convert system disk from basic to dynamic

[Sleb]

Hi,

I have a production server with 2 disk. The first one is the system disk
with windows on it. The two disk are on a 1210sa adaptec sata raid
controller. I just found out that I have to initialize the disks before
making a hardware mirror but doing this deletes the partitions so I have no
choice but use windows for my mirrors.

When I go to convert the first disk, it tells me that it has to unmount the
disk. Since it's a production server, I'll do this during off hours. Now just
to make sure, is it ok to do this remotely? What will happen, will it kick me
off for a couple of seconds and will I be able to log back on to create my
mirror? Do you see any problems with that situation?

Thanks

 

[Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]]

Hello Sleb,

Have a look here for 2003:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...437(WS.10).aspx

2008/2008 R2:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731274.aspx

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm


> Hi,
>
> I have a production server with 2 disk. The first one is the system
> disk with windows on it. The two disk are on a 1210sa adaptec sata
> raid controller. I just found out that I have to initialize the disks
> before making a hardware mirror but doing this deletes the partitions
> so I have no choice but use windows for my mirrors.
>
> When I go to convert the first disk, it tells me that it has to
> unmount the disk. Since it's a production server, I'll do this during
> off hours. Now just to make sure, is it ok to do this remotely? What
> will happen, will it kick me off for a couple of seconds and will I be
> able to log back on to create my mirror? Do you see any problems with
> that situation?
>
> Thanks
>

 

[Sleb]

Thanks. I don't see where it says that it dismounts and remounts after a
while but my guess is that if there was an evident problem you would've said
so or it would have been evident in the notes on the web page you linked.

Thanks for the link.

"Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]" wrote:

> Hello Sleb,
>
> Have a look here for 2003:
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...437(WS.10).aspx
>
> 2008/2008 R2:
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731274.aspx
>
> Best regards
>
> Meinolf Weber
> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
> no rights.
> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have a production server with 2 disk. The first one is the system
> > disk with windows on it. The two disk are on a 1210sa adaptec sata
> > raid controller. I just found out that I have to initialize the disks
> > before making a hardware mirror but doing this deletes the partitions
> > so I have no choice but use windows for my mirrors.
> >
> > When I go to convert the first disk, it tells me that it has to
> > unmount the disk. Since it's a production server, I'll do this during
> > off hours. Now just to make sure, is it ok to do this remotely? What
> > will happen, will it kick me off for a couple of seconds and will I be
> > able to log back on to create my mirror? Do you see any problems with
> > that situation?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
>
>
>

 

[DaveMills]

On Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:02:01 -0700, Sleb wrote:

>Thanks. I don't see where it says that it dismounts and remounts after a
>while but my guess is that if there was an evident problem you would've said
>so or it would have been evident in the notes on the web page you linked.
>
I would expect that you cannot dismount the boot partition and the conversion
will be scheduled to run at the next reboot. This is the case for a conversion
to NTFS from FAT. I do not use dynamic disks for the boot partition as it make
trouble shooting very much harder. I would suggest you try this on a test server
first to see what happens. Also make sure you have a good backup.



>Thanks for the link.
>
>"Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]" wrote:
>
>> Hello Sleb,
>>
>> Have a look here for 2003:
>> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...437(WS.10).aspx
>>
>> 2008/2008 R2:
>> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731274.aspx
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>> Meinolf Weber
>> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
>> no rights.
>> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
>> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>>
>>
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I have a production server with 2 disk. The first one is the system
>> > disk with windows on it. The two disk are on a 1210sa adaptec sata
>> > raid controller. I just found out that I have to initialize the disks
>> > before making a hardware mirror but doing this deletes the partitions
>> > so I have no choice but use windows for my mirrors.
>> >
>> > When I go to convert the first disk, it tells me that it has to
>> > unmount the disk. Since it's a production server, I'll do this during
>> > off hours. Now just to make sure, is it ok to do this remotely? What
>> > will happen, will it kick me off for a couple of seconds and will I be
>> > able to log back on to create my mirror? Do you see any problems with
>> > that situation?
>> >
>> > Thanks
>> >
>>
>>
>>
--
Dave Mills
There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that don't.

 

[Kerry Brown]

I would make sure the Adaptec RAID driver is installed then back the system
up, create the hardware RAID 1 array, and restore the system. You will
probably have to modify the boot.ini or BCD after the restore.

--
Kerry Brown
MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience: Systems Administration
http://www.vistahelp.ca/phpBB2/


"Sleb" wrote in message
news:041183F2-0DD9-4EBD-B83A-80E83E6A4997@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> I have a production server with 2 disk. The first one is the system disk
> with windows on it. The two disk are on a 1210sa adaptec sata raid
> controller. I just found out that I have to initialize the disks before
> making a hardware mirror but doing this deletes the partitions so I have
> no
> choice but use windows for my mirrors.
>
> When I go to convert the first disk, it tells me that it has to unmount
> the
> disk. Since it's a production server, I'll do this during off hours. Now
> just
> to make sure, is it ok to do this remotely? What will happen, will it kick
> me
> off for a couple of seconds and will I be able to log back on to create my
> mirror? Do you see any problems with that situation?
>
> Thanks

 

[Grant Taylor]

On 9/11/2009 3:57 PM, Sleb wrote:
> I have a production server with 2 disk. The first one is the system
> disk with windows on it. The two disk are on a 1210sa adaptec sata
> raid controller. I just found out that I have to initialize the disks
> before making a hardware mirror but doing this deletes the partitions
> so I have no choice but use windows for my mirrors.

Contact Adaptec and see if there is an option to have the RAID card copy
the contents of your existing disk to the second disk and build the
mirror that way.

> When I go to convert the first disk, it tells me that it has to
> unmount the disk. Since it's a production server, I'll do this during
> off hours. Now just to make sure, is it ok to do this remotely? What
> will happen, will it kick me off for a couple of seconds and will I
> be able to log back on to create my mirror? Do you see any problems
> with that situation?

I agree with DaveMills. Using a "Dynamic Disk" for your system
partition can cause (in a word) "difficulties" when you try to use other
disk utilities down the road. The problems that you will run in to is
that very few 3rd party utilities will work well (if at all) with
dynamic disks. Further, once you convert the system drive from a basic
to a dynamic disk, you can not revert back to a basic drive like you can
with non-system drives. (In my opinion, "Dynamic Disks" and "System
Partition" make for a less than ideal combination /if/ you have another
choice.)

I would strongly recommend that you get some sort of imaging software (I
will strongly back Acronis TrueImage) to migrate to a hardware based
RAID. I.e. image your drive as is, build your RAID, restore the image
on to the new RAID.

If you want to you could image to another (3rd) hard drive and do a test
restore on it (disconnect the RAID while doing so). That way if the
system is booting on the 3rd drive, you are much safer to fiddle with
the RAID with the system running off of the 3rd drive. Then once the
RAID is established, you can either restore your image directly to the
RAID, or copy from the 3rd disk to the RAID. (If you have to purchase
the 3rd disk, as a bonus, you now have a spare drive.)



Grant. . . .