Converting simple SATA to RAID

[icargill]

I have a HP Proliant ML115 G5 with two SATA drives installed as C: (400Gb) and D: (500Gb) with no RAID.

I want to make the server a bit more resiliant, and consequently would like to convert it to use Raid 1. My plan was to buy two more drives; each identical to one of the the current drives, and install them so that I end up with

C: 2 x 400Gb in RAID 1 = 400Gb
D: 2 x 500Gb in RAID 1 = 500Gb

Ideally, I would like to do this without all the hassle of a complete OS reinstall, so would someone know if there is a way of converting the existing setup to RAID??

E.g. If I configure RAID, add the drives on the correct SATA connectors, and then power up, will the RAID just detect the new drive and rebuild it from the existing drive?

Or is it (as I suspect) a bit more compicated than that??

 

[office politics]

typically you will want a hardware raid solution. this would require that you purchase a raid controller card.

buy card and hdds

install card

attach hdds


the tricky part is going to be getting the card to recognize which hard drive to boot from. you should be able to create a mirror onto the existing drive, but i think this is dependant on how the controller card functions.


you want a card like this
Newegg.com - SYBA SD-SATA-4P PCI SATA Controller Card - Controllers / RAID Cards



edit: you might wanna check to see if a raid controller already exists since its a proliant server

 

[icargill]

typically you will want a hardware raid solution. this would require that you purchase a raid controller card.

edit: you might wanna check to see if a raid controller already exists since its a proliant server

Actually, I should have said in my original post... It has on-board RAID, so I just need to turn it on. I was really enquiring about how to proceed once I did that.

 

[Harper]

I don't mean to sound like a smart *** here, but read the manual that came with the computer.
Reason being is that one mistake on setting up a RAID and you could find yourself loosing your data. And you think that I am joking.... think again. I am not. BEEN THERE. DONE THAT. NOT NICE PLACE TO BE.

Normally you will need to hit the delete key on boot up and turn it on under the BIOS. You need to turn it on there.

The after you reboot, watch the prompts as it will ask you to go into the RAID utility. Normally this is Ctrl S. From there onward, can create your RAID. Again I will remind you to read the manual. Reason being is that one mistake on setting up a RAID and you could find yourself loosing your data. And you think that I am joking.... think again. I am not. BEEN THERE. DONE THAT. NOT NICE PLACE TO BE.

edit: you might wanna check to see if a raid controller already exists since its a proliant server

Out of the box, Proliant Servers normally will allow you to do RAID 0,1,10 with out any additional parts. RAID 5,6 on the other hand might require some extra hardware.