WHS drive replacement

[MetalDwarf]

I have a homebrew WHS, I have 2x500GB drives and 2x320GB drives. My drive pool is now full and I want to replace the 320GB drives with larger 1+ TB drives. Problem is, I only have 4 sata headers, they are all full. How does WHS handle this? Can I pull one drive and install the new one and will WHS be able to rebuild the data that was on the old drive? I think this will work for duplicated data but what about everything else on the disk that is not duplicated.

Just wondering the best way to proceed.

 

[Dangman]

I have a homebrew WHS, I have 2x500GB drives and 2x320GB drives. My drive pool is now full and I want to replace the 320GB drives with larger 1+ TB drives. Problem is, I only have 4 sata headers, they are all full. How does WHS handle this? Can I pull one drive and install the new one and will WHS be able to rebuild the data that was on the old drive? I think this will work for duplicated data but what about everything else on the disk that is not duplicated.

Just wondering the best way to proceed.

If the files on the drive aren't duplicated, they're lost. But if the files on the drive are duplicated and you remove it, the data will be "rebuilt" onto the newer and larger drive. I think....

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Is any of your data duplicated? Do you have another machine?

It is a pain in the ass to move the files from each drive.

Unduplicate your files, and move them to another machine to free up a drive. Then, remove said drive and remove another. It is a pain in the ass no matter how you do it.

http://www.ipmsg.org/tools/fastcopy.html.en

I use that to move files from 1 drive to another or over a network.

 

[rhouck]

Turn off duplication.
As long as this brings you up to at least 320+gb free, then click on one of your 320gb drives and hit "remove". It will remove it from the pool and copy all the data off of it to the remaining three drives.
Once it finishes, physically remove it and swap in a 1+TB drive. Click add to pool.
Then click remove on the next 320gb drive; it will copy the data off of it and remove it from the pool.
Once it finishes, physically remove it and swap in your last 1+TB drive. Click add to pool
Turn back on duplication.

As long as you can get at least 320gb free (before or after turning off duplication), there would be no need to involve a second machine or network transfers.

The real key with WHS is always ensuring that, whatever your smallest drive size is, you have at least that much free space remaining in your drive pool (i.e. in your current setup, you need a minimum of 320gb free all the time). Obviously that is easier to do with more than four drives... but it's the only way you can "easily" remove/swap drives (since WHS needs to be able to copy all the data off that small drive to the remaining drives in the pool)

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Turn off duplication.
As long as this brings you up to at least 320+gb free, then click on one of your 320gb drives and hit "remove". It will remove it from the pool and copy all the data off of it to the remaining three drives.
Once it finishes, physically remove it and swap in a 1+TB drive. Click add to pool.
Then click remove on the next 320gb drive; it will copy the data off of it and remove it from the pool.
Once it finishes, physically remove it and swap in your last 1+TB drive. Click add to pool
Turn back on duplication.

As long as you can get at least 320gb free (before or after turning off duplication), there would be no need to involve a second machine or network transfers.

The real key with WHS is always ensuring that, whatever your smallest drive size is, you have at least that much free space remaining in your drive pool (i.e. in your current setup, you need a minimum of 320gb free all the time). Obviously that is easier to do with more than four drives... but it's the only way you can "easily" remove/swap drives (since WHS needs to be able to copy all the data off that small drive to the remaining drives in the pool)

Luckily, this is how I get to do it this time around. Last time, not so much