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How to add additional hard disks to PowerEdge 840 with SAS 5/iR Controller
My PowerEdge 840 is 6 yrs old and been running flawlessly as my home file server since first powered up. It's still in its original configuration, came preinstalled with...
Windows Server 2003 SBS
SAS 5/iR controller
Two Seagate ES3 750GB, 7.2K, 3.5 SATA HDD in Raid 1 (Mirrored) config
I'm running out of room and need additional space. I do not want to touch/effect my existing drives. I ordered and have installed two WD RE4 1 TB Enterprise Hard Drives: 3.5, 7.2K, SATA II, 64MB Cache - WD1003FBYX.
I booted to the SAS 5/iR controller BIOS (Ctrl-C), it recognized the new drive additions and I created a new virtual drive mirrored for the two new drives.
Rebooted to windows... now the problem begins. Took much much longer to boot windows.... the PC now crawls. No error messages and Windows see the new drive in Disk Manager and I can go thru the formatting etc. However the PC is crawling takes 3-5 minutes just to open a program. Even as simple as IE takes a couple mins to open.
Not sure why the performance has slowed so dramatically. Any ideas? Can anyone help? Did I miss a step in the setup?
Any help would be appreciated!!!!
DELL-Daniel My
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June 7th, 2013 10:00
Hello bjohnny
It sounds like the controller is performing a background initialization on the newly created array. Our newer controllers do not allow the rebuild rate to be adjusted from 30%, but it is possible on older controllers to adjust this rate. If the rate is set too high it can make the system unusable until the initialization is complete.
Boot to the controller BIOS and check to see if the array is still initializing. If the issue persists after the initialization is complete then there may be a communication problem with the new drives. Make sure the controller and all HDD firmware are up to date.
Thanks
theflash1932
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June 7th, 2013 10:00
It may be the VD initialization that is running in the background, although I'm not sure that it is normal for it to affect it that much - I just don't use these low-end controllers very often. The initialization should be done in a day or so, then you can see if it gets better. What is the firmware of your controller? Has the system firmware ever been updated?
BJohnNY
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June 11th, 2013 20:00
The drive was initializing in the background. In addition, (completely coincidental) one of my original drives had failed and the system was attempting to sync the two original drives. Between the two new drives initializing and one of the original drives in the process of attempting to resync. The system resources were being sucked up. The original drive eventually failed, so now to replace that! Question... Can I replace the original drive with a larger one and mirror? Thank you for you help! Much appreciated.
theflash1932
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June 11th, 2013 21:00
"Can I replace the original drive with a larger one and mirror?"
Yes, but exactly what do you mean? You can replace the original drive with a larger one - it will resynch/rebuild to match the existing RAID config (RAID 1/mirror already, right?).