Boot SSD Upgrade and Cloning

[davess]

Hi All

 

Firstly, I want to say thankyou to everyone in this forum, the information and knowledge here has been invaluable in helping me setup my server.

 

I have what seems to be a typical setup in my Gen 8 with the ODD SATA connection used for a boot SSD running Server Essentials 2012 R2.  The B120i is configured with a RAID 10 for the 4 storage drives and a RAID 0 for the SSD.  My issue is when I initially setup the server I cheaped-out and only installed a 120gb drive for the boot SSD.  Now that decision in biting me in the proverbial and I need to upgrade the drive.  I want to maintain the current configuration and just upgrade the boot SSD.  Given my lack of experience with server hardware and some of the nuances exhibited by the HP hardware and firmware I thought I would ask the question here before I found myself up a certain creek without a paddle.

 

My plan is to clone the OS drive using one of the many utilities available, install the new disk, build a new RAID 0 and then install the image on the new disk.

 

Firstly, is this possible or is the fact that the current disk is in a RAID configuration going to be an issue when I clone it?  Is there an easier way to accomplish this or is new OS install required?

 

If cloning is possible, can anyone recommend good cloning software?

 

Finally, will this cause an issue with the windows server licence?  I know form the desktop OS’s that normally a hard drive change won’t affect the activation but a more major hardware change like a new motherboard will.  Not sure if Windows Server is a little more sensitive to this.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

​

[schoondoggy]

I would remove the drive from the B120i and shut down your server. Remove the SSD. Connect your current SSD and new SSD to a different computer, with two SATA ports available, and clone the old drive to the new one. I use Macrium Reflect, free. Put the new SSD in the Gen8 and power up. I think you will need to go into the B120i tools and set the drive to RAID0. It should work, but you may need to reboot to get the OS comfortable with the bigger drive space.

http://www.macrium.com/ 

 

Read up on replacing and moving drives:

http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=c03326739

 

And don't forget to backup all of your data.

[DragonRebornUK]

davess,

 

Did this option work for you?

I did the same as you, bought an awful and cheap SSD for my Boot drive which i used in the ODD bay.

Went out and got a better and bigger SSD and tried to clone the drive. Then i had awful issues with the system not recognizing the drive etc etc. Even tried to restore the server from a backup which the system didnt like either!

Thanks in hope of an answer!

 

Cheers

[schoondoggy]

davess,

 

Did this option work for you?

I did the same as you, bought an awful and cheap SSD for my Boot drive which i used in the ODD bay.

Went out and got a better and bigger SSD and tried to clone the drive. Then i had awful issues with the system not recognizing the drive etc etc. Even tried to restore the server from a backup which the system didnt like either!

 

Thanks in hope of an answer!

 

Cheers

Were you using the B120i or AHCI?

[DragonRebornUK]

Hi Schoondoggy

 

Virtually same setup as davess. Using B120i just slightly different raid setup for the mechanical disks. ( RAID etup should be no consequence for the OS SSD drive )

 

Thanks for the quick reply

[DragonRebornUK]

I managed to do it this morning.

It still gave me loads of trouble again,! But i did it.

 

Cut Down version of what happened below:

 

I took out the old SSD (120Gb) and installed the new SSD 480Gb setting up on the B120i (Delete the old array, Create a new RAID array and re enabled to boot first from the SSD array)

Then took out the new SSD, 

I used Schoondoggy suggested program for cloning. ( I Forensic copied in the end, just to make sure!)

Put new drive back in the server, and it booted.

Ran disk management in control panel, expanded the disk.

 

Job Done

 

Thanks for the help Schoondoggy