4.7 Creating and Deleting Logical Drives

Logical drives can be created by combining physical drives together. Under Logical View in the RAID View window, click Logical Drives.

RAIDWatch Manager also allows you to delete logical drives. Before deleting, however, be sure that the data stored on the target logical drive is no longer needed. Deleting a logical drive erases all information stored on that logical drive.


NOTE:

When you delete a logical drive, all physical drives assigned to the logical drive will be released, making them available for creation or expansion of logical drives.


To create a logical drive

The contents panel will display Create Logical Drive and show any available (i.e., unassigned) physical drives organized by channel. Select the drives you want to include in the logical drive and click Add or click Add All. Once drives have been added to the "Selected" window, available RAID levels will be listed under RAID parameters.

1. Display the Logical Drives window by clicking on the Logical View command button in the introduction or selecting Logical View from the RAID View navigation panel.

2. From Logical View, click on Logical Drives in the navigation panel, then click on a channel listed under " Create Logical Drive / Drives Selection / Available." Select the drives you want to include in the logical drive and click Add or click Add All to select all currently unassigned drives.

Once drives have been added to the "Selected" window, available RAID levels will be listed under RAID parameters.

3. Select a RAID Level from the RAID Level menu.

4. Enter a Maximum Drive Size in that text box. The value entered determines how much capacity from each drive will be used in the logical drive. Unused drive capacity can then later be used to expand the logical drive.

5. Choose Primary Controller or Secondary Controller from the LD Assignment menu.  If the redundant controller function has not enabled or  SID's are not assigned on drive channels, the LD Assignment menu will not be available.

6. Click OK. You will be prompted for the controller password. Enter the password and click OK.

7. The Create In Progress content window will display logical drive creation progress.

To expand a logical drive

When physical drives are added to the array, the additional capacity can be added to existing logical drives.

1. Display the Logical Drive window by clicking on the Logical View command button in the introduction or selecting Logical View from the RAID View navigation panel.

2. From Logical View, click on Logical Drives and choose the logical drive where you would like to expand capacity.

3. Choose the Operation tab and the Expand sub-tab, then note whether or not there is a number in the Maximum Free Capacity (MB): text box.

4. If there is an amount in the Maximum Free Capacity text box, you may enter an amount in the Set Expansion Size (MB): text box up to the total of free capacity.

5. Click OK. You will be prompted for the controller password. Enter the password and click OK.

6. The logical drive will now have a new last partition the same size as the expansion. Look at the View and Edit LD Partition Table to verify this.


NOTE:

See section 4.17 for a detailed explanation of dynamic logical drive expansion principles.


To delete a logical drive

1. Display the Logical Drives window by clicking on the Logical View command button in the introduction or selecting Logical View from the RAID View navigation panel.

2. From the Logical Drives window, click the left mouse button on the target logical drive.

3. Select the Operation tab.

4. Select the Delete sub-tab, click on the logical drive to delete, and click OK. You will be prompted for a password. Enter it and click OK. The logical drive will be deleted and removed from the logical drives list.


IMPORTANT:

Deleting a logical drive irretrievably wipes all data currently stored on the logical drive.


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