Adaptec 2810SA added new drive, now what?

I just added a new 250G drive to a 3-drive raid 5 system (making 4
drives now) and although the Adaptec Storage Manager shows all 4 drives
as being part of my raid 5 (TomRaid), the extra space does not show up
in My Computer and it shows as an unused volume in Disk Manager. What
do I have to do in order to make Windows see it as part of the capacity
of my raid array?

wrote in message
ups.com...
I just added a new 250G drive to a 3-drive raid 5 system (making 4
drives now) and although the Adaptec Storage Manager shows all 4 drives
as being part of my raid 5 (TomRaid), the extra space does not show up
in My Computer and it shows as an unused volume in Disk Manager. What
do I have to do in order to make Windows see it as part of the capacity
of my raid array?

Use the DISKPART command-line utility (XP and 2003 it´s integrated in the
basic-OS, under 2000 and NT it´s part of the resource kit) and EXTEND the
volume. Will only work if it´s a basic disk and primary partition. No
dynamic disks and no extended partitions/logical drives.
Read the documentation beforehand and - as always - have a good backup of
your data.

HTH

Etti
DoD #2503

Thanks for the response, Michael.

I don't understand some of the terms used like "basic disk" and
"dynamic disk". Can you elaborate?

Thanks.

Ettengruber wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
I just added a new 250G drive to a 3-drive raid 5 system (making 4
drives now) and although the Adaptec Storage Manager shows all 4
drives
as being part of my raid 5 (TomRaid), the extra space does not show
up
in My Computer and it shows as an unused volume in Disk Manager.
What
do I have to do in order to make Windows see it as part of the
capacity
of my raid array?

Use the DISKPART command-line utility (XP and 2003 it=B4s integrated
in the
basic-OS, under 2000 and NT it=B4s part of the resource kit) and
EXTEND the
volume. Will only work if it=B4s a basic disk and primary partition.
No
dynamic disks and no extended partitions/logical drives.
Read the documentation beforehand and - as always - have a good
backup of=20
your data.
=20
HTH
=20
Etti
DoD #2503

wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for the response, Michael.

I don't understand some of the terms used like "basic disk" and
"dynamic disk". Can you elaborate?

Right-click on My Computer -- Manage -- Disk Management. On the left side
where you see your disks (Disk 0, Disk 1...) On the label is either "Basic"
or "Dynamic". If the disk is "dynamic" the extension process will not work,
if it´s basic no problem. For the difference between basic and dynamic disks
have a look into the help and support center of your windows system. It´s
quite elaborative on the subject :-)

One additional free advice: If you don´t know exactly what you´re doing.
Don´t do it! Managing disks is potentially very very disruptive and can lead
to unrecoverable data loss.

HTH

Etti
DoD #2503

I don't understand some of the terms used like "basic disk" and
"dynamic disk". Can you elaborate?

"Basic Disk" - usual partitioned disk with MBR.
"Dynamic Disk" - disk partitioned with Veritas's "dmio" (which MS has OEMed),
which has a LDM database.

w2k and later support software RAIDs only on Dynamic Disks.

--
Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
StorageCraft Corporation

http://www.storagecraft.com

I checked the disk and it is indeed "basic". Here are the steps that
I'm performing in DISKPART only to receive

"DiskPart failed to extend the volume.
Please make sure the volume is valid for extending."


Here is the sequence of DISKPART commands I used:
---------------------------------------------
C:\Documents and Settings\Raid5diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

Copyright (C) 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: RAID

DISKPART list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 6189 MB 0 B
Disk 1 Online 698 GB 0 B

DISKPART select disk 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

(thought I'd do the "list vol" for info sake)
DISKPART list vol

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status
Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- ---------
--------
Volume 0 D DVD-ROM 0 B
Volume 1 C NTFS Partition 6181 MB Healthy
System
Volume 2 R Raid NTFS Partition 466 GB Healthy
Volume 3 TomRaid2 NTFS Partition 233 GB Healthy

DISKPART list part

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 466 GB 32 KB
Partition 2 Primary 233 GB 466 GB

DISKPART select part 1

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART extend

DiskPart failed to extend the volume.
Please make sure the volume is valid for extending.

DISKPART select part 2

Partition 2 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART extend

DiskPart failed to extend the volume.
Please make sure the volume is valid for extending.

DISKPART
-----------------------------------------------------


One additional free advice: If you don=B4t know exactly what you=B4re
doing.
Don=B4t do it! Managing disks is potentially very very disruptive and
can lead
to unrecoverable data loss.

Noted. I'm building this on a home system that I'm putting together.
If any data loss occurs, not biggy.

wrote:
I checked the disk and it is indeed "basic". Here are the steps that
I'm performing in DISKPART only to receive

"DiskPart failed to extend the volume.
Please make sure the volume is valid for extending."


[...]

After the "list disk" it shows that there´s no free space available

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 6189 MB 0 B (!!!!!!!!!!)
Disk 1 Online 698 GB 0 B (!!!!!!!!!!)

So there´s no way to extend the partition.

Where the "0 B" stands there should be the free space of your extended
RAID-Volume. Since there´s no free space, what should DISKPART extend or
more precisely, where should DISKPART extend.

You need to have free space available in order to extend the partition.

Why there´s no free space? I have no idea. In your original post you
wrote it´s shown in DiskManager as a NEW volume. This might indicate,
that you created a seperate RAID volume and did NOT extend the existing
RAID 5.

Since I´m not at the machine nor can have a look at it, everything that
comes now is a wild ass guess:

Delete the new RAID Volume. If you delete the existing one, your data is
lost. Everything. But from here it looks like you created another
RAID volume which should have no data since it doesn´t show with a drive
letter, hence no chance of containing data up till now.

After EXTENDING/GROWING (different manufactureres of RAID Controllers
use different terminology) the RAID Volume, you should see the free
space DIRECTLY after the existing partition with a drive letter in
DiskManager and NOT as a seperate volume. EXTENDING/GROWING a RAID
5-Volume is often a lengthy process, lasting from mere minutes to
sometimes hours depending on the RAID controller model.

Note: You can only extend a partition with DISKPART if the free space
(usually marked in black while the existing partition is of a bluish
color) is DIRECTLY after the existing partition. Or in other words: Only
the primary partition that´s directly followed by free space is extensible.



One additional free advice: If you don´t know exactly what you´re

doing.

Don´t do it! Managing disks is potentially very very disruptive and

can lead

to unrecoverable data loss.


Noted. I'm building this on a home system that I'm putting together.
If any data loss occurs, not biggy.

O.K., this makes things a bit easier... :-)

HTH

Etti
DoD #2503

wrote in message
oups.com...
I checked the disk and it is indeed "basic". Here are the steps that
I'm performing in DISKPART only to receive

"DiskPart failed to extend the volume.
Please make sure the volume is valid for extending."


Here is the sequence of DISKPART commands I used:
---------------------------------------------
C:\Documents and Settings\Raid5diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

Copyright (C) 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: RAID

DISKPART list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 6189 MB 0 B
Disk 1 Online 698 GB 0 B

DISKPART select disk 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

(thought I'd do the "list vol" for info sake)
DISKPART list vol

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status
Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- ---------
--------
Volume 0 D DVD-ROM 0 B
Volume 1 C NTFS Partition 6181 MB Healthy
System
Volume 2 R Raid NTFS Partition 466 GB Healthy
Volume 3 TomRaid2 NTFS Partition 233 GB Healthy

DISKPART list part

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 466 GB 32 KB
Partition 2 Primary 233 GB 466 GB

DISKPART select part 1

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART extend

DiskPart failed to extend the volume.
Please make sure the volume is valid for extending.

DISKPART select part 2

Partition 2 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART extend

DiskPart failed to extend the volume.
Please make sure the volume is valid for extending.

DISKPART
-----------------------------------------------------


One additional free advice: If you don´t know exactly what you´re
doing.
Don´t do it! Managing disks is potentially very very disruptive and
can lead
to unrecoverable data loss.

Noted. I'm building this on a home system that I'm putting together.
If any data loss occurs, not biggy.

If it helps, this below is from the Adaptec help system:-
Quote.

1.. You cannot extend the following types of volumes:
a.. Striped
b.. Mirrored
c.. RAID level-5
d.. FAT or FAT32 format
e.. System
f.. Startup (boot)
g.. Simple or extended volumes that were upgraded from basic to
dynamic.


2.. You can extend a volume only if the volume is formatted using NTFS
or does not contain a file system.


3.. You can extend a simple or extended volume only if the volume was
created as a dynamic volume.


4.. You can extend a simple volume if the extension will occur within
its original physical drive or onto additional physical drives.


5.. After a volume is extended onto multiple drives (spanned), it cannot
be mirrored or striped.


6.. You can extend simple and spanned volumes on dynamic disks onto a
maximum of 32 dynamic disks.


7.. After a spanned volume is extended, you cannot delete any portion of
the volume without deleting the entire spanned volume.

end quote
ted

Start/Run/diskmgmt.msc

This is the GUI version of DISKPART. Can it help?

--
Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
StorageCraft Corporation

http://www.storagecraft.com

"ted msn" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
I checked the disk and it is indeed "basic". Here are the steps that
I'm performing in DISKPART only to receive

"DiskPart failed to extend the volume.
Please make sure the volume is valid for extending."


Here is the sequence of DISKPART commands I used:
---------------------------------------------
C:\Documents and Settings\Raid5diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

Copyright (C) 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: RAID

DISKPART list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 6189 MB 0 B
Disk 1 Online 698 GB 0 B

DISKPART select disk 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

(thought I'd do the "list vol" for info sake)
DISKPART list vol

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status
Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- ---------
--------
Volume 0 D DVD-ROM 0 B
Volume 1 C NTFS Partition 6181 MB Healthy
System
Volume 2 R Raid NTFS Partition 466 GB Healthy
Volume 3 TomRaid2 NTFS Partition 233 GB Healthy

DISKPART list part

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 466 GB 32 KB
Partition 2 Primary 233 GB 466 GB

DISKPART select part 1

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART extend

DiskPart failed to extend the volume.
Please make sure the volume is valid for extending.

DISKPART select part 2

Partition 2 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART extend

DiskPart failed to extend the volume.
Please make sure the volume is valid for extending.

DISKPART
-----------------------------------------------------


One additional free advice: If you don´t know exactly what you´re
doing.
Don´t do it! Managing disks is potentially very very disruptive and
can lead
to unrecoverable data loss.

Noted. I'm building this on a home system that I'm putting together.
If any data loss occurs, not biggy.

If it helps, this below is from the Adaptec help system:-
Quote.

1.. You cannot extend the following types of volumes:
a.. Striped
b.. Mirrored
c.. RAID level-5
d.. FAT or FAT32 format
e.. System
f.. Startup (boot)
g.. Simple or extended volumes that were upgraded from basic to
dynamic.


2.. You can extend a volume only if the volume is formatted using NTFS
or does not contain a file system.


3.. You can extend a simple or extended volume only if the volume was
created as a dynamic volume.


4.. You can extend a simple volume if the extension will occur within
its original physical drive or onto additional physical drives.


5.. After a volume is extended onto multiple drives (spanned), it cannot
be mirrored or striped.


6.. You can extend simple and spanned volumes on dynamic disks onto a
maximum of 32 dynamic disks.


7.. After a spanned volume is extended, you cannot delete any portion of
the volume without deleting the entire spanned volume.

end quote
ted

I saw all that stuff in the help file but didn't think I understood it.
I still don't think I understand it because although it said that I
couldn't extent a Raid 5, I was able to through windows.

I just had to turn the Raid array "disk 1" in to a dynamic disk. Then
I was able to extend the pre-existing raid volume with the new volume
to get the full disk size I was expecting.

This was done with XP.