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Adaptec Storage Management Software User's Guide
Expanding and Extending Arrays – Windows XP, Windows 2000 and
Windows NT only
The following definitions are used in this section:
Array expansion—Adding additional space to an existing array
■
group using the array expansion feature.
Volume extension—Adding the new space created by the array
■
expansion to the existing Windows volume (LSU).
Array expansion enables you to increase your storage capacity by
adding one or more drives to your RAID 0 and RAID 5 arrays
while your system remains online. As additional drives are added,
the controller redistributes the data on the array, placing new space
at the end of the LSU and increasing the size of the logical drive.
Before array expansion was available, to increase the size of an
array you had to backup the data on the array, shutdown the host
system, delete the old array, and then build a larger array that
included the new drives. After the larger array was built, you
would reinstall the operating system (if necessary) and restore the
data from the backup. This entire process could keep your system
off-line for at least one day and possibly longer.
The array expansion feature enables you to add the new drives to
the array while the system is active and users are logged in and
accessing data. After the array is expanded, use the Windows Disk
Administrator to add the additional space to the volume set of the
array, then shutdown the system and restart. When the system
restarts, Windows recognizes the additional space as part of the
existing logical drive.
Note: Overall system performance is reduced significantly
during the array expansion process. To mitigate the impact,
adjust the relative priorities of processes in Storage Manager
by setting the Background Task Priority (see
Array expansion maintains the performance gains of RAID 0 and
RAID 5, spreading accesses randomly across the drives in the array.
The controller presents the same number of LSUs to the operating
system after the expansion. There is no need for manual load
balancing, which would be required if the new space were
presented as an additional LSU.
3-18
page
3-44).
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