Adding add'l HD to existing Raid array

vaio user · 04-08-2007, 06:10 PM

Hello,
I have added an additional hard drive to my RAID-0 array computer. I have found all the information on what steps to take at the Sony website except for what happens after I install the drive. Do I have to do a system recovery and reinstall all my software or can I just add a drive without any loss of data.
I have the new drive installed, cables hooked up. System shows it is installed, but not part of my RAID array under Intel storage utility. When I go to Computer management > then Disk management I can see the drive. It wants to know if I want a Basic or Dynamic drive before I format it.
This is where I'm lost. I would like to add it as part of my primary C: drive listed with the other hard drives in the RAID-0 array. Is this possible?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

blackduck30 · 04-09-2007, 01:30 AM

Ok in a nut shell you should be able to add your hard drive to your existing raid array via the intel matrix utility, I know it can be done with a single drive into a raid by adding an additional drive, but I am not sure if it will work with an existing arrary. From memory you have to have admin privileges or be logged in as the admin and then open up the Intel matrix utility, on the top of the utility there should be an "action" tab and from inside that there should be an option to migrate another drive.
I will have a look through and see if i still have my manual for it , I have gone to nvidia raid now but i am a horder of manuals so just have to find it.

The only way i see around it if it does not let you migrate another drive in is to clone your existing array over to your new drive using XXclone and make sure you make it bootable. You can then confirm you can boot to the cloned drive by changing the boot order in your bios to boot to it. If this goes well and you can boot into it without problem you should by rights be able to delete the old array and then go backinto the intel utility and migrate the other 2 drives into a raid 0 as your single drive should be raid ready.

Steps on Setting Up a “RAID Ready” System

In order to set up a “RAID Ready” system, complete the following steps:
The system must meet all the “RAID Ready” system requirements specified in Section 18.2.

1. Intel Application Accelerator driver is installed during operating system installation; you will be prompted to ‘Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver’ or preinstalled on a SATA Hard Drive (configured as Non-RAID Disk – also known as RAID Ready Mode)

2. Intel Application Accelerator driver is installed from within operating system to add Start Menu links and the Intel Storage Utility Converting a “RAID Ready” System into RAID 0 or RAID 1 System with Migration Feature
Note: The steps listed in this section assume that the operating system has been installed on an existing Serial ATA hard drive and the required driver was installed during the operating system setup.

To turn a RAID Ready system into a RAID System, complete the following steps:
1. Physically add one Serial ATA hard drive in the system
2. Boot to Windows*, install the Intel Application Accelerator
3. Open the Intel Storage Utility (Start/All Programs/Intel Application Accelerator/Intel Application Accelerator) User's Manual 63 “RAID Ready”
4. Create a RAID 0 or RAID 1 volume via the Intel Storage Utility and perform a ‘Create from Existing Disk’ migration (right-mouse click on ‘RAID Volumes’ or select option under ‘RAID’ file menu)
5. When migration is complete, Reboot
6. Optional: Use 3rd party application or Windows* to create and format a new data partition on
unused space, if any (see Note below)

Note: To ensure that non-Windows* partitions are kept intact, the migration to RAID 0 or RAID 1 does not utilize the extra space made available by adding the second hard drive. To take advantage of the extra hard drive space you will need to do one of the following:

1. Create a new partition using Windows Disk Management (See Section 18.4.1 for instructions)
or
5. Extend the partition to fill the rest of the available space. Windows does not natively include
tools to do this, but there are 3rd party software utilities to accomplish this such as
PartitionMagic* or Partition Commander*.

All I can say is if you are not confident with playing with an array or not comfortable trying something out of the norm I would stay with a 2 drive array or just start from scratch with a reinstall.
If you do try anything PLEASE backup everything you can not afford to loose or replace as i can not guarantee any sucess but in theory it should work

vaio user · 04-09-2007, 05:45 PM

Thank You Blackduck30 for the reply.
I had to read your reply several times to understand the process that you trying to explain to me. But I get it now. Basically I would be transferring the data through migration as if I had a "Raid Ready" system. By using the "new" hard drive as the "Raid Ready " SATA drive and changing it back to "Raid" computer including all of the drives. Then I would follow your instructions for creating a "Raid Ready" system . Sort of a backwards then forwards maneuver to get where I want to be. I think that might work.
Good call. But as you say, I would have to make sure all of my important data is backed up.
I did some poking around after you had mentioned the Intel Storage Utility. I found under the HELP tab that there are several Intel websites I can go to in order to find out more on my dilemma. The user's manual is at http://support.intel.com/support/go/iaa/kb_r.htm there I opened up user's manual and figured that by using the Intel storage utility I can only change my RAID-0 array to a RAID-5 array ,striping with parity when adding 3-6 add'l drives.

And the data on drives would be transferred across the array by using "RAID Level Migration" But realized I would not see much ,if any storage gain due to the Fault-Tolerance. It explains :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
RAID 5 (striping with parity)
A RAID 5 array contains three or more hard drives where the data is divided into manageable blocks called strips. Parity is a mathematical method for recreating data that was lost from a single drive, which increases fault-tolerance. The data and parity are striped across all the hard drives in the array. The parity is striped in a rotating sequence to reduce bottlenecks associated with the parity calculations.

The capacity of a RAID 5 array is the size of the smallest drive multiplied by one less than the number of drives in the array. The equivalent of only a single hard drive is used to store the parity information, allowing for fault-tolerance with less than the 50% capacity reduction of RAID 1. For example, three 400 GB hard drives in a RAID 5 array will appear as a single 800 GB hard drive to the operating system.

The primary benefits of RAID 5 include capacity and data protection. Because parity is used for data protection, up to 75% of the total drive capacity is usable. Further, any single drive can fail and it is possible to rebuild the data after replacing the failed hard drive with a new drive. However, the extra work of calculating the missing data will degrade the write performance to the RAID 5 volume while the volume is being rebuilt.
----------------------------------------------------------------
So, if I wanted any additional disk space I would have to add at least 2 drives to see any gain. But there is no place to put it unless I strap it to something inside the computer.

Or I guess assign a drive letter to the new hard drive and use it for storage. Music, photos etc. and free up some space on C: drive.

There is a lot of info on the Intel website. I have the 82801 FR controller hub, so I will do more research before I decide what way to go. Seems that there may be limitations on what I can do with that controller.

I thought this would be simple, but I can see it will take some thought.
Thanks again Blackduck30 for your help. If you come across any more information, please let me know.

vaio user · 04-09-2007, 08:51 PM

It does appear I will have limitations to what I can do with the existing Intel controller hub. Unfortunatley I have the Intel 82801FR controller which appears wont let me go beyond a 2 drive RAID 0 or RAID 1 array as per chart - See chart Intel Matrix Storage Manager
What types of RAID migrations are supported?
http://support.intel.com/support/chi.../CS-020674.htm

"The migrations do not require re-installing the operating system. All applications and data remain intact."

I guess I have my question answered. It depends on the brand ,version of the I/O RAID controller hub and if it supports RAID Migrations . So I'm not even sure if a "work around" would do the trick.

Another informative link if you have an Intel controller attempting to migrate from RAID 0,1,10 to 5
Intel Matrix Storage Manager :
How do I migrate from RAID 0, 1, or 10 to RAID 5?
http://support.intel.com/support/chi.../CS-022164.htm

crazijoe · 04-10-2007, 05:35 AM

I would be very leary to adding another disk to an existing striped array. I haven't had a chance to really play around with Intel matrix arrays. From my experience, you have to create a new array with the new disk. Thus loosing everything off the original array.
IMHO. If you need more space, put your data on a separate drive. I don't like to preach but I cannot emphisize enough on the risk of a striped array. I have 4 WD Raptor drives in a RAID 0 array. Within a 2 year span, I have had 3 drives fail, 3 different times. The result, 3 different times the raid has failed because of a hdd failure. This does not include array failures from read/write errors. The more drives in a RAID the more chances of failure. My general rule of thumb is to keep your OS and apps on the striped array and keep your data on a separate drive. Be it a RAID 1, RAID 5, etc. Just do not keep critical data on a RAID 0 array.
Also generally RAID 5 should be used for data and not for the OS. RAID 5 usually has slower write performance than a RAID 1 because of the parity checking. The nice thing about RAID 5 is the ability to rebuild itself "On the Fly".

vaio user · 04-10-2007, 04:43 PM

Good Advice Crazijoe. The more I learn about RAID the less likley I am to mess with it. But it appears that my computer documentation, Intel 82801FR controller hub and it's software all limit what changes I can make. When I refer to my computer's user guide it says the only changes I can make with the RAID-0 computer is
* change the RAID-0 configuration to RAID-1. or
* remove RAID configuration completely and use each indivdual separately.
When I reference this chart, it also confirms what I can do.
http://support.intel.com/support/chi.../CS-020674.htm

What would be the best solution in my case ,where I can change the RAID-0 to RAID-1 with my existing hdd's and still be able to make use of the new added hdd. As can be seen on my original post as Attached Images. (i tried to cut and paste it into this reply,but it wouldnt work)

Or Keep the RAID-0 the way it is and just use the new hdd as a non RAID hdd and use it as storage. Any thoughts?
The only reason I'm doing this is to gain more hard disk space. But not at the risk of creating problems. Originally I wanted to have all 3 drives on the same array. But at this point I will take what I can get.

blackduck30 · 04-10-2007, 09:54 PM

Well, I have had 3 computers over the last 4 odd years and all ran a raid 0 and i have not lost a single file due to drive failure or array corruption ( Touch wood ),
If you really just want maximum storage and are really not hell bent on keeping a raid array i would clone the array over to your single drive and then change your boot order and use that as your main system drive. I would then make sure you can boot to the new drive and then go in and and delete the array and reformat the 2 drives as seperate, I would partition a 30 or 40G section in one of them and then clone a copy of your drive back for a backup copy, the rest you can use at your leisure for whatever you like

crazijoe · 04-11-2007, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Well, I have had 3 computers over the last 4 odd years and all ran a raid 0 and i have not lost a single file due to drive failure or array corruption ( Touch wood ),

I actually don't think it is a problem with the array but more or less the drives. This isn't the first time I have seen failures of Raptor drives and I often wonder if WD put more into the performance than in the reliability. My wifes computer has 2 seagate 80GB drives in a RAID 0 array and it has performed flawlessly for the past 3 years. Mine being a 4 drive array will also add fuel to the fire.

There is nothing wrong with using a RAID 0 array and I often recommend it for performance if implemented in a correct way. A RAID 0 array for the OS and apps using small drives and a larger separate drive for your data.

geek73 · 04-11-2007, 04:44 AM

I have been running my Raptors in Raid 0 as well, granted only 2 but have lost 2 drives in the past year as well. I agree that WD puts performance first on those drives..Unles of course you spend that nice 350 bucks for the 150 gig Raptor X raid drive, those are built for both.

I agree with both, smaller drives with an OS equals better performance and Windows not being able to move around so much.
I put Windows on my D drive and my programs on my C partition of my raid. This proves to be one of the fastest ways of programs starting up and such that I have seen.

Just my 2 cents..

vaio user · 04-13-2007, 02:22 PM

Is it possible to keep the existing array as raid-0 and use the new hard drive seperate as lets say M: drive, format it and install windows xp to it.? or is that not possible. These details, Im not sure of.

If so, how. Do I need a version of Xp to install onto it , or can I xxclone it * Does it need to be a boot drive?
I'm not comfortable changing the original array if I have to delete it. I have had this computer for one year so far and I have had no problems (touch wood) and hope to continue that way. I have 2 WD caviar drives.
Hope they are reliable.

blackduck30 · 04-13-2007, 04:26 PM

Yes you can just formatt and clone the array over with XXCLONE, the good thing is you can keep both the array and the cloned drive there so that all you have to do is change the boot order and test that the clone process went ok and if your new cloned drive works as well as the old then you can then do what you like with the array, but if for any reason you missed a step in the cloning then you can just reformatt the clone and start again, The main thing to remember is you have to make the clone bootable, everything you need to do is explained in an article written by Linderman on the main hard drive page

vaio user · 04-13-2007, 06:18 PM

Awesome! Thanks Blackduck30. That is what I'm going to do.
Thanks everybody for your input.

gabcatyper · 07-17-2008, 10:56 AM

it may be a lil late , but w/e i just read this entire threat.
and it's ridiculous
you guys are doing great thing and all but you don't think of simplicity
if you have a raid 0 set up for performance reasons there really isn't much you can do, just add a extra HDD for more storage and keep your appz in the raid array and have your data on the extra drive (obviously it will show as a different partition). My point is that if you have a raid 0 it only can be configured with 2 drives, now if you install a third drive and you make it dynamic it would beat the purpose of the raid cuz by adding the 3rd drive you will slow down the performance. anyways you should not do that at all. just add one drive and use it for storage. and if you are too concerned about your data buy Carbonite, it's only 60 bucks a year and it's guaranteed to keep your data intact online and no limit on capacity.

lil piece of advise, think simplicity before you become overwhelmed.

04-09-2007, 01:30 AM	#2 (permalink)
blackduck30 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Wollongong/Australia Posts: 4,230 OS: XP pro SP3/Vista Ultimate My System	Re: Adding add'l HD to existing Raid array Ok in a nut shell you should be able to add your hard drive to your existing raid array via the intel matrix utility, I know it can be done with a single drive into a raid by adding an additional drive, but I am not sure if it will work with an existing arrary. From memory you have to have admin privileges or be logged in as the admin and then open up the Intel matrix utility, on the top of the utility there should be an "action" tab and from inside that there should be an option to migrate another drive. I will have a look through and see if i still have my manual for it , I have gone to nvidia raid now but i am a horder of manuals so just have to find it. The only way i see around it if it does not let you migrate another drive in is to clone your existing array over to your new drive using XXclone and make sure you make it bootable. You can then confirm you can boot to the cloned drive by changing the boot order in your bios to boot to it. If this goes well and you can boot into it without problem you should by rights be able to delete the old array and then go backinto the intel utility and migrate the other 2 drives into a raid 0 as your single drive should be raid ready. Steps on Setting Up a “RAID Ready” System In order to set up a “RAID Ready” system, complete the following steps: The system must meet all the “RAID Ready” system requirements specified in Section 18.2. 1. Intel Application Accelerator driver is installed during operating system installation; you will be prompted to ‘Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver’ or preinstalled on a SATA Hard Drive (configured as Non-RAID Disk – also known as RAID Ready Mode) 2. Intel Application Accelerator driver is installed from within operating system to add Start Menu links and the Intel Storage Utility Converting a “RAID Ready” System into RAID 0 or RAID 1 System with Migration Feature Note: The steps listed in this section assume that the operating system has been installed on an existing Serial ATA hard drive and the required driver was installed during the operating system setup. To turn a RAID Ready system into a RAID System, complete the following steps: 1. Physically add one Serial ATA hard drive in the system 2. Boot to Windows, install the Intel Application Accelerator 3. Open the Intel Storage Utility (Start/All Programs/Intel Application Accelerator/Intel Application Accelerator) User's Manual 63 “RAID Ready” 4. Create a RAID 0 or RAID 1 volume via the Intel Storage Utility and perform a ‘Create from Existing Disk’ migration (right-mouse click on ‘RAID Volumes’ or select option under ‘RAID’ file menu) 5. When migration is complete, Reboot 6. Optional: Use 3rd party application or Windows to create and format a new data partition on unused space, if any (see Note below) Note: To ensure that non-Windows* partitions are kept intact, the migration to RAID 0 or RAID 1 does not utilize the extra space made available by adding the second hard drive. To take advantage of the extra hard drive space you will need to do one of the following: 1. Create a new partition using Windows Disk Management (See Section 18.4.1 for instructions) or 5. Extend the partition to fill the rest of the available space. Windows does not natively include tools to do this, but there are 3rd party software utilities to accomplish this such as PartitionMagic* or Partition Commander. All I can say is if you are not confident with playing with an array or not comfortable trying something out of the norm I would stay with a 2 drive array or just start from scratch with a reinstall. If you do try anything PLEASE* backup everything you can not afford to loose or replace as i can not guarantee any sucess but in theory it should work __________________ Blackduck30 Time is like money and milk, It's always running out Any Donations Help Keep TSF Free For All Last edited by blackduck30; 04-09-2007 at 02:10 AM.

04-09-2007, 05:45 PM	#3 (permalink)
vaio user Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: NY state Posts: 6 OS: WIN XP My System	Re: Adding add'l HD to existing Raid array Thank You Blackduck30 for the reply. I had to read your reply several times to understand the process that you trying to explain to me. But I get it now. Basically I would be transferring the data through migration as if I had a "Raid Ready" system. By using the "new" hard drive as the "Raid Ready " SATA drive and changing it back to "Raid" computer including all of the drives. Then I would follow your instructions for creating a "Raid Ready" system . Sort of a backwards then forwards maneuver to get where I want to be. I think that might work. Good call. But as you say, I would have to make sure all of my important data is backed up. I did some poking around after you had mentioned the Intel Storage Utility. I found under the HELP tab that there are several Intel websites I can go to in order to find out more on my dilemma. The user's manual is at http://support.intel.com/support/go/iaa/kb_r.htm there I opened up user's manual and figured that by using the Intel storage utility I can only change my RAID-0 array to a RAID-5 array ,striping with parity when adding 3-6 add'l drives. And the data on drives would be transferred across the array by using "RAID Level Migration" But realized I would not see much ,if any storage gain due to the Fault-Tolerance. It explains : ----------------------------------------------------------------------- RAID 5 (striping with parity) A RAID 5 array contains three or more hard drives where the data is divided into manageable blocks called strips. Parity is a mathematical method for recreating data that was lost from a single drive, which increases fault-tolerance. The data and parity are striped across all the hard drives in the array. The parity is striped in a rotating sequence to reduce bottlenecks associated with the parity calculations. The capacity of a RAID 5 array is the size of the smallest drive multiplied by one less than the number of drives in the array. The equivalent of only a single hard drive is used to store the parity information, allowing for fault-tolerance with less than the 50% capacity reduction of RAID 1. For example, three 400 GB hard drives in a RAID 5 array will appear as a single 800 GB hard drive to the operating system. The primary benefits of RAID 5 include capacity and data protection. Because parity is used for data protection, up to 75% of the total drive capacity is usable. Further, any single drive can fail and it is possible to rebuild the data after replacing the failed hard drive with a new drive. However, the extra work of calculating the missing data will degrade the write performance to the RAID 5 volume while the volume is being rebuilt. ---------------------------------------------------------------- So, if I wanted any additional disk space I would have to add at least 2 drives to see any gain. But there is no place to put it unless I strap it to something inside the computer. Or I guess assign a drive letter to the new hard drive and use it for storage. Music, photos etc. and free up some space on C: drive. There is a lot of info on the Intel website. I have the 82801 FR controller hub, so I will do more research before I decide what way to go. Seems that there may be limitations on what I can do with that controller. I thought this would be simple, but I can see it will take some thought. Thanks again Blackduck30 for your help. If you come across any more information, please let me know.

04-09-2007, 08:51 PM	#4 (permalink)
vaio user Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: NY state Posts: 6 OS: WIN XP My System	Re: Adding add'l HD to existing Raid array It does appear I will have limitations to what I can do with the existing Intel controller hub. Unfortunatley I have the Intel 82801FR controller which appears wont let me go beyond a 2 drive RAID 0 or RAID 1 array as per chart - See chart Intel Matrix Storage Manager What types of RAID migrations are supported? http://support.intel.com/support/chi.../CS-020674.htm "The migrations do not require re-installing the operating system. All applications and data remain intact." I guess I have my question answered. It depends on the brand ,version of the I/O RAID controller hub and if it supports RAID Migrations . So I'm not even sure if a "work around" would do the trick. Another informative link if you have an Intel controller attempting to migrate from RAID 0,1,10 to 5 Intel Matrix Storage Manager : How do I migrate from RAID 0, 1, or 10 to RAID 5? http://support.intel.com/support/chi.../CS-022164.htm

04-10-2007, 05:35 AM	#5 (permalink)
crazijoe Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Omaha, The Center of the Universe Posts: 7,632 OS: WinXP, Win2K3 My System	Re: Adding add'l HD to existing Raid array I would be very leary to adding another disk to an existing striped array. I haven't had a chance to really play around with Intel matrix arrays. From my experience, you have to create a new array with the new disk. Thus loosing everything off the original array. IMHO. If you need more space, put your data on a separate drive. I don't like to preach but I cannot emphisize enough on the risk of a striped array. I have 4 WD Raptor drives in a RAID 0 array. Within a 2 year span, I have had 3 drives fail, 3 different times. The result, 3 different times the raid has failed because of a hdd failure. This does not include array failures from read/write errors. The more drives in a RAID the more chances of failure. My general rule of thumb is to keep your OS and apps on the striped array and keep your data on a separate drive. Be it a RAID 1, RAID 5, etc. Just do not keep critical data on a RAID 0 array. Also generally RAID 5 should be used for data and not for the OS. RAID 5 usually has slower write performance than a RAID 1 because of the parity checking. The nice thing about RAID 5 is the ability to rebuild itself "On the Fly". __________________ Microsoft MCSA + Messaging, MVP, A+, Network+ http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...other/Help.jpg Do you want a real Republican? HDD diagnostic tools / HDD data recovery software

04-10-2007, 04:43 PM	#6 (permalink)
vaio user Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: NY state Posts: 6 OS: WIN XP My System	Re: Adding add'l HD to existing Raid array Good Advice Crazijoe. The more I learn about RAID the less likley I am to mess with it. But it appears that my computer documentation, Intel 82801FR controller hub and it's software all limit what changes I can make. When I refer to my computer's user guide it says the only changes I can make with the RAID-0 computer is * change the RAID-0 configuration to RAID-1. or * remove RAID configuration completely and use each indivdual separately. When I reference this chart, it also confirms what I can do. http://support.intel.com/support/chi.../CS-020674.htm What would be the best solution in my case ,where I can change the RAID-0 to RAID-1 with my existing hdd's and still be able to make use of the new added hdd. As can be seen on my original post as Attached Images. (i tried to cut and paste it into this reply,but it wouldnt work) Or Keep the RAID-0 the way it is and just use the new hdd as a non RAID hdd and use it as storage. Any thoughts? The only reason I'm doing this is to gain more hard disk space. But not at the risk of creating problems. Originally I wanted to have all 3 drives on the same array. But at this point I will take what I can get.

04-10-2007, 09:54 PM	#7 (permalink)
blackduck30 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Wollongong/Australia Posts: 4,230 OS: XP pro SP3/Vista Ultimate My System	Re: Adding add'l HD to existing Raid array Well, I have had 3 computers over the last 4 odd years and all ran a raid 0 and i have not lost a single file due to drive failure or array corruption ( Touch wood ), If you really just want maximum storage and are really not hell bent on keeping a raid array i would clone the array over to your single drive and then change your boot order and use that as your main system drive. I would then make sure you can boot to the new drive and then go in and and delete the array and reformat the 2 drives as seperate, I would partition a 30 or 40G section in one of them and then clone a copy of your drive back for a backup copy, the rest you can use at your leisure for whatever you like __________________ Blackduck30 Time is like money and milk, It's always running out Any Donations Help Keep TSF Free For All

04-11-2007, 04:44 AM	#9 (permalink)
geek73 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 694 OS: SuSe Linux My System	Re: Adding add'l HD to existing Raid array I have been running my Raptors in Raid 0 as well, granted only 2 but have lost 2 drives in the past year as well. I agree that WD puts performance first on those drives..Unles of course you spend that nice 350 bucks for the 150 gig Raptor X raid drive, those are built for both. I agree with both, smaller drives with an OS equals better performance and Windows not being able to move around so much. I put Windows on my D drive and my programs on my C partition of my raid. This proves to be one of the fastest ways of programs starting up and such that I have seen. Just my 2 cents.. __________________ [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

04-13-2007, 02:22 PM	#10 (permalink)
vaio user Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: NY state Posts: 6 OS: WIN XP My System	Re: Adding add'l HD to existing Raid array Is it possible to keep the existing array as raid-0 and use the new hard drive seperate as lets say M: drive, format it and install windows xp to it.? or is that not possible. These details, Im not sure of. If so, how. Do I need a version of Xp to install onto it , or can I xxclone it * Does it need to be a boot drive? I'm not comfortable changing the original array if I have to delete it. I have had this computer for one year so far and I have had no problems (touch wood) and hope to continue that way. I have 2 WD caviar drives. Hope they are reliable.

04-13-2007, 04:26 PM	#11 (permalink)
blackduck30 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Wollongong/Australia Posts: 4,230 OS: XP pro SP3/Vista Ultimate My System	Re: Adding add'l HD to existing Raid array Yes you can just formatt and clone the array over with XXCLONE, the good thing is you can keep both the array and the cloned drive there so that all you have to do is change the boot order and test that the clone process went ok and if your new cloned drive works as well as the old then you can then do what you like with the array, but if for any reason you missed a step in the cloning then you can just reformatt the clone and start again, The main thing to remember is you have to make the clone bootable, everything you need to do is explained in an article written by Linderman on the main hard drive page __________________ Blackduck30 Time is like money and milk, It's always running out Any Donations Help Keep TSF Free For All Last edited by blackduck30; 04-13-2007 at 04:27 PM.

04-13-2007, 06:18 PM	#12 (permalink)
vaio user Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: NY state Posts: 6 OS: WIN XP My System	Re: Adding add'l HD to existing Raid array Awesome! Thanks Blackduck30. That is what I'm going to do. Thanks everybody for your input.

07-17-2008, 10:56 AM	#13 (permalink)
gabcatyper Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 1 OS: XP pro	Re: Adding add'l HD to existing Raid array it may be a lil late , but w/e i just read this entire threat. and it's ridiculous you guys are doing great thing and all but you don't think of simplicity if you have a raid 0 set up for performance reasons there really isn't much you can do, just add a extra HDD for more storage and keep your appz in the raid array and have your data on the extra drive (obviously it will show as a different partition). My point is that if you have a raid 0 it only can be configured with 2 drives, now if you install a third drive and you make it dynamic it would beat the purpose of the raid cuz by adding the 3rd drive you will slow down the performance. anyways you should not do that at all. just add one drive and use it for storage. and if you are too concerned about your data buy Carbonite, it's only 60 bucks a year and it's guaranteed to keep your data intact online and no limit on capacity. lil piece of advise, think simplicity before you become overwhelmed.