Increasing the Capacity of a Standard Logical Drive

Use the Increase Capacity option to increase the storage capacity of an existing .

You can increase storage capacity by performing one of these tasks:

You can increase capacity for standard logical drives that have not yet been registered with the operation system. You can increase the capacity if both of these conditions exist:

You cannot increase the storage capacity of a standard logical drive if one of these conditions exists:

For example, you have created a standard logical drive with a capacity of 10 GB. Now, you realize that the capacity of the standard logical drive must be increased to 15 GB. The operating system does not yet recognize the standard logical drive because a mapping has not been defined, and the hot_add utility (or similar utility) has not been run. At this point, you can still increase the capacity of the standard logical drive.

After the standard logical drive has been recognized by the operating system, the restrictions specific to the operating system apply.


Attention:

Possible loss of capacity – Increasing the capacity of a standard logical drive is only supported on certain operating systems. If you increase the logical drive capacity on a host operating system that is unsupported, the expanded capacity will be unusable, and you cannot restore the original logical drive capacity.

Keep these important guidelines in mind when you increase the capacity of a standard logical drive:

When you are increasing the capacity of a logical drive, you can view the progress of the operation by highlighting the standard logical drive and selecting Logical Drive >> Properties . The Logical Drive - Properties dialog appears. A progress bar at the bottom of the dialog shows the progress with the capacity increase.

  1. In the Logical pane of the Logical/Physical tab, highlight a standard logical drive, and select Logical Drive >> Increase Capacity .


    Important:

    If free capacity or unconfigured capacity is not available, the Increase Capacity option is not available.

    The Increase Logical Drive Capacity dialog appears. The logical drive name, the current capacity, and the amount of free capacity that is available for the selected logical drive are shown. If free capacity is available, the maximum free space appears in the Increase capacity by box.

    If free capacity does not exist on the array, the free space that appears in the Increase capacity by box is 0. You must add disk drives to create free capacity on the array of the .

  2. To increase capacity of the standard logical drive, use one of these methods:
  3. Either accept the final capacity increase, or use the Increase capacity by box to adjust the capacity.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Type yes, and click OK.

    The Logical pane is updated. The logical drive that is having its capacity increased shows a status of Operation in Progress. In addition the logical drive shows its original capacity and the total capacity being added. The Free Capacity node involved in the increase shows a reduction in capacity.

    If all of the free capacity is used to increase the size of the logical drive, the Free Capacity node involved is removed from the Logical pane. You are finished with this procedure.

  6. Perform one of these actions based on the conditions:
  7. Click Add Disk Drives.

    The Add Free Capacity (Disk Drives) dialog opens. Information for the current array appears and includes the RAID level, the free capacity available, the drive expansion enclosure and slot details, the enclosure loss protection status, and the capacity of the disk drives on the array. Based on the RAID level and enclosure loss protection of the current array, a list of unassigned disk drives appears.


    Note:

    If the RAID level of the array is RAID Level 3, RAID Level 5, or RAID Level 6, and the drive expansion enclosure has enclosure loss protection, Display only disk drives that will ensure enclosure loss protection is selected by default.

  8. Select either a single disk drive to add or two disk drives to add.


    Important:

    You cannot mix different disk drive types within a single array or logical drive.

  9. Click Add.
    The Add Free Capacity (Disk Drives) dialog closes.
  10. To make sure that the correct disk drives have been added, check the Disk Drives to add [enclosure, slot] area.
  11. Either accept the final capacity, or use the Increase capacity by box to adjust the capacity.
  12. Click OK.
  13. Type yes, and click OK.

    The Logical pane is updated. The logical drive that is having its capacity increased shows a status of Operation in Progress. In addition, the logical drive shows its original capacity and the total capacity being added. The Free Capacity node involved in the increase shows a reduction in capacity.

    If a Free Capacity node did not exist prior to the addition of capacity, a new Free Capacity node is created and appears in the Logical pane.

    Unassigned disk drives (unconfigured capacity) that are added change in the Physical pane to and become associated to the array of the logical drive. You are finished with this procedure.

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