Hardware Question - Re-Raiding?

Savatage · 2005-06-08

I just got a new server - now the old server is still awesome but it just doesn't have enough space. It's set up as Raid-1 and would be another great workstation. It has a bunch of programs already installed:MS Office, Crystal Reports, Adobe - etc etc.

Is it possible to change it to Raid-5 doubling it's space on the fly without having to reinstall everything?

It's an IBM E-server x-series 205

1gb ram
2 18.2gb scsi hd 15000 rpm (which i'd like to make it 36 with raid-5)
windows 200 server software

i've tried the the boot-up config screen but i just don't see where it will allow me to take one of the drives and re-config it or if it's even possible at all.

thanks...

fb · 2005-06-09

RAID-5 requires 3 or more devices, so you can't do that. Your options are:

1) Stay with RAID-1 (mirrored), if you need the safety and/or the high read performance.

2) Switch to RAID-0 (striped). You get double the space -- read/write performance will remain high, data will be spread evenly across both drives for you automatically, but you lose the 'double' safety of RAID-1 -- in fact, your reliablility actually declines to less that of one drive, since all your data goes away if any one drive fails.

3) Undo the RAID altogether (called switching to JBOD - Just A Bunch of Disks). Reliability drops compared to RAID-1; performance may drop (reads on 'hot' files cannot be served by both drives); you've got to spread your data across the two drives 'by hand'... But you get double the space...

Savatage · 2005-06-10

I found a tool on the IBM website ServeRaid Manager which allows you to change the Type Of Array

Look like I can save myself from a big headache by just reformatting the drives and installing fresh!

Hardware Question - Re-Raiding?

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