Hi,

Need advise about repartition of RAID 5 disks (3 disks) in a Windows Server 2003 environment. The setup is one partition of about 465 GB. I want to create a second partition (D:/) so I can separate the data files from the system. Is there software that can accomplish this with having to reinstall all the data files? (about 200 GB).

Appreciate any advice or expert knowledge.

AIS Mapper

Is there software that can accomplish this with having to reinstall all the data files?

Yes and no. Depends on volume type and easier alternatives specific to your RAID implementation's capabilities (online capacity expansion?).

If the volume type is Basic, partition management software like Acronis Disk Director Partition Manager (http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/diskdirector/partitioning.html), Norton Partition Magic (http://www.symantec.com/norton/partitionmagic), Paragon Partition Manager (http://www.paragon-software.com/home/pm-personal/comparison.html), or free open source variants like GParted (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php) can be used. Getting hardware RAID support integrated into the open source products for your specific RAID implementation could be a challenge, however.

If the volume type is Dynamic, things are more complicated as dynamic volumes have limited support with 3rd party tools. Backup each volume as would be done before doing any major disk operation with any backup/imaging software that supports dynamic volumes (e.g., Acronis True Image Enterprise Server (http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATIES/) / LDM (dynamic disks) Acronis True Image Supports (http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/support/kb/?aid=504), Norton Ghost (http://www.symantec.com/norton/ghost) / Dynamic Disk support in Ghost and LiveState Recovery (http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/powerquest.nsf/0/894d4c7d0f66ba2988256e75007ca388?OpenDocument&seg=hm&lg=en&ct=us), etc.), delete and recreate the array(s), and then restore the data. For the downtime, software costs, and work involved, also consider just adding disks and creating another array.

Really, it depends on what you're using to house the raid5 partition. Is it a hardware raid controller?You said 3 drives...what size are they? What did you use to create the partitions?

Thanks for the replys. I think repartitioning may cause or potentially could cause more problems than it would solve. All is functioning well right now, so not messing around with it is the best approach.

AISmapper

All is functioning well right now, so not messing around with it is the best approach.

Amen to that.

Hi,

Need advise about repartition of RAID 5 disks (3 disks) in a Windows Server 2003 environment. The setup is one partition of about 465 GB. I want to create a second partition (D:/) so I can separate the data files from the system. Is there software that can accomplish this with having to reinstall all the data files? (about 200 GB).

Appreciate any advice or expert knowledge.

AIS Mapper


This RAID5 must be consisted with 3*250G hard drive and only one partition. This problem is easy to be solved, as after you rebuild the RAID, the virtual disk will be recognized as a physical disk. You just need to resize the sytem partition to be smaller and create another new one. Partition Magic alternativeRepartition RAID 5 / RAID 0 / RAID 1. Safest Solution to Repartition RAID 5 on Windows Server. (http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/repartition-raid-5.htm) is a good choice.