
E-18 Understanding Drive Arrays
Bus Master Data Transfers
The Smart Array 3200 Controller is a bus master device that takes control of the PCI bus during
Adding Storage Capacity
Capacity expansion is increasing the size of an array by adding physical drives and creating additional logical drives. Capacity extension refers to increasing the size of an array by adding physical drives and increasing an existing logical drive without adding more logical drives.
The Smart Array 3200 Controller enables the configuration of one or more separate logical drives into a single drive array. The controller also supports extending the capacity of an existing logical drive. An existing drive array can be expanded by adding one or more logical drives to the array or by increasing the capacity of an existing logical drive. To create the room for the additional logical drives, more physical drives must be added. See Figure
Original
Logical
Drive
Added
Physical
Drives
Data from original logical drive redistributed over "Top" of all physical drives.
New logical drive created over "Bottom" of all physical drives or added capacity of the original logical drive.