Online expansion with on T320 with H310

Question

Is it possible to do an online raid expansion from an already configured RAID 5 to RAID 10? There are currently three 3TB NLS drives configured in RAID 5 on a Perc H310. I plan to add a fourth 3TB NLS drive, and I would like to move from RAID 5 to RAID 10 without having to wipe and restore. Is it possible?

theflash1932 · Accepted Answer

Yeah, that comes from the User Guide (I linked to the full documentation above), but it also says this (and reiterated in the Dell RAID Controller spec sheet):

Obviously, if the H310 doesn't support RAID 6, the part of the table that shows migration from RAID 5 to RAID 6 doesn't apply to it.

theflash1932 · Answer

No. You cannot migrate TO OR FROM a 'nested' RAID level (10/50/60).

ashman70 · Answer

So best I could do is RAID 6 then?

ashman70 · Answer

So then my only choice is to add the drive as a hot spare, is that supported without having to recreate the array?

theflash1932 · Answer

Yes, but you would have to upgrade to the H710 controller. The H310 only does RAID 0/1/5/10/50.

ashman70 · Answer

I am confused because this article seems to imply that you can migrate from RAID 5 to 6 with an H310 controller. Elsewhere I have seen that the H310 does not support RAID 6.

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN156106/EN

theflash1932 · Answer

What article? The H310 doesn't support RAID 6, so it's not possible to reconfigure a RAID 5 to a RAID 6 on an H310 :)

http://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/Common/poweredge-rc-h310_User's%20Guide_en-us.pdf

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/04/campaigns/dell-raid-controllers

theflash1932 · Answer

Hot-spares can be added/removed at any time without affecting the array.

theflash1932 · Answer

Yeah, when you post a link, paste it, hit Enter, then CTRL-Z to remove the ridiculous picture. The last forum update broke the links ... hopefully it will be fixed soon.

ashman70 · Answer

I cant seem to post a link for some reason. http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN156106/EN

ashman70 · Answer

This one  http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN156106/EN

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

Online expansion with on T320 with H310

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