RAID 1 Setup Issue

[techCoordinator]

Allright guys, this is my first time posting on this site and I'm going to try to explain this the best I can. I have a server running Windows Server 2003. It currently has a RAID 1 setup with two hard drives. The two hard drives are running out of room, so we ordered a 3rd hard drive thinking we could just go to RAID 5 and just change the RAID setup without losing the information. After doing some researching I realized this isn't possible.

Is it possible to just have the two hard drives currently setup in RAID 1 left alone and just have the third as an active spare and still be able to save files to it?

The hard drive is currently plugged in but doesn't show up in disc manager and for one reason or another we can't get into the RAID setup whenever the server boots up.

Was also wondering if we could just copy the information off of one of the hard drives put it on the new hard drive with new storage and switch them out giving us more space.

Thanks for your help,


Nickolas Freeman

 

[danraies]

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to keep the RAID and use the third drive as a standard drive. There's also no reason you shouldn't be able to put the data on the new drive and then use the two RAIDed drives individually.

However I don't have any ideas on why it isn't currently working. The only thing I can think of is when I add a sata device to my motherboard, I have to go into the bios and manually enable that sata port.

 

[techCoordinator]

That is what I thought, I just wanted a confirmation. I would like to keep the current RAID setup and just have the third drive as a standard drive. I think this would be the easiest solution, and we backup offsite anyway.

But, like you I have no idea why the new drive isn't working. I went into the bios and enabled the ports and got nothing, I even tried using a different port and still got nothing.

 

[danraies]

It's possible that the drive doesn't actually work. You may want to call the motherboard manufacturer to make sure you're doing everything you're supposed to, and if you still can't see the drive, call the hard drive manufacturer and get an RMA.

 

[techCoordinator]

When the new hard drive is unplugged I can hit control A and get into the array setup, but I can't when the new hard drive is plugged into the server. Any ideas?

I'm starting to think the hard drive doesn't actually work, may try just putting it in my desktop

 

[techCoordinator]

Best answer selected by techCoordinator.