Dell PowerVault 770N (Deskside NAS Appliance) - Manual (Page 34)

and puts an alert message in the Windows® Powered Event Log.
NOTE: The supported PERC controllers do not report SMART alerts for unassigned or hot-spare hard drives. Also, when
you pause controller I/O, the controller does not send SMART alerts or events.
Managing Volumes Using Disk Management
This section describes how to use the Windows Disk Management tool to manage basic and dynamic volumes.
Accessing the Disk Management Tool
1. In the NAS Manager, click Maintenance.
2. Click Remote Desktop and log in to the NAS system.
3. Double-click the NAS Utilities icon on the desktop.
4. In the NAS Utilities window, double-click Storage, and then click Disk Management (Local).
Initializing a Disk
When you create a virtual disk and perform a rescan, the newly created virtual disk appears under the Disks node. The
unsigned disk displays an error bitmap on the icon. The Disk Type is Unsigned Disk. The unsigned disk cannot be used until
it has a signature on it.
To write a disk signature, right-click the unsigned disk. A menu displays showing the Write Signature command. (The
Write Signature command appears only if a disk does not have a signature on it.) Select this command to write a signature
on the disk.
After a signature is written on a disk, the disk displays as a Basic Disk. You can create partitions on the basic disk, or you
can upgrade the disk to dynamic to create volumes on it.
NOTICE: Because of system recovery limitations, the operating system disk must remain a basic disk. Upgrade all
data disks to dynamic during creation, except when using data disks in a cluster. To upgrade disks to dynamic, use the
Windows Disk Management tool.
Upgrading a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk
Because only dynamic disks can be used for online volume extension, it is recommended that you use the Disk Management
tool to upgrade all data disks on your system to dynamic. The upgrade includes new disks, which are added to the system as
basic disks.
NOTICE: Because of system recovery limitations, the operating system disk must remain a basic disk. Do not upgrade
your operating system disk to dynamic.
To upgrade a basic disk to a dynamic disk, perform the following steps:
1. Right-click the disk you want to upgrade, and then click Convert to Dynamic Disk.
2. When the Convert to Dynamic Disk window appears, select the disks to upgrade and click OK.
3. When the Disks to Convert window appears, select the disks that you want to covert to dynamic and click Convert.