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process to migrate from RAID10 array to RAID6 array
I have inherited an R730 unit at one of my customers that is running medical imaging software on it. The secondary drive is a RAID10 array of 6x Intel SSDC2KB48 480gb SSDs in a PERC H730 Mini (embedded) for a combined total of 1.34TB. It's almost full. I'd like to rebuild that array from raid10 to raid6 so that there are only 2 disks in redundancy instead of 3... thereby giving me an extra 480 gigs of available room (or about 1.8tb) for medical images until the new R760 replacement server is configured correctly and it can be migrated over to that unit at a later date.
Windows 2012 R2 Server Standard
| System Model |
PowerEdge R730
|
| BIOS Version |
2.9.1
|
| Firmware Version |
2.61.60.60
|
PERC H730 Mini Firmware 25.5.5.0005
Drive C is BitLocker encrypted
Drive D is BitLocker encrypted with a different key
Box has a BitLocker boot password similar to BIOS bootup password to gain access after reboot. (No TPM module, so it's software)
So, it's been a while since I have done this, and since it's medical imagery, I am leery to dive right in without a plan. But, if memory serves me right, here's what I need to do. Please verify my procedure is the right way to go about this.
First question is, can I even do this procedure with BitLocker enabled on both disks as well as BitLocker bootup password, or should I disable all BitLocker encryption, do the rebuild, then re-encrypt with new BitLocker keys separately?
1. Image the entire box, or just the D drive, to an external disk using something like Acronis TrueImage and have a verified working backup file.
2. Reboot box into PERC BIOS and destroy the Virtual Disk for drive D that is RAID10.
3. Create new Virtual Disk using those 6 now empty disks into a single RAID6 array.
4. Initialize the change and let the hardware create the container.
5. Reboot into Windows Server 2012R2.
6. Add the newly created Virtual Disk as drive D in Win Server. Format it.
7. Restore the files from backup image to D drive.
8. Run as normal with the additional space available.
Since I prefer working with linux servers, it's been a while since I've done these operations under MS. I'm mainly concerned with the disks being BitLocker encrypted and doing these operations, as BitLocker has a tendency to lock you out when you start changing BIOS or boot options. Should I do this process with BitLocker enabled, or should I decrypt the disks prior to this process?
Should I proceed as I have laid out, or are there some other steps I should be following here?
DELL-Chris H
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July 16th, 2024 19:42
BackInTheSaddle,
Just to confirm I want to touch on something, as I am not certain how you meant it. You will not be able to migrate the Virtual Disk from a spanned raid 10 to a raid 6, that would require doing the backup and then delete and recreate the virtual disk, reinstall OS, and then restore data.
Now as far as your procedural question, in my opinion I would disable the encryption on both drives, proceed with the rebuilding, then recreate the encryption once complete. As far as the process you are stating, Young is correct that we can't support imaging.
Let me know if this helps.
(edited)
DELL-Young E
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July 12th, 2024 07:02
Hello thanks for choosing Dell.
To start with, this act of restoring with Acronis TrueImage and have a verified working backup file you mentioned in the original post is not supported by Dell so any unfortunate situation followed by, Dell tech support won't be able to fully help, I'm afraid, please note.
Respectfully,
BackInTheSaddle
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July 16th, 2024 19:28
@DELL-Young E Well that was unhelpful. Is my process roughly correct, or do I need to change something around to pull data off, reconfig the array, then restore data? That's what I'm looking for. The actual software used isn't particularly important.