Disk Management Utility; Guidelines For Managing Disks And Volumes - HP StoreEasy 1000 Administrator's Manual

Some SSA guidelines to consider:
Do not modify the single logical drive of HPE StoreEasy 1000 Storage because it is configured
for the operating system.
Spanning more than 14 disks with a RAID 5 volume is not recommended.
Designate spares for RAID sets to provide greater protection against failures.
RAID sets cannot span controllers.
A single array can contain multiple logical drives of varying RAID settings.
Extending and expanding arrays and logical drives is supported based upon the current
state of the array and availably of contiguous space. Refer to the HPE Storage Administrator
Guide for further guidelines. In some situations it may be more advantageous to backup the
logical drives and related volume(s), remove the logical drive array and recreate the array
in the desired configuration. The time that it takes to extend or expand can take an extended
period of time (days or weeks) depending on the current size and amount of data on the
current volumes being modified.
The HP Smart Storage Administrator User Guide is available for download at http://www.hpe.com/
support/manuals.

Disk Management utility

The Disk Management tool is a system utility for managing hard disks and the volumes, or
partitions, that they contain. Disk Management is used to initialize disks, create volumes, format
volumes with the FAT, FAT32, or NTFS file systems, and create fault-tolerant disk systems. Most
disk-related tasks can be performed in Disk Management without restarting the system or
interrupting users. Most configuration changes take effect immediately. A complete online help
facility is provided with the Disk Management utility for assistance in using the product.
NOTE:
When the Disk Management utility is accessed through a Remote Desktop connection, this
connection can only be used to manage disks and volumes on the server. Using the Remote
Desktop connection for other operations during an open session closes the session.
When closing Disk Management through a Remote Desktop connection, it may take a few
moments for the remote session to log off.

Guidelines for managing disks and volumes

A single logical drive is configured for the HPE StoreEasy 1000 Storage operating system
and should not be altered in any manner. This is a reserved volume and must be maintained
as it exists.
HPE does not recommend spanning array controllers with dynamic volumes. The use of
software RAID-based dynamic volumes is not recommended. The hardware-based RAID
configuration capabilities of the smart array controllers should be utilized due to being more
efficient than software-based RAID configurations.
Use meaningful volume labels with the intended drive letter embedded in the volume label,
if possible. (For example, volume e: might be named "Disk E:.") Volume labels often serve
as the only means of identification.
Record all volume labels and drive letters in case the system needs to be restored.
When managing basic disks, only the last partition on the disk can be extended unless the
disk is changed to dynamic.
Basic disks can be converted to dynamic, but cannot be converted back to basic without
deleting all data on the disk.
122 File server management