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PowerEdge: How to Reconfigure a Virtual Disk or Add More Hard Drives

Summary: This article shows how to add additional disks to a virtual disk or reconfigure a virtual disk.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
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Instructions

Note: If you have multiple Virtual Disks (VD) created on the same set of disks or you have a RAID 50 or RAID 60, the operation to reconfigure fails. Reconfiguration and capacity expansion is non-data destructive as an operation. If there are underlying issues with the RAID array, data can be lost, so ensure that a tested backup is available before starting any operation.
 
Caution: Reconfiguring Virtual Disks typically impacts disk performance until the reconfiguration operation is complete. It is highly recommended that the procedure is done during a maintenance window.
 


What is Online Capacity Expansion (OCE)?

Online Capacity Expansion is a process that allows a virtual disk's capacity to be expanded to existing free space on the disk group or the hard drives it contains. It also allows for new hard drives to be added to a disk group to expand the capacity of the virtual disk. The process allows for expansion without the requirement of re-creating the virtual disk. 


What is RAID Level Migration (RLM)?

RAID Level Migration is the process of changing a virtual disk's RAID level while not requiring the virtual disk to be re-created. Physical disks can and sometimes must be added to fulfill the requirements of the new RAID level.
You can find a table of RAID level migration options in the Additional Information part of this article.


Steps:

  1. Access the BIOS by F2 > Device Settings
    expand virtual disk1
    Figure 1: Expand Virtual Disk 

 

  1. Select RAID Controller
    Expand Virtual Disk2
    Figure 2: Expand Virtual Disk 

 

  1. In the Dashboard view, select Main Menu
    Expand Virtual Disk 3
    Figure 3: Expand Virtual Disk 

 

  1. Select Virtual Disk Management
    Select Virtual Disk Management 4
    Figure 4: Virtual Disk Management

 

  1. Select the Virtual Disk to be changed
    Select the Virtual Disk 5
    Figure 5: Select the Virtual Disk 

 

  1. In the drop-down, select Reconfigure Virtual Disks and press the GO button
    Expand Virtual Disk 6
    Figure 6: Expand Virtual Disk 

 

  1. Select the RAID Level and press Choose the Operation button
    Raid Level for Virtual Disk 7
    Figure 7: Select RAID Level for Virtual Disk 

 

  1. Select the disks to be added to Virtual Disk and press Apply Changes button
    Apply changes to Virtual Disk 8
    Figure 8: Apply Changes to Virtual Disk 

 

  1. Confirm the operation and click YES.
    Confirm the Virtual Disk changes 9
    Figure 9: Confirm the Virtual Disk changes 

 

  1. Press the Start Operation button
    Start the Expand Virtual Disk 10
    Figure 10: Start the Virtual Disk Expansion

 

  1. Press the ​​​​​​​OK button to complete the operation.
    Ok to complete Virtual Disk 11
    Figure 11: Ok to complete Virtual Disk expansion

 

  1. To view the status of the Virtual Disk 
    View the status of Virtual Disk expansion
    Figure 12: View Status of Virtual Disk expansion



After the reconstruction starts, the system can be left in the RAID BIOS until complete, or the system can be rebooted into the operating system.
 

Note: If the system is rebooted into the operating system, the system performance is impacted until the rebuild has been completed.

Additional Information

Related articles and videos:

How to change the RAID Level or Size of a configured Virtual Disk.

Duration: 00:01:22 (hh:mm:ss)
When available, closed caption (subtitles) language settings can be chosen using the settings or CC icon on this video player.

 

Possible RAID Level Migrations:

Note:
  • The controller changes the write-cache policy of all virtual disks undergoing an RLM/OCE to Write-Through until the RLM/OCE is complete.
  • Spanned virtual disks such as RAID 50 and 60 cannot be reconfigured.
 Source RAID  Target RAID Required Number of Physical Disks (Beginning) Number of Physical Disks (End)     Capacity Expansion Possible    Description    
RAID 0 RAID 0 1 2 or more Yes Increases capacity
RAID 0 RAID 1 1 2 No Converts nonredundant virtual disk into a mirrored virtual disk by adding one disk
RAID 0 RAID 5 1 or more 3 or more Yes At least one drive must be added for distributed parity data.
RAID 0 RAID 6 1 or more 4 or more Yes At least two drives must be added for dual distributed parity data.
RAID 1 RAID 0 2 2 or more Yes Removes redundancy while increasing capacity
RAID 1 RAID 5 2 3 or more Yes Maintains redundancy while doubling capacity
RAID 1 RAID 6 2 4 or more Yes Two drives must be added for distributed parity data.
RAID 5 RAID 0 3 or more 3 or more Yes Converts to a nonredundant virtual disk and reclaims disk space that is used for distributed parity data
RAID 5 RAID 5 3 4 or more Yes It increases capacity by adding disks.
RAID 5 RAID 6 3 or more 4 or more Yes At least one drive must be added for dual distributed parity data.
RAID 6 RAID 0 4 or more 4 or more Yes Converts to a nonredundant virtual disk and reclaims disk space that is used for distributed parity data
RAID 6 RAID 5 4 or more 4 or more Yes Removes one set of parity data and reclaims the disk space that is used for it
RAID 6 RAID 6 4 5 or more Yes It increases capacity by adding disks.
RAID 10 RAID 10 Less than 32 32 Yes It increases capacity by adding disks.
Note: If the controller already contains the maximum number of virtual disks, you cannot perform a RAID level migration or capacity expansion on any virtual disk.
 

Affected Products

PowerEdge RAID Controller H345, PowerEdge RAID Controller H350 Adapter SAS, PowerEdge RAID Controller H355 Front SAS, PowerEdge RAID Controller H355 Adapter SAS, PowerEdge RAID Controller H730P MX, PowerEdge RAID Controller H745 , PowerEdge RAID Controller H745P MX, PowerEdge RAID Controller H750 Adapter SAS, PowerEdge RAID Controller H755 Adapter, PowerEdge RAID Controller H755 MX Adapter, PowerEdge RAID Controller H755N Front NVMe, PowerEdge RAID Controller H755 Front SAS, PowerEdge RAID Controller H965i Adapter, PowerEdge RAID Controller H965i Front, PowerEdge RAID Controller H965i MX, PowerEdge R330, PowerEdge R340, PowerEdge R430, PowerEdge R440, PowerEdge R530, PowerEdge R530xd, PowerEdge R540, PowerEdge R630, PowerEdge R640, PowerEdge R6515, PowerEdge R720, PowerEdge R730, PowerEdge R730xd, PowerEdge R740, PowerEdge R740XD, PowerEdge R740XD2, PowerEdge R7415, PowerEdge R7425, PowerEdge R7515, PowerEdge R830, PowerEdge R840, PowerEdge R930, PowerEdge R940, PowerEdge R940xa, PowerEdge RAID Controller H330, PowerEdge RAID Controller H730, PowerEdge RAID Controller H730P, PowerEdge RAID Controller H740P, PowerEdge RAID Controller H830, PowerEdge RAID Controller H840, PowerEdge RAID Controller H965e Adapter, PowerEdge T30, PowerEdge T340, PowerEdge T430, PowerEdge T440, PowerEdge T640 ...
Article Properties
Article Number: 000116592
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 19 Nov 2024
Version:  17
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