4.10 Creating and Deleting Logical Volumns

You can create and delete logical volumes using RAIDWatch Manager. Logical volumes are created by combining logical drives together. You can combine logical drives with different capacities and RAID levels into a single logical volume. You can also delete existing logical volumes. Before deleting, make certain that the data stored in the logical volume is no longer needed. Deleting a logical volume erases all information stored on that logical volume.


NOTE:

When you delete a logical volume, all logical drives assigned to it will be released, making them available for new logical volume creation.


To create a logical volume

The contents panel will display Create Logical Volume and show any available (i.e., unassigned) logical drives organized by ID.

1. Display the Logical Volume 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 a channel listed under "LDs Selection / Available." Select the drives you want to include in the logical volume and click Add or click Add All to select all currently unassigned drives.

3. The Maximum LD Capacity (MB) is an information only text box. It is not a user-configurable value. The figure listed indicates the maximum capacity of each LD that will be used in the new LV.

4. Choose Primary Controller or Secondary Controller from the Logical Volume Assignment menu.

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

6. The new logical volume will be displayed in the navigation panel. You may now define its partitions. See the Creating and Deleting Partitions section of this chapter.

To expand a logical volume

When logical drives are expanded by adding new drives, additional capacity can be added to existing logical volumes.

1. Display the Logical Volume 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 Volumes and choose the logical volume which has an expanded capacity logical drive.

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 Size to Expand (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 volume will now have a new last partition the same size as the expansion. Look at the View and Edit LV Partition Table to verify this.


NOTE: 

You may combine partitions under View and Edit LV Partition Table by expanding the size of earlier partitions (as in, increase the size of partition 0 so that it is as large as all partitions combined to make one partition). Combining partitions destroys existing data on all drive partitions.


 

To delete a logical volume

1. Display the Logical Volumes 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 Volumes window, click the left mouse button on the target logical volume.

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.


Return to chapter index