How to Resize raid 5 with Partition Magic Server without data losing?

Why Do You Need to Resize RAID 5?

Considering both price and reliability, RAID 5 is one of the most popular RAID level and is more preferred by Windows Server users. To maximize the performance of server computers, IT administrators need to repartition RAID 5 regularly, especially to resize RAID 5 without data losing.

Here are some typical examples.

I have a SBS2003 standard server. My system partition C: drive is run out of place on the created RAID 5? Do I need to recreate a RAID 5?
I have a Dell Poweredge 4300 that I setup using a RAID 5 config. The C: drive has little space left (<750Mb) and I would like to find something that can successfully expand partition raid 5 without losing data as this is a production server.
I have a Windows 2003 server with a single raid 5. System partition C is running out of space and low disk space warning jumped out. Is there any way to resize partition raid 5 without reformatting or loss data?
I added another 500GB drive to my raid 5 array and did an online expansion so I have space free now on the array. How do I just resize raid 5 partitions now to use this additional space? Any free tools?

Yes, the best solution under this condition is to resize RAID 5 to expand partition raid 5 instead of recreating.

Need RAID 5 partition resize? If so, you might want to know the reliable way to resize RAID 5 without destroying any data. Then please jump to the end of this article and you will find the easiest and safest solution to resize RAID 5. If you would like to get better understanding of RAID 5 before partition RAID 5, please refer what is raid 5 and its features.

Resize RAID 5 partition tips

Generally, RAID is configured with Windows Server, so to resize RAID 5 partition you need to take care. If system partition is out of space but there is free space on other partitions, you can simply shrink other virtual partitions and then extend the system partition with partition magic server.

If there is no free space on all virtual partition on the RAID 5, you have to add another disk to the RAID 5 array. After that the new disk space will be displayed as unallocated at the end of the virtual disk, and then you can resize partition with partition magic server.

Please note:

Don’t break the RAID array if you need to resize partition RAID 5, just operate like resizing partition on physical hard disk.
If you need to add new disk before resizing RAID 5 partition, you have to make sure the RAID controller has the feature to re-configure RAID without data losing.
Backup the important files, as no partitioning software can guarantee the security 100%.

Resize RAID 5 partition with partition magic server without data losing

Partition Wizard Server Edition is compatible with Windows Server 2000/2003/2008 and desktop 2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7 32 and 64 bit systems. And all levels of hardware RAID are supported. This powerful server partition software allows you to perform basic and advanced partition operations on your RAID partitions without data loss, including: Resize and Move partitions, Copy partition, Merge partition, Format partitions, Hide/Unhide Partition, Wipe Partition, Change Cluster Size Convert dynamic disk to basic, etc.

Among these features, RAID resizing utility is highly recommended since you can resize RAID (RAID 5, RAID 0, RAID 1, etc) without any data loss. Here’s an example to resize RAID 5 partition with this RAID partitioning software.

Firstly, launch Partition Wizard Server Edition. Select the RAID 5 partition to be resized. Then right click it and choose “Resize / Move”.

Then you can resize RAID 5 partition without data loss by dragging the handle to the partition size you want. Don’t forget to apply the operation, for step by step instructions, please refer how to resize RAID 5 partition.

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3 Responses to How to Resize raid 5 with Partition Magic Server without data losing?

Andrei Gravura says:

October 21, 2010 at 11:37 pm

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is extremely helpful for me.
Eldarina says:

November 11, 2010 at 11:57 am

I added your blog to bookmarks. And i’ll read your articles more often!
dealme says:

July 27, 2011 at 5:29 pm

This is the right blog for anyone who wants to find out about this topic. You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!