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weyside

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19 Posts

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May 12th, 2025 10:57

Adding Larger Hard Drive to RAID 1

I have a PE T350 with a PERC S150 controller that has two RAID 1 Arrays.

The first array is for the OS and the second array is for the database.

My question is how can I change the drives in the Database array, which are currently 500Gb to 2Tb drives as I'm rapidly running out of storage space

Any help is appreciated.

DELL-Chris H

Moderator

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9.4K Posts

May 12th, 2025 18:47

What you would want to do is

 

Again, before starting, ensure you have a complete backup of your data to prevent any data loss.

 

Replace the First Drive:

  • Remove the First Drive: Remove one of the existing RAID 1 drives.
  • Insert the New Larger Drive: Insert the new larger drive into the same slot.
  • Rebuild the RAID Array: The RAID controller should automatically start rebuilding the array onto the new drive. Monitor the rebuild process to ensure it completes successfully.

 

Replace the Second Drive:

    • Remove the Second Drive: Once the rebuild is complete, remove the second existing RAID 1 drive.
    • Insert the Second New Larger Drive: Insert the second new larger drive into the same slot.
    • Rebuild the RAID Array: The RAID controller will again start rebuilding the array onto the new drive. Monitor the rebuild process to ensure it completes successfully.

Expand the RAID Array:

    • Access RAID Management: After both drives have been replaced and the RAID array has been rebuilt, access the RAID management utility and select Virtual Disk Mgmt.
    • Expand the Array: select the Virtual Disk in question, then in Operation drop down slect Expand Virtual disk and select Go. That goes to the Expand Virtual Disk page, where you should see the size from adding the larger drives under Available Capacity, and you can then increase the size and then complete it there.
  •  
  •  You can see a video of it here, but jump to around 1:15 as you already have the virtual disk created. 

 

 

 

 

(edited)

DELL-Chris H

Moderator

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9.4K Posts

May 12th, 2025 15:10

Weyside,

 

The process you would need to use is called an Online Capacity Expansion (OCE), and is indeed supported on the S150, as seen on page 18 here. Now one thing I would suggest, before doing anything, would be to get a complete backup. I would suggest this when doing anything with the Raid. 

Once you have the backup, you can find the steps for the OCE here. 

 

Let me know if this helps.

 

weyside

1 Rookie

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19 Posts

May 12th, 2025 17:58

@DELL-Chris H ​ Hi Chris, thanks for the reply, I've looked at the process and I'm confused about adding the bigger drive, if I don't remove one of the current drives and install one of the bigger drives. how will configuring the Virtual Raid see the drive that needs to be selected and mine is a Raid 1 not a a Raid 5

(edited)

weyside

1 Rookie

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19 Posts

May 13th, 2025 05:54

@DELL-Chris H ​ Hi Chris, thanks for the detailed steps, it was just what I needed, but there is no link to the video, please can you add one, thanks, Steve

Dell-Martin S

Moderator

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3.5K Posts

May 13th, 2025 12:52

Hi,

I infomed Chris that he could edit his post

(edited)

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