF DVD-ROM 2157 MB Healthy

DISKPART>

From Microsofts documentation on DISKPART

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415)

extend disk=n

Use the extend command to extend the current simple or the extended volume

onto the specified disk. The extend command only works with NTFS volumes.

If you do not specify a size, the volume can occupy all of the free space on

the specified disk. Any existing disk focus is lost.

July 2, 2008

Re: Expanding a software RAID5 array in Windows 2003

"Calab" <myspam@csd.ca> wrote in message

news:eiuI%23k%232IHA.5060@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

|

| "yutao" <yutao.3buye9@no-mx.forums.yourdomain.com.au> wrote in message

| news:yutao.3buye9@no-mx.forums.yourdomain.com.au...

|| Calab;8421485 Wrote:

|| > Excuse the repost... for some reason my previous posts can't be found

on

|| > the

|| > server. Does Microsoft filter postings from users that don't use a MS

|| > NNTP

|| > client?

|| >

|| > I've got a Windows 2003 Server. I have several 500gig hard drives

|| > assembled

|| > into a software RAID5 array. This array works well.

|| >

|| > I've just installed a new 500gig hard drive into this PC. It comes up

|| > in the

|| > Disk Manager and I was able to convert it to a dynamic disk, but I

|| > can't

|| > figure out how to add this drive to the array.

|| >

|| > I was able to do this the last time I added a drive to the PC, but I do

|| > not

|| > remember how.

|| >

|| > How do you expand a RAID5 array after installing a new hard drive into

|| > the

|| > system???

|| >

|| > Also, a related question... How can you see how big a single partition

|| > assigned to a RAID5 array is? How can I see what size to allocate on

|| > the new

|| > drive to match othe existing drives in the array?

|| >

|| > All help is appreciated!!!

|

|| On a software RAID may be you can see partition table through some

|| partition manager software.

||

|| I found the information bellow on a website:

||

|| "A RAID-5 volume is a fault-tolerant volume whose data is striped

|| across an array of three or more disks. Parity (a calculated value that

|| can be used to reconstruct data after a failure) is also striped across

|| the disk array. If a physical disk fails, the portion of the RAID-5

|| volume that was on that failed disk can be re-created from the remaining

|| data and the parity. A RAID-5 volume cannot be mirrored or extended."

||

|| http://www.easeus.com/resource/dynamic-disk-recovery.htm

||

|

| I have been able to do this on a Linux machine, so I know that it's

possible

| to do this without a hardware RAID controller.

|

| Could I add a new drive to the array, then use software like Partition

Magic

| to expand the RAID partition?

|

| I don't see any way to add a drive to the array in Disk Management. I know

| about the DISKPART command line utility, but not how to use it.

|

| Below is what I currently have in the machine. Disk7 is the newly added

| 500gig drive that I'd like to add to Volume0

|

| DISKPART> list disk

|

| Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

| -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---

| Disk 0 Online 56 GB 0 B

| Disk 1 Online 466 GB 513 KB *

| Disk 2 Online 76 GB 8033 KB

| Disk 3 Online 466 GB 513 KB *

| Disk 4 Online 466 GB 513 KB *

| Disk 5 Online 466 GB 513 KB *

| Disk 6 Online 466 GB 1015 KB * *

| * Disk 7 Online 466 GB 466 GB *

|

| DISKPART> select disk 7

|

| Disk 7 is now the selected disk.

|

| DISKPART> list partition

|

| Partition ### Type Size Offset

| ------------- ---------------- ------- -------

| Partition 1 Dynamic Data 466 GB 32 KB

|

| DISKPART> select volume 0

|

| Volume 0 is the selected volume.

|

| DISKPART> list volume

|

| Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info

| ---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------

| Volume 0 D Raid5 NTFS RAID-5 1863 GB Healthy

| Volume 1 TMP NTFS Stripe 504 MB Healthy

| C:\Temp\

| Volume 2 E Backup NTFS Partition 76 GB Healthy

| Volume 3 V DVD-ROM 0 B Healthy

| Volume 4 C NTFS Partition 56 GB Healthy

| System

| Volume 5 F Win2K3 Srv UDF DVD-ROM 2157 MB Healthy

|

| DISKPART>

|

| From Microsofts documentation on DISKPART

| (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415)

|

| extend disk=n

|

| Use the extend command to extend the current simple or the extended volume

| onto the specified disk. The extend command only works with NTFS volumes.

|

| If you do not specify a size, the volume can occupy all of the free space

on

| the specified disk. Any existing disk focus is lost.

I also found this document on Microsofts website:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590

My OS is not on the RAID5 partition... Only data lives there. Sounds like I

should be able to do this safely.

Am I misunderstanding something on the Microsoft website?

July 2, 2008

Re: Expanding a software RAID5 array in Windows 2003

I've also put a screenshot from Drive Manager for my current installation.

It's at http://members.shaw.ca/linkto/temp/DriveManager.jpg

|| I have been able to do this on a Linux machine, so I know that it's

| possible

|| to do this without a hardware RAID controller.

||

|| Could I add a new drive to the array, then use software like Partition

| Magic

|| to expand the RAID partition?

||

|| I don't see any way to add a drive to the array in Disk Management. I

know

|| about the DISKPART command line utility, but not how to use it.

||

|| Below is what I currently have in the machine. Disk7 is the newly added

|| 500gig drive that I'd like to add to Volume0

||

|| DISKPART> list disk

||

|| Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

|| -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---

|| Disk 0 Online 56 GB 0 B

|| Disk 1 Online 466 GB 513 KB *

|| Disk 2 Online 76 GB 8033 KB

|| Disk 3 Online 466 GB 513 KB *

|| Disk 4 Online 466 GB 513 KB *

|| Disk 5 Online 466 GB 513 KB *

|| Disk 6 Online 466 GB 1015 KB * *

|| * Disk 7 Online 466 GB 466 GB *

||

|| DISKPART> select disk 7

||

|| Disk 7 is now the selected disk.

||

|| DISKPART> list partition

||

|| Partition ### Type Size Offset

|| ------------- ---------------- ------- -------

|| Partition 1 Dynamic Data 466 GB 32 KB

||

|| DISKPART> select volume 0

||

|| Volume 0 is the selected volume.

||

|| DISKPART> list volume

||

|| Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status

Info

|| ---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------

|| Volume 0 D Raid5 NTFS RAID-5 1863 GB Healthy

|| Volume 1 TMP NTFS Stripe 504 MB Healthy

|| C:\Temp\

|| Volume 2 E Backup NTFS Partition 76 GB Healthy

|| Volume 3 V DVD-ROM 0 B Healthy

|| Volume 4 C NTFS Partition 56 GB Healthy

|| System

|| Volume 5 F Win2K3 Srv UDF DVD-ROM 2157 MB Healthy

||

|| DISKPART>

||

|| From Microsofts documentation on DISKPART

|| (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415)

||

|| extend disk=n

||

|| Use the extend command to extend the current simple or the extended

volume

|| onto the specified disk. The extend command only works with NTFS volumes.

||

|| If you do not specify a size, the volume can occupy all of the free space

| on

|| the specified disk. Any existing disk focus is lost.

|

| I also found this document on Microsofts website:

| http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590

|

| My OS is not on the RAID5 partition... Only data lives there. Sounds like

I

| should be able to do this safely.

|

| Am I misunderstanding something on the Microsoft website?

|

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