1. Do I have to power down the system to add the HDDs << No, you need not power down the system to add the drives in. Though, it's advisable to do data back up always before any upgrades. Also, you may need to update the system's firmware and drivers. There may be situations, where at times, the "new" drives are up to date, but the RAID controller is not. It may cause issues.
2. Is there any chance that adding the drives might affect the 2 virtual drives << No, it won't affect the virtual disk.
3. I'd like to add the drives while the system is running, and configure the RAID using iDRAC, is this possible? << Yes, you can configure hotspare via iDRAC. https://dell.to/2YqdolC
Some experience that I could advice would be to get the same drives specifications. If it does not match, you may face incompatibility issue, or the virtual disk may have some performance issue. Though there are users here would be able to use different type of drives, but it would be a risk.
I'd like just one clarification, when you say that enough to stop the RAID controller from functioning, or inability to work with the newly added drives.
I got the same HDD make and as close the same model as I could get.
As soon as you put the drives in, the controller starts to check them. iDRAC will throw you an error if there is something happening that is not expected.
What you could do prior to installation is to check online if there is a newer firmware available for the drives that are in use. If so you can update them before, but as you just plan to use the "new" drives as hot-spare, I would install them and watch iDRAC if something is shown there.
You can also see the firmware version there and compare them to the old drives.
DELL-Joey C
Moderator
•
4.1K Posts
0
January 28th, 2021 18:00
Hi David,
To answer your questions directly:
1. Do I have to power down the system to add the HDDs << No, you need not power down the system to add the drives in. Though, it's advisable to do data back up always before any upgrades. Also, you may need to update the system's firmware and drivers. There may be situations, where at times, the "new" drives are up to date, but the RAID controller is not. It may cause issues.
2. Is there any chance that adding the drives might affect the 2 virtual drives << No, it won't affect the virtual disk.
3. I'd like to add the drives while the system is running, and configure the RAID using iDRAC, is this possible? << Yes, you can configure hotspare via iDRAC. https://dell.to/2YqdolC
Some experience that I could advice would be to get the same drives specifications. If it does not match, you may face incompatibility issue, or the virtual disk may have some performance issue. Though there are users here would be able to use different type of drives, but it would be a risk.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
David Len.
1 Rookie
•
29 Posts
0
January 29th, 2021 05:00
Hi Joey
Thanks for the comprehensive response.
I'd like just one clarification, when you say that enough to stop the RAID controller from functioning, or inability to work with the newly added drives.
I got the same HDD make and as close the same model as I could get.
David L.
David Len.
1 Rookie
•
29 Posts
0
January 29th, 2021 06:00
Thank you Stefan
David L.
DELL-Stefan R
Moderator
•
790 Posts
0
January 29th, 2021 06:00
Hi David.
As soon as you put the drives in, the controller starts to check them. iDRAC will throw you an error if there is something happening that is not expected.
What you could do prior to installation is to check online if there is a newer firmware available for the drives that are in use. If so you can update them before, but as you just plan to use the "new" drives as hot-spare, I would install them and watch iDRAC if something is shown there.
You can also see the firmware version there and compare them to the old drives.
Maybe there is no need to updated them.
Hope that sheds some light on this.
Best regards,
Stefan