Jan 262012
 

Well, for all you people out there considering extending your MSA20 RAID Array or transforming the RAID type, but are concerned about how long it will take…

I recently added a 250GB drive to a RAID5 array consisting of 9 X 250GB disks. Adding another 250GB disk to the RAID 5 array, took less then 8 hours (it actually could have been WAY less) to add the drive. Extending the logical partition took no time at all.

One thing I do have to caution though, I did a test transformation converting a RAID 5 array to a RAID 6. It started off going fast, once it hit 25% it sat there, only increasing 1% every 1-2 days. After 4 days I finally killed the transformation. PLEASE NOTE: There is a chance this may have had to do with a damaged drive, and I think that may have had something to do with the issue. This will need further testing. Also, just so you are aware, you CANNOT cancel a transformation. I stopped mine by simply turning off the unit, and ALL data was destroyed. If you start a transformation, you NEED to let it complete.

ALWAYS insure you have a COMPLETE backup before doing these types of things to a RAID array!

  One Response to “HP MSA20 – Extend and Transform Time Estimates”

  1. Hi, nice blog can you tell me if you know a way to connect to servers to the same msa20 so it could provide some redundance in case one of the servers that is directly atached to msa20 fails?

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