[Phoenix32]

I am of the school of thought that if you are not qualified for a task, then you should not be doing the task. And example would be; if you do not know that torque specs on heads, mains, etc are important, then you should not be rebuilding your engine.

For a enterprise class hardware, some things should be simple basics and not need to be said in a simple how-to document (like step by step on having to torque bolts). But, for those who need a step by step, which I am not going to write here, this is some BASICS that need to be followed.

1. Break (remove) all current RAID arrays before even thinking about replacing a full set of disks.
and
Disable all AV and backup, this use drive references.

If you do not follow number 1 and install your new disks, then you are going to have to go back and wipe (complete erase) the new drives and start all over again. There is a lot of information being stored in those many hidden partitions/arrays, including markers for start and end positions that change from disk sizes and OS revisions.

2. Guardian OS likes memory. Anything below 512MB is inadequate for doing large drives and/or OS upgrades.

3. Enterprise Class Servers use Reg ECC memory.

4. DO NOT SKIP MAJOR OS REVISIONS WITH GUARDIAN OS! i.e. Do not jump from revision 2.x.x to 4.x.x or 3.x.x to 5.x.x. You MUST go from 2 to 3 to 4 to 5.

5. Do not use CS. Set drives to Single/Master. I am not going to go into length as to why here since I have written about this here before.

6. For larger drives (say 400GB and up), I strongly recommend GOS 4.2 and above BEFORE you even install the first new drive.

7. If someone tells you that the 4400, 4200, 4500, and/or 15000 can’t use brand X hard disk or drives larger than xxGB, they are full of crap and you can send them directly to me.

8. Do your OS xfer to 1 drive only, then boot the unit cold from that new drive to ensure OS xfer. Then COLD boot with the other 3 drives installed.