Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > NAS/RAID & Technologies > C: \ is full on raid 5. now what?
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dhassay   01-09-2009 at 06:51:45 PM

hp proliant ml150 with 4 sata drives. c: has less than 200 megs left, the d: has 200 gigs left. what are my options here? use a partition program to move some free space from d: to c:? its running small bus server 2003. thanks

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dhassay   01-09-2009 at 09:16:08 PM
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i'm considering replacing all of the drives with larger ones. if so, can i just take each drive one at a time and transfer the data to the new drives?

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Zenthar   01-09-2009 at 09:36:54 PM
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The C: drive is a RAID5 volume? How large is it? Can't you just move some files somewhere else? If you have a RAID5 configuration, no you can't just transfer data disk-by-disk, the volume needs to be whole.

------------------------------ The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice. - Rebec of Ginaz
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dhassay   01-09-2009 at 09:42:26 PM
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how can i tell what raid config it uses? all 4 drives hook up to a sata raid controller card. dont know who built this server. i am just walking into this mess. i am hoping that i dont have to buy new drives and start from the ground up loading os, progs etc.

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Jim_L9   01-09-2009 at 09:50:04 PM
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Are there any files not related to the operating system on the C: drive that can be moved to d: Is D: a RAID drive? If you move files that are shared from C: to D: you will have to break the share, move the files and then share them from the D: drive. You probably also have a lot of backup files of previous updates on C: that can be deleted. Do you really need some from years ago?

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Zenthar   01-09-2009 at 09:55:23 PM
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To know the RAID config, you either have some kind of application to manage it during the boot process you will see a message like "Press F1 to go into RAID config".

------------------------------ The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice. - Rebec of Ginaz
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dhassay   01-09-2009 at 10:11:27 PM
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i dont believe they store any data on the c: drive. just the server os and apps. whoever set it up must of made the c too small. when looking at disk management in windows it shows c and d as two partitions on the same drive ( raid ). hope that helps.

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kamel5547   01-09-2009 at 10:25:06 PM
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Firstly whomever setup the OS on a RAID 5 is retarded...

That being said verify that there isn't junk on the drive (i.e. apps that are not needed). Generally speaking a server (I assume thats what this is) doesn't need many applicaitons. I know when I walked into this operation there was MS Office and all sorts of junk installed which I removed. Not only does it take a smaller footprint, but you also get a more secure server. My guess is that you should be able to get by doing this... sure having those programs on the server is convenient, but it isn't necissarily a good practice.

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Jim_L9   01-09-2009 at 10:27:49 PM
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How big is C: and D:?

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dhassay   01-09-2009 at 10:28:49 PM
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i will look at the raid config and see what there is. if i am lucky the c and d will be on one physical drive and the e drive will be raid using the remaining 3 drives.

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GhislainG   01-09-2009 at 10:28:53 PM
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What ML150 is it (G2, G3, G4 or G5)? What RAID controller does it have? Depending on the RAID controller, it might be possible to replace one disk at a time with a larger one and let the controller rebuild the array. Once all drives have been replaced, then expand the RAID. However it might not necessarily increase the size of partition C:.

As you suggested, you can also use a partitioning program to expand C: and shrink D:. Creating 2 partitions on the same RAID is very common.

HP tools should already be installed. Use them to see what RAID controller you have, check it's status, etc.

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dhassay   01-09-2009 at 10:32:35 PM
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its a g2. i'm a desktop support guy without much server exp but the cust wants me to do it anyway. just tying to get all of the info i can before i completely screw it all up.
the raid controller is the one supplied by hp for the sata drives. it can handle 6 drives. now i need to find out what config the raid is setup as.

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wickedsnow   01-09-2009 at 10:54:21 PM
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If your OS is on a different HDD, then make an image of the HDD with acronis trueimage. Replace the HDD, then put the image on that drive. Simple. It will even re-size the partitions anyway you want. And it will upconvert to a bigger drive size automatically. IE: 100g partition will become a 500gig partition.

Secondly, if your OS and data are all on a raid 5 system, simply replace one drive at a time. your raid controller will rebuild each drive and add the bigger space to the array. raid 5 = 75% available.

Once all the drives are replaced, your done. Nothing else to do. Your raid contoller will automatically allocate all new space for you. you can make a raid 5 array from any size drives you want. a 640gig + 500gig +320 if you really want. (not adviseable, but you can.)

If nothing else, just make an image of the whole array, os INC. put it on a usb 1.5TB HDD, get new drives, make a new raid array any way you want, then throw the image back on. Done. Again, new space is automatically upconverted for you.

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wickedsnow   01-09-2009 at 10:58:48 PM
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to find out the raid setup. check the vendor, in this case HP. for the command used upon boot.

For my home computer it's CTRL+I at work, it's CTRL+F, should be right after post. you cann chekc the bios also for information. Or use raid controller software installed on windows to tell you. If you don't have it installed, find out the brand of the raid controller you have then DL the software and run it.

Similar to Intel Matrix Storage Software. i do this stuff all the time my friend. I'll help you the best i can. Tell me the brand of the raid controller and model of the server and i'll give you info and links to what you need to do.

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GhislainG   01-09-2009 at 11:17:15 PM
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Make sure you have a complete backup before making changes (better be safe than sorry when working on a customer's server).

You should read the info starting on page 3-16 (page 75) of this PDF: http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/b [...] 267894.pdf

According to that document, the RAID controller is from Adaptec and it supports RAID0 or RAID1 only. You should definitely verify the current configuration and what RAID controller is installed as it could have been replaced by a different one.

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dhassay   01-10-2009 at 12:46:31 AM
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thank to everyone trying to help me. i really want to get a grip on basic server admin stuff. some day.
luckily there is a good backup routine on an ext usb drive. i will find out for sure what raid card is in there and find the utility or whatever to confirm the raid configuration.
this server has an open cpu socket. my next project is to find out exactly what xeon cpu is in there ( is there a easy way to find out cpu specs?) if i match the two cpus, is there anything else needed to be done when adding the 2nd cpu? do you need to tell the server os that you installed another cpu? ( small business 2003). thanks again.

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croc   01-10-2009 at 01:44:03 AM
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dhassay wrote :

hp proliant ml150 with 4 sata drives. c: has less than 200 megs left, the d: has 200 gigs left. what are my options here? use a partition program to move some free space from d: to c:? its running small bus server 2003. thanks



Depending on the controller that the server was optioned with, you should be able to just add a drive and then expand your c: volume. Personally, I'd be calling HP if it is a corporate server.

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GhislainG   01-10-2009 at 03:55:19 AM
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Installing an additional CPU is enough if the system already sees more than one CPU. Check in Device Manager, Computer and Processors.

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navvara   01-11-2009 at 01:31:58 AM
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Installing a second cpu might run you into software licensing issues.

In my opinion it's better to upgrade the existing CPU (no need to do anything) than risk breaking software and licenses. A newer processor (if supported by the hardware) will be transparent to the OS or any softwarem except for it being faster. The ml 150 supports up to 2.86 Quad Core processors, I think that'll be enough for anything this server might be used for. (if it isn't then your client bought the wrong server)

Right clickling on "My computer" should display what processor is installed on the server.

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dhassay   01-15-2009 at 12:32:10 AM
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i stopped by the clients today. the raid card is a adaptec 26105A. luckily drive 0 is the hard drive containing c: and d: partitions and not part of the raid array. i believe the easiest way to do this will be to get a larger drive and clone over the c: and d: partitions to the new drive. we have a little box that can clone drives, partitions, etc. does this all sound good so far?

cpu is a xeon 3 Ghz. customer doesnt want to scrap the 1st cpu so i'm going to get another xeon 3 Ghz cpu with the proper fan/heatsink and put it in. the only thing that would matter is the OS and it is good or 1-2 processors. no other apps have an issue.

thanks again

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navvara   01-16-2009 at 06:02:03 PM
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Sounds good. I would make drives C: and D: into a Raid 1 array though.

As far as the cpu goes, what is the customer running on the server to need so much processing power?

Anyway, it should probably work to add another CPU, you'll need to reboot a couple of times. Just make sure you call HP and have them figure out what exact part number you need.

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