Migrating the data to the large server

Last published : Aug 05, 2026
Migrate the data to the large server. Perform the steps for each smaller server, one at a time.
To migrate the data to the large server
  1. Disconnect the direct-attached storage from the small server.
  2. Connect the direct-attached storage to the switch to make it accessible to the large server.
    Note: All the direct-attached storage devices and the large server need to be in the same zone on the switch.
  3. Using SFW on the large server, rescan the disks.
  4. In SFW, import the disk groups from the direct-attached storage to make them a part of the storage that the large server manages.
Clear the host ID during the import process, if the source disk group was not created with SFW. A dialog box will come up for this purpose during the import command.
  1. Assign drive letters to the imported disk groups.
On a Windows Server 2012 system, the default operating system setting requires the manual assignment of drive letters. Many administrators prefer to set drive letters manually rather than have the operating system do it.
Note: If you want the drive letters to be assigned automatically after a disk group is imported, use themountvolcommand to change the default setting. Refer to the Microsoft documentation about themountvolcommand for information on how to set up the automatic assignment of drive letters.
  1. If desired, update the imported disk groups to the latest version of dynamic disk group type.
This is recommended to take advantage of the Windows Server 2012 features in SFW. Use the Upgrade Dynamic Disk Group Version command.
  1. Test the data on the Windows Server 2012 system.
At this point, you can stop if you do not have a large storage array available. You can still take advantage of SFW's storage management features by having the direct-attached storage on the SAN. It is not necessary to have a large storage array to have these benefits.