I have an old RAID 5 array on an ICHR10 chipset that was originally configured with 4 250Gb drives. Over time I've had three of the four drives fail, the most recent of which happened after I'd upgraded the OS to Win8 (note that the boot partition is on an SSD, the RAID array is a separate partition for user data). In the past when I replaced the 250Gb drives with 500Gb drives, I was able to expand the size of the volume in RST, then increase the partition size in Windows Disk Management; however, this option in RST is not available in the last go-around when I replaced a drive that failed with one of larger capacity.
The specifics are this: Array was (2) 500Gb drives and (2) 250Gb drives, with a total indicated space of roughly 700Mb, this being split into two partitions in Windows. I've just replaced a failed 250Gb drive, and allowed RST to rebuild the array, now with (3) 500Gb drives and (1) 250Gb drive. When in RST, under manage, I click on the full Array box, the size is indicated as being 953,899Mb - this is what I expect. And when I click on the old RAID 5 volume on that array, the size is 715,417Mb, same as it was in the past before the last drive failure and replacement.
The issue is that nowhere in the RST interface can I find the option to expand the size of the existing RAID 5 volume; the RST help clearly indicates that I should simply:
| 1. | Under 'Status' or 'Manage', in the Storage System View, click the volume whose size you want to increase. The volume properties are now displayed on the left. |
| 2. | Click 'Increase size'. |
| 3. | Click 'Yes' to confirm. Caution: Once the data migration starts, the operation cannot be canceled. |
| 4. | Once the migration has completed, restart your computer for changes to take effect. Then use Windows* Disk Management to increase the partition size on the volumes or add another partition. |
This 'Increase size' link is not present. I'm confident that it was there in the past, as I expanded the original 500Mb volume to 700Mb after replacing the first two failed drives. Lastly, I also checked the boot-time utility, and this shows the drives but does have any option to expand the size of the array or volume.
Is there a reason that the Increase Size option is missing in the RST interface?