Increase Logical Drive Capacity: Additional Instructions for Windows OS – Dynamic Disks

Use this procedure to make sure that an increase in the capacity of a is recognized by a running the Windows operating system (OS).

If an increase in capacity for a standard logical drive is performed, the host does not immediately recognize the increase in logical drive capacity.


Note:

An increase in logical drive capacity is supported on the Windows OS only when the logical drive is recognized by the host operating system as a . Refer to your operating system user documentation for more information about dynamic disks.


Important:

An increase in logical drive capacity is supported on the Windows OS only when you use the NTFS file system on the logical drive. The storage management software does not support an increase in logical drive capacity when you use the FAT file system or the FAT32 file system.

An increase in logical drive capacity is supported on the Windows OS only when you use the Master Boot Record (MBR) disk drive partition format.


  1. To open Disk Management, select Start >> Settings >> Control Panel , double-click Administrative Tools, and double-click Computer Management. In the console tree under Storage, select Disk Management.
  2. Make sure that the disk drive representing the logical drive having its capacity increased is recognized by Disk Management as being a dynamic disk.
  3. Start the storage management software.
    The Enterprise Management Window appears.
  4. Use one of these methods to perform a logical drive expansion operation.
  5. To perform a logical drive expansion operation by using the Subsystem Management Window (SMW), perform these steps:
    1. Launch a Subsystem Management Window (SMW) by selecting the in either the Tree view or the Table view and selecting Tools >> Manage Storage Subsystem . The SMW opens in a separate window.
    2. In the Logical pane, select a standard logical drive, and increase its capacity by selecting Logical Drive >> Increase Capacity .
    3. Follow the prompts on the dialogs to complete the logical drive expansion.
    4. Go to step 8.
  6. To perform a logical drive expansion operation by using the Enterprise Management Window (EMW), perform these steps:
    1. From the Enterprise Management Window (EMW), select the that contains the logical drive you want to expand, and select Tools >> Execute Script .
    2. In the Script View, type the start increaseVolCapacity command with the appropriate syntax:

      start increaseVolCapacity logical drive=<“logical driveLabel”> incrementalCapacity=<capacity> disk drives=<(disk drive list)>;
      

      For more information about the syntax and required parameters for the start increaseVolCapacity command, refer to the online help topics in the Enterprise Management Window.

    3. In the Script Editor dialog, select either Tools >> Verify and Execute or Tools >> Execute Only .
    4. Go to step 8.
  7. To perform a logical drive expansion operation by using the command-line shell of your operating system, perform these steps:
    1. Go to the command-line shell of your operating system.
    2. At the command prompt, type this command, and press Enter:

      SMcli arrayname -c “start increaseVolCapacity logical drive=<“logical driveLabel”> incrementalCapacity=<capacity> disk drives=<(disk drive list)>;”
      

      For more information about the syntax and required parameters for SMcli, and the syntax and required parameters for the start increaseVolCapacity command, refer to the online help topics in the Enterprise Management Window.

    3. Go to step 8.
  8. Return to Disk Management, and perform a manual storage subsystem scan by selecting Action >> Rescan Disks .
    A scan of all of the attached disk drives is performed, and any disk drive configuration changes are recognized. Information about removable media, CD-ROM drives, basic logical drives, file systems, and disk drive letters is also updated.
  9. Extend the logical drive representing the logical drive in Disk Management by selecting the logical drive to extend, and selecting Action >> All Tasks >> Extend Logical Drive . Follow the instructions that appear.
    The logical drive is extended, with an increased capacity.

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