Topic: Upgrading Hard Disks

[jameswilson]

At home i have a sme box that backs up some machines using affa.
Im out of backup disk space so i want to replace the exisiting single 320 gb drive with 2 x 1.5tb

I have added one of the 1.5tb to the 320 gb and let it resync the array. However it wont boot from this drive. I assume this is because the drives are not blank. Should i do something before i sync them?

ie i have unplugged the 320 gig after a resync and it wont boot. unless the 320 is connected

[Stefano]

http://wiki.contribs.org/Raid#Reusing_Hard_Drives

[jameswilson]

thankyou

[idp_qbn]

Hi, I am not sure what the solution is (but there is one, search the forums) but I think I know what the problem is:

Your old drive is an IDE drive (or PATA as it is now called, I believe) and your new drive is SATA.
There is lurking in my memory a glimmer that someone had this problem a couple of years ago and had to change a script to reflect this - it all worked afterwards.

Sorry I can't be more specific.

Cheers
Ian

[idp_qbn]

Hello again,
Here is a link to a post couple of years ago when someone had the same problem
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,46336.msg227254.html#msg227254
(I gave an answer then, too, but still can't find how to edit whatever needs to be edited to allow the new SATA disks to boot).

In that post, Stefano suggested using AFFA to transfer from the old to the new system - worked for me whenever I tried it. The only drawbacks are that (a) you need spare hardware and (b) it takes time - but most of that can be run in the background.

Cheerio
Ian

[Stefano]

I suspect that OP needs to re-reate initrd file

james, read here: http://wiki.contribs.org/Raid#Convert_Software_RAID1_to_RAID5

consider only steps from1 to 4

[p-jones]

jameswilson

It has been assumed your old drive is PATA and the new drive is SATA. Is this in fact correct ?

There is as much info that is not stated as there is stated.

It has been documented that drives that have been running windows can cause issues. Your solution may be as simple as running a  drive cleansing package across the new drives then re-sync them.

The BIOS could be a good place to look also. Check the boot order and ensure the BIOS is able to boot from the SATA or PATA port the drive is attached to and also check if the Port is able to support any PATA to SATA emulation modes.

These are simple things that should be eliminated first.

I have observed that SATA drives tend to be called sda1 etc and pata drives are called hda1 etc. It maybe that you need to edit grub to get it to correctly read the boot device correctly. (I have found a SATA/PATA --> PATA/SATA adaptor to be really useful when working with mixed interface drives. )

Meantime, put that 320Gb drive in a real safe place !!!

[jameswilson]

the drives hadnt had windows on them, but using the info above sorted it. The grow command info in the wiki worked first time. I now have 1.5tb instead of 320 gig.

SME triumphs again.

James

[gklaus]

I had the same problem - resync to the larger drive worked, but the system would not boot from the new drive - when using brand new SAS drives. The old drives were SAS too and none had ever been in a Windows system. Maybe the synchronisation does not copy the MBR quite correctly?

Using the installation CD to re-install grub on each of the new drives solved the problem.