RAID 5 - Replacing Existing Drives

[PaulO99]

I have 2 servers each fitted with 3 x 35Gb SCSI drives configured as RAID 5 using an Adaptec 2120S controller card.
I want to replace the drives with 3 x 150Gb SCSI drives and never having done such a task am wondering if it is as easy as I think .
One server hosts ISA 2004, DNS and Routing & Remote Access the other server hosts Exchange 2003, DNS and DHCP.
Both servers are backup up using Acronis TIE Server (stand-alone) to tape, acronis secure zone and backup server.
My idea is to enure backups are validated, backup exchange separately using NTBackup, remove existing drives, fit new drives and carry out a recovery using the Acronis software safe in the knowledge that if all goes TU I can refit the existing drives and have a re-think..........unless of course you know better .
As the work is scheduled for next week I would be grateful for timely responses.
Thanks in anticipation of an easy job.

[TheLibrarian]

Drivers should be fine as they are, you may need a firmware flash for the RAID controller.

[Duke]

There's lots of ways to do this and I'll let someone with more experience check over the other details, but as far as replacing the disks goes I would also destroy the RAID array and rebuild it with the new disks rather than just swapping them out and using the same array. Yes, that may affect your ability to re-use the old disks, although you may be able to rebuild the old array without damaging that data, depends on the RAID card.

[azrael78]

As long as you have a solid backup - you should be golden.

I'd be more inclined to remove your old disks - put in the new disks and THEN destroy the array data.
Some cards store the RAID configuration on the card itself, some can store info on the disks themselves as well as the card. It's hard to know, but if it's a reasonably decent (and newish) card it should be able to re-read the RAID config from your old disks if it really goes TU.

Put your new disks in, break the array - initialise the disks (or clear them, whichever is right for your card) and then build the new array.

This ensures that your disks are good, the RAID is built and all ready to go.

You then can simply use the Acronis restore CD to simply restore straight back - you shouldn't need Universal Restore as long as it's the same hardware.

As stated though - a firmware update may not be a bad thing, but check it before you commit to undertaking the task.

But what you've outlined does sound like it should work okay - just play it safe tho, check those backups before you wipe - it's all too easy to wipe and then realise your backups aren't quite as stable or as good as you hoped... been there, done that - much pain.

HTH,

Az

[AIT]

I have 2 servers each fitted with 3 x 35Gb SCSI drives configured as RAID 5 using an Adaptec 2120S controller card.
I want to replace the drives with 3 x 150Gb SCSI drives and never having done such a task am wondering if it is as easy as I think .
One server hosts ISA 2004, DNS and Routing & Remote Access the other server hosts Exchange 2003, DNS and DHCP.
Both servers are backup up using Acronis TIE Server (stand-alone) to tape, acronis secure zone and backup server.
My idea is to enure backups are validated, backup exchange separately using NTBackup, remove existing drives, fit new drives and carry out a recovery using the Acronis software safe in the knowledge that if all goes TU I can refit the existing drives and have a re-think..........unless of course you know better .
As the work is scheduled for next week I would be grateful for timely responses.
Thanks in anticipation of an easy job.

Yup i have done a very similar process to upgrading our exchange box. acronis will do this perfectly. :-)

[teejay]

The adaptec raid controllers store the raid metadata on the disks, so you'll be able to put them back in if required, see this

[PaulO99]

Thanks All.
Your responses have boosted my confidence a notch or three.
The only hardware changes will be additional ram and the replacement hard drives.
As far as the backups are concerned I will have to rely on being able to 'mount' them and then access and read folders and files