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So here is what I have currently:

  • 8 SAS Drives total
  • 6 Drives setup as RAID 5 as Virtual 1.
  • 1 Drive setup as Hot Spare.
  • 1 Drive in Ready state that is not part of the RAID and is not set as a hot spare.

Basically, everything on this server is setup on the RAID 5 as one virtual disk (OS, data, etc) and partitioned out. I want to separate things out a bit.

The configuration I would like to have:

  • 2 drives dedicated to the OS, set up as RAID 1 (Mirrored)
  • 5 Drives setup as RAID 5 for Data
  • 1 Drive as Hot Spare

What is the easiest way to get this done without losing data? I can provide additional information if needed. Thanks!

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You do have everything backed up, correct? And have tested restores? I'm not familiar enough with this RAID controller to give you a good answer on if this is possible (though my intuition says that you'll need to do a whole-scale rebuild and restore), but regardless, this type of process is quite risky, and you want to ensure you have a good backup before starting anything. – EEAA Nov 29 '12 at 15:03
Also, depending on the size of your drives, you may want to seriously consider RAID 6 over RAID 5. – EEAA Nov 29 '12 at 15:09
You didn't specify what RAID controller is in the server but I'm with EEAA on this one, it's probably going to require a rebuild of the array(s) and a restore of the data. – joeqwerty Nov 29 '12 at 15:09
It's a PERC setup – Joe JMC IT Nov 29 '12 at 15:15
1  
Joe - Of course it is. There are dozens (if not more) PERC cards, each of which has vastly different capabilities. Give us a model number, please, in addition to the sizes of the drives you're working with. – EEAA Nov 29 '12 at 15:16
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