Poweredge 2900 PERC 5i RAID controller adding extra SATA drive

Question

Hi.  I purchased a Poweredge 2900 with a PERC 5i RAID controller set for RAID 0 with one 500GB SATA drive.  I want to install another drive for mirroring purposes.  I have purchased the exact same drive and the necessary tray.  I am not sure how to initialize the new drive.  I go into the controller setup and it only sees the primary drive.  My concern is that I do not want to lose any data on the primary drive (OS and data files).  Can anyone tell me how to install/configure the raid controller to be RAID 1 and have a dual 500gb SATA drive system?  Thanks

at5147 · Answer

Check to make sure that the drive is mounted in the proper holes on the drive carrier. There is one for SATA and one for SAS. If it is a SATA drive you have, then you should also have the interposer board on the back of the SATA drive. If it is not there, then the drive will not connect to the backplane.

As far as the RAID 1, you could reconfigure on the fly using OMSA or just delete the current logical drive, create the RAID 1 and then reinstall the OS. If you have the Dell System Build CD, the latter will be pretty easy as long as you can lose all data and start over.

miami5th · Answer

I cannot afford to lose data on the original drive.  I would like to just add the extra SATA drive and create a RAID 1 config/setup.  is that possible?     please explain further

miami5th · Answer

cannot afford to lose data on the original drive.  I would like to just add the extra SATA drive and create a RAID 1 config/setup.  is that possible?     please explain further

Dennis Smith · Answer

If you have Open Manage Server Administrator installed you can reconfigure to a RAID 1 without losing data.

If the drive is in the system and recognized ( adding new drive) in Open Manage you can follow the steps here to reconfigure.

miami5th · Answer

Hi  I read your message and I downloaded the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator.  When I execute the program i see the profile of the machine but no where to rescan or initialize the new disk.  I have properly installed the other SATA drive and the lights are on.  The controller BIOS recognized the drive the first time it was installed.  I have the ability to designate the new drive as a Hot Spare but I cannot seem to change the RAID 0 config to RAID 1 so it will recognize both drives.  Also, I do not want to lose any data on the old primary drive.  I was working under the assumption that I could use OpenManage to setup/config the drive, maybe I am missing some steps?  please assist if you can.     Thanks, Miami5th

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

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