Hello, this isn’t an OS dependent question, but I figured that I would ask it in a Linux forum as Linux users are a bit more knowledgable 
I have a Linux server that I use for backing up our machines. It is based around a Highpoint 2320 8-port RAID set up with only 2 channels in a mirrored configuration. If I want to upgrade the drives at some point, how would I go about doing that without first having to push the data to another server or external drive? The drives are set up as one partition if that helps. Also, if it WERE set up as multiple partitions, how would the process differ (I have another server that has multiple partitions and eventually will have to upgrade it). Thanks in advance for any assistance!
says it’s fake RAID, so presumably you’re using the proprietary driver.
Wouldn’t it be sufficient to remove one drive, put in a new one and rebuild the array, then repeat with the other drive?
Of course if the new drive is larger, then hopefully you used LVM so that you can append more space to the existing partition.
Well, since I don’t really know what LVM is (besides what it stands for), I’ll assume that I won’t have that option. If you don’t have that option, do you just lose the extra space afforded by the new drives? That would defeat the purpose of the new drives…
Yes, to increase the capacity of a RAID partition you have to recreate it. So it’s copying for you.
So I suppose my option is to take one of thenew drives, format it and partition it off of the mobo (not the RAID card) then take one of the RAID drives off of the card, attach it to the mobo, and ‘dd’ it? I would then have to do that to the other new RAID drive, then put both new drives on the RAID card? Maybe I should look into LVM so I don’t have this issue in the future
vwgtiturbo schrieb:
> Hello, this isn’t an OS dependent question, but I figured that I would
> ask it in a Linux forum as Linux users are a bit more knowledgable
I can’t say I like that argument. But anyway …
> I have a Linux server that I use for backing up our machines. It is
> based around a Highpoint 2320 8-port RAID set up with only 2 channels in
> a mirrored configuration. If I want to upgrade the drives at some point,
> how would I go about doing that without first having to push the data to
> another server or external drive?
Standard answer: it depends.
I always found it easiest to keep the old drives running and add the new
ones in free slots, provided you do have free slots and it’s ok for the
added capacity to appear as a new drive in your system.
If that isn’t an option, you could successively replace all your disks by
bigger ones, always waiting for a full resync in between, but you’ll have
to check the ability of your RAID controller to make use of the increased
capacity. Some models will only allow you to create a new RAID drive in
the added space. Others will be able to extend the existing drive.
Finally there’s the question of what to do with the added space inside the
OS. Again, the easiest way is to create a new, separate partition from it
and mount it somewhere like /home2. Some filesystems like ext3 also allow
extending them into free space immediately following on the volume.
It also helps if your system was configured with LVM initially.
> The drives are set up as one partition
> if that helps. Also, if it WERE set up as multiple partitions, how would
> the process differ (I have another server that has multiple partitions
> and eventually will have to upgrade it).
Whether that does make a difference depends on the other circumstances
I already mentioned.
Feel free to ask again if you need details.
HTH
T.
If you just “dd it” you will also copy the partition table and it will just look like a smaller disk and not use the full capacity.
Don’t you have spare ports on the controller for another pair of disks?
I have 6 ports open on the card, but am unsure what happens if I simply hook up the new drives. Assuming that the data is copied over automatically, once that is done, can I just remove the older, smaller drives? I wasn’t sure if the RAID card would complain about the me removing the drives that I created the array with…
vwgtiturbo schrieb:
> I have 6 ports open on the card, but am unsure what happens if I simply
> hook up the new drives.
Probably nothing much. You’ll have to tell your RAID controller what to
do with them.
> Assuming that the data is copied over
> automatically,
That assumption is almost certainly wrong.
> once that is done, can I just remove the older, smaller
> drives? I wasn’t sure if the RAID card would complain about the me
> removing the drives that I created the array with…
It will. You’ll have to tell it to use the new drive in place of the old
one first. That’ll typically cause it to start copying over the data,
perhaps even notifying you in some way when it’s done. (Otherwise you’ll
have to check its status periodically.) Only then can you remove the old
drive.
It’s probably easier to remove one of the old drives first, simulating a
disk failure, then connect one of the new, bigger ones, and tell the RAID
controller to use it as the replacement. That will of course cause the
RAID controller to complain about the failure at first, but then it
should copy the data to the new disk as you wanted. Once it’s done, you
can do the same with the other disk. Afterwards you’ll reconfigure the
RAID controller to tell it what to do with the added space.
HTH
Tilman
Thanks for the info. This is only the second RAID setup I’ve done (with the first simply being a mirrored set using Linux ‘md’ for two drives) and I have always just started from scratch, which is relatively easy (install OS, install driver, insert disks, format disks, edit fstab, etc.). I have (knock on wood) never had to replace a failed drive, nor have I had to upgrade a running system that I couldn’t start over with. Once I replace the drives, I’ll post back if there are any issues. Thanks again for the help!