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2732
May 28th, 2016 06:00
Upgrade disks in RAID 6 array: which is better
I have a Dell PowerEdge 2900 running Windows Server 2008 R2 and 6x 75GB 10K SAS drives. PERC 6/i controller running RAID 6 with 5 disks + 1 HS (6 total disks)
I have 6x 300GB 10K SAS drives ready to swap.
I'm reading all I can about hot swapping etc and what I can't find is any method to actually shut down the drives before pulling them. Supposed to be via Computer Manager -> Storage but not there?
Rebooted, Ctrl+R, into the BIOS controller, nothing there either.
So I have 2 options:
1) go for it, just pull a disk and put in a new one and let it rebuild. Repeat x5
2) shut down, switch disk, etc. I do not like to shut down a perfectly functional server...
Seems like #1 would better, but without a disk shutdown option I am unsure...
Then, there's the whole operation in general. Is it better to:
1) hot swap & rebuild
2) do a disk image backup, switch out all the drives in one shot, and restore?
Seems like #2 wold be better....but don't I still need to re-install the system software on the bare array?
Daniel My
10 Elder
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6.2K Posts
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May 28th, 2016 15:00
Hello
The operating system has no control over the disks. The disks are controlled by the PERC. You should be using either software that allows management of the PERC like OpenManage Server Administrator or boot directly to the controller BIOS.
You should have an option available to offline physical disks before removing them from an array. That will allow you to remove a drive without causing data corruption.
The best practice and supported method is to backup the data, create a new RAID array with the new drives, reinstall, and then restore from backup.
Hot swapping and rebuilding is the easiest way to do it, but the easiest way is not the best way. If you choose to hot swap and rebuild you will also need to either create a new RAID array(sliced array) to use the new space or retag the array.
Thanks
budcarlson
2 Posts
1
May 28th, 2016 19:00
I ended up backing up all my file-server data folders to an external backup drive, then I backed up that backup (just in case), then cleaned off all the non-OS files from the array, defrag, then bare metal backup.
Then I pulled all the old 73G drives, installed the 6x 300G drives, set up a new RAID 6 array (5 + 1 HS again), initialized, then booted from win CD and did a restore off the ext backup drive. A couple clicks to extend the volume and I've got ~900G array space now compared to my 200G before. Copied the work files back on, right as rain! Memorial Day weekend task #1 done.
Added in 2 of the old 73G drives in a RAID 10 for some other uses.