Adding additional hot swap drive to PowerEdge 2900

Question

We have a PowerEdge 2900 server with two 450GB drives configured with RAID. I don't know much about RAID so i don't know what kind of RAID configuration this is, but I know it has two drives and they duplicate in real time, which, I'm assuming, is what RAID is designed to do.

I've purchased a 1TB hot swap drive from the Dell website. I simply want to add this drive to gain an additional 1TB of space, but I don't want this drive on any kind of RAID configuration. What a ultimately want is "one" 450GB disk (actually 2 drives configured RAID), and one 1TB drive (single non-RAID drive).

So, I received the drive and popped it into one of the drive bays and nothing. The PC doesn't detect any new hardware. I tried the "detect new hardware" utility and still nothing. It doesn't show in device manager. Doesn't show in disk management.

Upon further research I found that there is apparently something I need to do in the RAID BIOS to get the server to detect the new drive. I'm reluctant to do that because I know nothing of RAID.

If anyone would be willing, could someone post the steps required to get my computer to detect the new drive as a standalone drive without messing up my existing RAID configuration on my current two drives? The RAID drives are in bays 0 and 1 and the new drive is in bay 2, if that helps.

Thanks so much for any help, it is greatly appreciated!

theflash1932 · Answer

Sorry Todd ... didn't see yours :)

theflash1932 · Answer

PERC's do not support non-RAID (JBOD), so in order for any disk to be seen by the OS, it must first be configured on the controller in a RAID array. The only RAID level that allows for a single disk is RAID 0. You can configure it in a RAID 0 in the CTRL-R utility during POST or you can use OpenManage Server Administrator (Managed Node - available from support.dell.com, under Systems Management) to set it up as a single-disk RAID 0. OpenManage is much easier, as it can be done from Windows and is much more self-explanatory. Go to Storage, PERC, Enclosure/Backplane, Physical Disks to make sure it is showing Ready. If it is, then go to Storage, PERC, Information/Configuration (link at the top of page), then New/Create from the dropdown menu. It will start a wizard allowing you to choose from available drives (previously unconfigured) and the RAID level.

If you don't already have it installed, you can get OMSA here:

Download and run to extract the files, then run C:\Openmanage\windows\setup.exe. Choose Custom and make sure Storage Management is installed.

jlb4350 · Answer

Ok, so here's what i have. The physical drives are installed in the machine, existing drives in bays 0 and 1 and new drive in bay 2. In OpenManager I clicked System>PERC>Connector 0 (RAID)>Enclosure Backplane>Physical Disks.

Here is what is listed:

Physical Disk 0.0.0 > Online
Physical Disk 0.0.1 > Online
Physical Disk 0.0.2 > Ready

So, then I click System>PERC>Information Configuration. In this screen there is a dropdown menu called Controller Tasks and the only "create" option in this menu is Create Virtual Disk... Is this what I should do?

When I click that, the next screen is Create Virtual Disk Express Wizard. This lets me select the RAID level, name, and size of the virtual disk. Is this configuring my new drive? Will this affect my existing drives?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm quite new at this and don't want to erase our data by making a mistake. Thanks again for your help!

jlb4350 · Answer

Thanks for the info guys. I will give these suggestions a try and let you know how it goes...

theflash1932 · Answer

Yes, you need to create a new Virtual Disk - it will be called a RAID 0.  You're on the right track.  You don't need to worry about erasing your existing data because the create new virtual disk wizard won't let you create an array of disks that are already configured/being used.

jlb4350 · Answer

I got it! After I created the new virtual drive, i was able to go into Computer Management and create the partitions on the newly discovered drive. I learned a lot today, thanks so much for your help guys!!

theflash1932 · Answer

No problem :)

PowerEdge Hardware General

Adding additional hot swap drive to PowerEdge 2900

Was this post helpful?