My group inherited several 2008 R2 servers with single 70GB RAID 1 boot/system disks.
No other disks in the servers.
We need larger boot / system disk.
Plan is :
- to replace one disk with new 500 GB drive
- wait for resync
- replace other smaller disk with 2nd 500 GB drive
- wait for resysnc
Now I should have 500 GB RAID 1 with original 70 GB partition
Then I would like to extend the 70 GB partition to 200 GB and add D: drive partition with remaining 300 GB
Can the above be done using Windows Disk Management and / or Windows DiskPart ?
Best Answer
You have the general idea for how to do this. What you want to do this this:
Take a full backup. Every time you break redundancy, you risk a disaster. Better safe than sorry.
Replace one 73GB disk with a 500GB disk. Wait for a rebuild to complete.
Replace the other 73GB disk with the other 500GB disk. Wait for the rebuild to complete.
Use Dell OpenManage Server Administrator to extend the size of the physical RAID 1 volume on the disk from 73GB to 500GB. I believe you're looking for the "reconfigure" option, but consult the manual if you're unsure.
Open
diskmgmt.mscordiskpart.exe, your choice, and scan for changes. The additional 400ish GB of empty space should show up. Extend your existing volume to 200GB and create a new partition for the rest.Assuming everything goes smoothly, you can do this online and with no downtime.