[pushkin69]

I currently have a Raid 5 set up with three 1.5 TB drives. I'm starting to run out of space, so I bought a fourth 1.5 TB drive. I would like to add it to my raid array, but can't seem to figure out how to do it.

From the research I've done, the directions say:
1. Start Intel Matrix Storage Console
2. Click "View" then "Advanced Mode."
3. Right-click the newly installed hard drive and click "Rebuild to this Hard Drive."

The problem is, I don't see that option to rebuild to this hd. The only two options I get when I right-click on the newly installed "non-raid" drive is "Mark As Spare" and "Activate Port LED"... Please help.

Hardware:
Motherboard: AsRock P45TS-R
Intel® P45 + ICH10R Chipsets

 

[JimE]

Re: Add HD to onboard Intel Raid 5

Features such as the ability to resize arrays varies with the controller chipset. If you don't have that option list when you right click, your chipset likely doesn't support it. In which case you will need to delete the array, and rebuild it with the new disk.

 

[pushkin69]

Re: Add HD to onboard Intel Raid 5

1. My chipset DOES seem to support this feature. I've read through several posts that say they've expanded their array... Anyone know if/how this is possible?

2. If I do end up rebuilding my array, would you recommend RAID 10 instead?

3. Will I be able to add drives to RAID 10 in the future?

4. Should I buy a separate RAID controller, instead of using the onboard one I have now? If so, can you recommend a reliable/cost effective one, that would support expanding the array?

 

[pushkin69]

Re: Add HD to onboard Intel Raid 5

The URL below shows that my chipset supports array expansion:
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology — What features are supported on each I/O controller hub (ICH)?

This URL answers the question directly:
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology — Can I add an additional hard drive to a RAID array?

Yet the option isn't there when I right-click the drive in the Intel Matrix Storage Console. Please help.

 

[JimE]

Re: Add HD to onboard Intel Raid 5

Why it's not working, I can't say. It may be an option that doesn't work properly on your chipset with the firmware version that you are running. It's could be a known issue, or just a glitch in your situation. In any event, it's not listed, and I seriously doubt you find a simple fix. I would suggest, rebuilding the array. At a minimum you should have a backup copy of the data either way, as there are no guarantees when you are altering partitions/arrays.

Personally, I would not use RAID at all. I have used RAID5 arrays in the past, and at least in my situation, I was happier without it. There is a huge performance hit reading and especially writing to a RAID5 array.

 

[pushkin69]

Re: Add HD to onboard Intel Raid 5

Rebuilding the array was an obvious option before I even posted anything on here. It's equivalent to saying if there's an error in windows, format and reinstall. That option is always there, but not necessary one you want to take. The point of posting on here was to see if I had any other options. My current raid volume has 3TB of data I cannot move anywhere else in the meantime, to rebuild, as I do not have that much space anywhere else. Anyways, after some more research and lots of reading, it turns out that the option to expand the array is easily available, just in a different place than the one I was looking.

In my first post, I explained that within Intel Matrix Storage Console, I was right-clicking on the newly added HD, and was looking for an option to add it to the array. It turns out, you need to:
1. Right-click on the RAID Volume
2. Select Modify Volume
3. Check the option to expand array
4. And then Select the newly added drive to be added to the array.

I've verified that this works, and my RAID is in the process of rebuilding now.
URL where solution was found:
Does the ICH10R support RAID capacity...: Intel Communities

 

[JimE]

Thanks for the update and solution.

And I want to point out that you should always have a backup of your data. Unless you don't mind losing it. In theory, RAID5 is fairly safe, from a single drive failure anyway. But there are numerous other issues that can occur that will cause the array to fail and loss of all the data. My point being, it's a waste of time, effort, and money to only partially protect the data. It's either important, or it's not.

 

[raptor_pa]

RAID only provides HARDWARE failure recovery on a single drive. Corruption in the file system is not protected by RAID5. We get a ton of RAID arrays through the lab for recovery because there was no backup of critical data available.