Adding Hard Disk Drives

Adding Hard Disk Drives

Before you make a hard disk drive available to users, you'll need to configure it and consider the way it'll be used. Microsoft Windows Server 2003 makes it possible to configure hard disk drives in a variety of ways. The technique you choose depends primarily on the type of data you're working with and the needs of your network environment. For general user data stored on workstations, you might want to configure individual drives as stand-alone storage devices. In that case, user data is stored on a workstation's hard disk drive, where it can be accessed and stored locally.

Although storing data on a single drive is convenient , it isn't the most reliable way to store data. To improve reliability and performance, you might want a set of drives to work together. Windows Server 2003 supports drive sets and arrays using redundant array of independent disks (RAID) technology, which is built into the operating system.

Physical Drives

Whether you use individual drives or drive sets, you'll need physical drives. Physical drives are the actual hardware devices that are used to store data. The amount of data a drive can store depends on its size and whether it uses compression. Typical drives have capacities of 9 GB to 72 GB. The two drive types most commonly used on Windows Server 2003 are small computer systems interface (SCSI) and integrated drive electronics (IDE).

The terms SCSI and IDE designate the interface type used by the hard disk drives. This interface is used to communicate with a drive controller. SCSI drives use SCSI controllers. IDE drives use IDE controllers. In general, you'll find that SCSI drives are more expensive than IDE drives but are faster and offer more options.

SCSI Drives

With SCSI you can connect up to 15 drives to a single controller (in most cases with newer equipment). Each drive connected to the primary controller is given a numeric designator from 0 to 15. This designator is the drive's SCSI ID, meaning drive 0 is SCSI ID 0, drive 1 is SCSI ID 1, and so on. The drive controller itself is designated as one of the 16 available SCSI IDs.

SCSI devices are connected to the controller in a daisy chain, with each device serially in a single line. The first and last device in the chain must be terminated properly. Typically, the SCSI controller terminates the first device itself, and the last device in the chain uses an actual terminator or may be terminated by the drive itself if settings allow.

Before you can use a hard disk drive, it must be low-level formatted. With SCSI, the manufacturer normally performs this task before shipping the drive. If you need to do a low-level format on site, you'll usually find that the manufacturer has supplied a utility for this. If necessary, use this utility to format the drive.

IDE Drives

With IDE you can connect up to two drives to a controller. Most computers that use IDE have two or more controllers. Each drive connected to the primary controller is given a numeric designator from 0 to 1. The first drive has a designator of 0. The second drive has a designator of 1. Designators for drives on secondary controllers start where the first controller leaves off. For example, if the first controller has two drives, the first drive on the second controller normally would have a designator of 3.

As with SCSI drives, you should set an IDE drive's designator before you install it. If this is the first IDE drive on a controller, you must set it up as the master device. If two drives are on a controller, you must set up one drive as a master device and the other as a subordinate device. Generally, if you're installing a new drive, the existing drive becomes the master device and the new drive becomes the subordinate device.

Note

Generally, you can't perform a low-level formatting of an IDE drive. The manufacturer performs this task before shipping the drive.

Preparing a Drive for Use

Once you install a drive, you'll need to configure it for use. You configure the drive by partitioning it and creating file systems in the partitions, as needed. A partition is a section of a physical drive that functions as if it were a separate unit. After you create a partition, you can create a file system in the partition.

Two partition styles are used for disks: Master Boot Record (MBR) and GUID Partition Table (GPT). x86-based computers use the MBR partition style. MBR contains a partition table that describes where the partitions are located on the disk. With this partition style, the first sector on a hard disk contains the master boot record and a binary code file called the master boot code that's used to boot the system. This sector is unpartitioned and hidden from view to protect the system.

With the MBR partitioning style, disks support volumes of up to 4 terabytes and use one of two types of partitions ”primary and extended. Each MBR drive can have up to four primary partitions or three primary partitions and one extended partition. Primary partitions are drive sections that you can access directly for file storage. You make a primary partition accessible to users by creating a file system on it. Unlike primary partitions, you can't access extended partitions directly. Instead, you can configure extended partitions with one or more logical drives that are used to store files. Being able to divide extended partitions into logical drives allows you to divide a physical drive into more than four sections.

Itanium-based computers running 64-bit versions of Windows use the GPT partition style. The key difference between the GPT partition style and the MBR partition style has to do with how partition data is stored. With GPT, critical partition data is stored in the individual partitions and there are redundant primary and backup partition tables for improved structure integrity. Additionally, GPT disks support volumes of up to 18 exabytes and up to 128 partitions. Although there are underlying differences between the GPT and MBR partitioning styles, most disk- related tasks are performed in the same way.

Using Disk Management

You'll use the Disk Management tool to configure drives. Disk Management makes it easy to work with the internal and external drives on a local or remote system. To start Disk Management and connect to a local or remote system, follow these steps:

1. Run Computer Management by going to Start, selecting Programs or All Programs as appropriate, then Administrative Tools, and then Computer Management.

2. You're automatically connected to the local computer on which you're running Computer Management. To manage hard disk drives on another computer, right-click the Computer Management entry in the console tree and select Connect To Another Computer on the shortcut menu. You can now choose the system whose drives you want to manage.

3. In Computer Management, expand Storage and then select Disk Management. You can now manage the drives on the local or remote system.

   Tip

   If you receive an error message from the Logical Disk Manager, read the message and click OK. A failed connection to the Logical Disk Manager Service usually means that this service or the related administrative service isn't started on the local or remote system. If necessary, start Logical Disk Manager and Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service as described in the section entitled "Starting, Stopping, and Pausing Services" in Chapter 3, "Monitoring Processes, Services, and Events." Network policies and trusts can affect your ability to administer computers remotely as well.

   
   

Disk Management has three views: Disk List, Graphical View, and Volume List.

Note

Before you work with Disk Management, there are several things you should know. If you create a partition but don't format it, the partition will be labeled as Free Space. If you haven't assigned a portion of the disk to a partition, this section of the disk is labeled Unallocated.

In Figure 11-1, the Volume List view is in the upper-right corner and the Graphical View is in the lower-right corner. This is the default configuration. You can change the view for the top or bottom pane as follows :

• To change the top view, select View, choose Top, and then select the view you want to use.

• To change the bottom view, select View, choose Bottom, and then select the view you want to use.

• To hide the bottom view, select View, choose Bottom, and then select Hidden.

  Figure 11-1. In Disk Management the upper view provides a detailed summary of all the drives on the computer, and the lower view provides an overview of the same drives by default.

  

More Detailed Drive Information

From the Disk Management window, you can get more detailed information on a drive section by right-clicking it and then selecting Properties from the shortcut menu. When you do this, you see a dialog box much like the one shown in Figure 11-2. This is the same dialog box that you can access from Windows Explorer (by selecting the top-level folder for the drive and then choosing Properties from the File menu).

Figure 11-2. The General tab of the Properties dialog box provides detailed information about a drive.

Installing and Checking for a New Drive

Hot swapping is a feature that allows you to remove devices without shutting off the computer. Typically, hot-swappable drives are installed and removed from the front of the computer. If your computer supports hot swapping of drives, you can install drives to the computer without having to shut down. After you do this, access Disk Management, and, from the Action menu, select Rescan Disks. New disks that are found are added as basic disks. If a disk that you've added isn't found, reboot.

If the computer doesn't support hot swapping of drives, you must turn the computer off and then install the new drives. Afterward you can scan for new disks as described previously.

Understanding Drive Status

Knowing the drive status is useful when you install new drives or troubleshoot drive problems. Disk Management shows the drive status in the Graphical View and Volume List views. Table 11-1 summarizes the most common status values.

Table 11-1. Common Drive Status Values and Their Meaning

Status	Description	Resolution
Online	The normal disk status. It means the disk is accessible and doesn't have problems. Both dynamic disks and basic disks display this status.	The drive doesn't have any known problems.
Online (Errors)	Input/output (I/O) errors have been detected on a dynamic disk.	You can try to correct temporary errors using the Reactivate Disk command.
Offline	The dynamic disk isn't accessible and might be corrupted or temporarily unavailable. If the disk name changes to Missing, the disk can no longer be located or identified on the system.	Check for problems with the drive, its controller, and cables. Make sure that the drive has power and is connected properly. Use the Reactivate Disk command to bring the disk back online (if possible).
Foreign	The dynamic disk has been moved to your computer but hasn't been imported for use. A failed drive brought back online might sometimes be listed as Foreign.	Use the Import Foreign Disks command to add the disk to the system.
Unreadable	The disk isn't currently accessible, which can occur when rescanning disks. Both dynamic and basic disks display this status.	If the drives aren't being scanned, the drive might be corrupt or have I/O errors. Use the Rescan Disk command to correct the problem (if possible). You might also want to reboot the system.
Unrecognized	The disk is of an unknown type and can't be used on the system. A drive from a non-Windows system might display this status.	You can't use the drive on the computer. Try a different drive.
No Media	No media have been inserted into the CD-ROM or removable drive. Only CD-ROM and removable disk types display this status.	Insert a CD-ROM, floppy disk, or removable disk to bring the disk online.