Originally, I had two 160 GB drives making up a RAID 1 volume. I then upgraded one disk to 300 GB and rebuilt the RAID 1 array, which resulted in no array volume size increase...it was still a 160 GB RAID 1 array. Then, I replaced the remaining 160 GB drive and installed a 320 GB drive. I rebuilt the RAID 1 volume. I was expecting a jump in volume size from 160 GB to 300 GB, but to my surprise, it remained at 160 GB! I have Intel Storage Utility 4.0 installed in my Dell Dimension 8400 PC.

So, my question is, after installing larger capacity drives, how do you increase the volume size of the RAID 1 array? Please help!

This appears to be a similar situation:

http://forums.windrivers.com/showthread.php?t=68039

Originally, I had two 160 GB drives making up a RAID 1 volume. I then upgraded one drive to 300 GB and rebuilt the RAID 1 array, which resulted in no RAID 1 array volume size increase...it was still a 160 GB RAID 1 array. Then, I replaced the remaining 160 GB drive and installed a 320 GB drive. I rebuilt the RAID 1 volume again. I was expecting a jump in RAID 1 volume size from 160 GB to 300 GB, but to my surprise, it remained at 160 GB!

Both drives currently installed are Seagate Barracuda Serial ATA drives. Intel's Storage Utility (software I use to manage the RAID 1 array) recognizes they are of 300 GB and of 320 GB capacities, respectively, but it lists the RAID 1 array as having a 160 GB capacity.

Also, Intel storage utility won't let me break the RAID volume (split the mirror) so I can increase the main partition of one of the disks using Partition Magic.

Can't I just disconnect a hard drive from the computer, resize the partition in the remaining connected hard drive using Partition Magic, reconnect the hard drive I previously disconnected, and then rebuild the Raid 1 array using Intel Storage Utility? Please help!

As far as I know the RAID array is set when you install Windows.

If your System Root (usually C: ) is on the array then you cannot change it short of reinstalling Windows.

Also the disk size must be exactly the same.

I might of course be wrong and if so hopefully someone else will tell us so.

Also please reply to this thread for this issue rather than starting new ones. Thanks.

A RAID distributes data across several physical disks which look to the operating system and the user like a single disk. Several different arrangements are possible. We assume here that all the disks are of the same capacity, as is usual.
RAID 0 (striped disks) distributes data across several disks in a way which gives improved speed and full capacity, but all data on all disks will be lost if any one disk fails.

RAID 1 (mirrored disks) uses two (possibly more) disks which each store the same data, so that data is not lost as long as one disk survives. Total capacity of the array is just the capacity of a single disk. The failure of one drive, in the event of a hardware or software malfunction, does not increase the chance of a failure nor decrease the reliability of the remaining drives (second, third, etc).

RAID 5 (striped disks with parity) combines three or more disks in a way that protects data against loss of any one disk; the storage capacity of the array is reduced by one disk. The less common RAID 6 can recover from the loss of two disks.

"Intel storage utility won't let me break the RAID volume", this is the problem. In fact, after create raid0 with a 160G and 300G drive, the virtual disk is displayed as 160G, this is why you should create raid0/mirror with two same disks.

I came across a guide how to resize RAID on Windows Server, hope it could help others.

my suggestion:

backup/clone the RAID 0 to somewhere else, like your old disk.

and then recover the image or clone the disk back to the new RAID.

while u are recovering, u can resize the RAID.

hope my way can help.

After replacing the RAID 1 disks, the spare space will locate at the end of virtual disk and can not be merged into partition automatically. For Windows 7/Vista/2008 operating system, use Disk Management "Extend Volume" to increase the volume size.

After replacing the RAID 1 disks, the spare space will locate at the end of virtual disk and can not be merged into partition automatically. For Windows 7/Vista/2008 operating system, use Disk Management "Extend Volume" to increase the volume size. For Windows 2000/2003/XP System/Boot partition, resize RAID 1 partition with Partition Magic. For Windows 2000/XP/2003 data partition, use Diskpart extend command to increase the volume size.