View Full Version : Slice Resizing in Intel Matrix Raid
tachi1247
02-03-09, 08:30 PM
So I have (2) 1 TB hard drives in my system and I set it up with a 40gb partition in Raid 0 and the rest in a Raid 1 partition. My problem now is that 40gb is way too small for what I need to do and I was wondering if there is anyway to resize these partitions?
Basically I want to take another 40 or 50gb from the Raid 1 partition and move it over to the Raid 0 partition.
Does anyone know if this is possible?
BTW, I'm running Vista 64 ultimate.
luv2increase
02-03-09, 09:22 PM
I think you are referring to a 40gb array? Is that right? If so, you can't resize it. You have to start from scratch again ie. reformat.
jintatsu
02-03-09, 10:29 PM
AFAIK you can't do it that way.. You need to recreate the arrays..
tachi1247
02-04-09, 01:05 PM
thats what i figured but was hoping i wouldnt have to. thanks for the help
noegruts
02-04-09, 01:23 PM
thats what i figured but was hoping i wouldnt have to. thanks for the help
The feature you're looking for is called "online capacity expansion" or OLCE. This is why decent RAID cards cost real money.
I suspect that these kind of features will eventually trickle-down to motherboard RAID implementations in the next year or two.
You should be able to do this if a program like partition manager can see your drives.
Vista is pretty good at resizing partitions but it can't move them.
Another alternative is to make a backup of the two partitions, repartition the drives and then copy your backup to the new partitions. However, that may be easier said than done given your 2TB volume depending on how much you've used. You can use g4l, ghost or acronis true image to do this.
A more savvy version to do it would be to use the ultimate boot cd. It has programs on it that allow you to manually edit the partition table, but doing it this way is asking for trouble unless you're skilled.
The feature you're looking for is called "online capacity expansion" or OLCE. This is why decent RAID cards cost real money.
I suspect that these kind of features will eventually trickle-down to motherboard RAID implementations in the next year or two.
Unless I'm reading wrong, that's not what he wants. He doesn't want to add a drive to an array, he wants to move/resize partitions. The two have little to do with each other.
deathman20
02-04-09, 04:39 PM
You can't do that from what I know. Both the raid partitions would have to be blown away and re-created to get what you want.
Don't think a program will do it either unless its from Intel because of there Intel Matrix Raid setup they have going on its special.
I've done it.
You can't do that from what I know. Both the raid partitions would have to be blown away and re-created to get what you want.
Don't think a program will do it either unless its from Intel because of there Intel Matrix Raid setup they have going on its special.
deathman20
02-04-09, 05:19 PM
I've done it.
You talking about this?
Another alternative is to make a backup of the two partitions, repartition the drives and then copy your backup to the new partitions. However, that may be easier said than done given your 2TB volume depending on how much you've used. You can use g4l, ghost or acronis true image to do this.
You mean one of those will actually resize a Intel Matrix raid partition? Especially one that is Raid 0 and Raid 1 mixed?
A more savvy version to do it would be to use the ultimate boot cd. It has programs on it that allow you to manually edit the partition table, but doing it this way is asking for trouble unless you're skilled.
Editing the partition table is just asking for lost data unless you can be certain that the front of Partition B is empty to move over to Partition A. Much easier going from A to B because disk defragmenting can move all the data from the end of the drive up, but having the front portion of the drive open is another story.
Yea. All you need to do is back up your data, recreate your arrays, and restore your data. It isn't hard to do, it will just probably take a long time with that much data.
You're over thinking this. The array information is stored in the Intel raid. The partitions know nothing of this. A raid 0, 1, 5 and single disk all look the same to a partition; just a comfortable place to sit. The only time you run into trouble moving partitions around on raids is when you don't have the same raid card on a bootable partition, other than that, they're fairly bullet proof as long as you have a vague idea what you're doing.
You talking about this?
You mean one of those will actually resize a Intel Matrix raid partition? Especially one that is Raid 0 and Raid 1 mixed?
Editing the partition table is just asking for lost data unless you can be certain that the front of Partition B is empty to move over to Partition A. Much easier going from A to B because disk defragmenting can move all the data from the end of the drive up, but having the front portion of the drive open is another story.
deathman20
02-05-09, 07:20 AM
Yea. All you need to do is back up your data, recreate your arrays, and restore your data. It isn't hard to do, it will just probably take a long time with that much data.
You're over thinking this. The array information is stored in the Intel raid. The partitions know nothing of this. A raid 0, 1, 5 and single disk all look the same to a partition; just a comfortable place to sit. The only time you run into trouble moving partitions around on raids is when you don't have the same raid card on a bootable partition, other than that, they're fairly bullet proof as long as you have a vague idea what you're doing.
Thats what I said. You have to re-create your arrays, as in you won't be able to do it with any data on the drive, or you can but you'll loose it.
And that's what I said originally... I'm confused as to where the confusion lies.
Thats what I said. You have to re-create your arrays, as in you won't be able to do it with any data on the drive, or you can but you'll loose it.
jason4207
02-05-09, 07:44 PM
And that's what I said originally... I'm confused as to where the confusion lies.
You should be able to do this if a program like partition manager can see your drives.
Vista is pretty good at resizing partitions but it can't move them.
This is where I think the confusion lies. You can't use any kind of partition manager for this b/c there is no partition in the sense that we are used to. Its all done at the Intel Matrix BIOS level.
The other method will work fine, though. Use something like Acronis (what I use) and image both arrays. In this case it's a 40GB RAID0 that is about full, and a monster RAID1 that may or may not be full. If the RAID1 doesn't have a lot of data on it then you may not need a very large HDD to backup. You only need the size your actual data takes up, not the size of the entire disk. You can get away w/ something even smaller if you use compression while imaging.
Tachi, do you have any old HDDs laying around? How much data is on that RAID1 array?
Yes, you're right there. I was originally thinking it was just two partitions on one raid. :bang head
This is where I think the confusion lies. You can't use any kind of partition manager for this b/c there is no partition in the sense that we are used to. Its all done at the Intel Matrix BIOS level.
The other method will work fine, though. Use something like Acronis (what I use) and image both arrays. In this case it's a 40GB RAID0 that is about full, and a monster RAID1 that may or may not be full. If the RAID1 doesn't have a lot of data on it then you may not need a very large HDD to backup. You only need the size your actual data takes up, not the size of the entire disk. You can get away w/ something even smaller if you use compression while imaging.
Tachi, do you have any old HDDs laying around? How much data is on that RAID1 array?
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