HP NetRAID 1 Controller - Manual (Page 16)

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expansion into your installation. This will ensure that you can easily expand capacity without
backup/restore operations or reconfiguration.
It does not matter if NT is already installed or not at this point assuming NT will reside on a separate
drive. If NT must be installed on the disk array, see the information under “Operating System and
Data on Disk Array”. For this example assume that NT is installed on a drive connected to the
embedded SCSI channel A. The following steps are necessary to prepare your array for capacity
expansion.
1. Connect Drives to the Adapter.
Connect physical drives to the HP NetRAID or HP NetRAID-1 adapter. Example: Assume there
are four drives of 4 gigabytes each connected to the adapter.
2. Configure the Adapter.
Configure your adapter and create a logical drive (this can be done in either NetRAID Assistant or in
Express Tools). If you create multiple arrays (groups of physical drives), you should know which
logical drive(s) will be designated for capacity expansion. You should only assign one logical drive
per array, otherwise the logical drive will not be reconstructable. Save your configuration. For this
example, assume the 4x4 gigabyte drives are configured as a single RAID 5 logical drive. This will
produce a logical drive with 12 gigabytes of real storage capacity.
Note: It is important to initialize your logical drives; if the drives have been previously configured
under an OS, there can sometimes be residual partition/format information which can subsequently
cause misrepresentation of logical drives under the NT Disk Administrator.
3. Enable Virtual Sizing.
If not already, enter Express Tools. Select the logical drive to be setup for capacity expansion by
selecting Objects/Logical Drives/Properties/Virtual Sizing and enabling Virtual Sizing. Virtual
Sizing is enabled on a per logical drive basis.
Note: Clearing a previous configuration does not reset the Virtual Sizing setting previously used for
a logical drive; use the Reset to Factory Defaults in Express Tools to disable Virtual Sizing for all
logical drives or manually change the setting.
4. Start NT and Enter Disk Administrator.
Start NT and enter the Disk Administrator. Here you will see the new logical drive shown as a
single unpartitioned/unformatted drive of 81,917 megabytes (80 gigabytes). Although there is only
12 gigabytes of real storage space on the logical drive, the Capacity Expansion feature creates a
virtual drive of 81,917 megabytes.
5. Partition and Format the Drive.
To use the new drive, you must first partition the drive. Create a partition equal or less than the real
storage capacity (for this example, 12 gigabytes where 1 gigabyte is 1024 cubed). Commit the
change and format the partition. Note: If the partition is larger than the real storage capacity, the
format operation will generate a message "Warning: NT was unable to complete the format".
The formatted drive is now ready for use. Assume for this example the drive is now E: and was
partitioned as a primary partition. Leave the left over virtual storage space (81,917 megabytes minus
12 gigabytes) unpartitioned. You can write data up to 12 gigabytes on the drive. NT will not allow
you to write beyond 12 gigabytes and loose any data.