Add Disks to Logical Drive on PERC5/2950?

[nicole]

Due to "issues" cloning 2+TB systems, I am trying to build a workaround
solution that involves creating a smaller logical drive and extending
it. So far, I have had zero luck, both in the CTRL+R utility and with
MegaCli (these machines don't have a GUI, and I would rather not load
any OMSA stuff since they are not permanently mine).

These systems are 6x500G SATA 2950s, and I am trying to create/build a
single RAID5 logical drive that eventually extends the whole disk, but
initially does not cross the 2TB barrier. 

I tried creating a drive group with ALL physical drives but a size of
(for example) 204800MB (200GB). Everything went well, but after
initialization, there's no way to change the allocated space.

I tried creating a drive group with only three physical drives and the
full size (approx 950GB). Everything went well there, too, but after
initialization, again, there's no way to add the remaining three drives 
in to the allocated space.

In both cases, I have also booted to a debian rescue CD and tried the 
MegaCli command:

	./MegaCli -LDRecon -Start -R5 -Add -PhysDrv [1:4,1:5,1:6] -L0 -a0

with the immediate response:

	Adapter #0: Failed to perform LD reconstruction operation.

(I've also tried 01:04 and :4 and 8:4 - 8 being what the MegaCli seemed
to output as the Enclosure ID - which give the same results)

If I specify the wrong controller or logical drive, it's obviously
wrong, and I can get output with CfgDsply and other options, so at least
the utility works. I can also do things like setting the boot drive:

	./MegaCli -AdpBootDrive -Set -L0 -a0

Which returns:

	Boot Virtual Drive is set to #0 (target id #0) on Adapter 0.

Is this possible at all? How should it be done? I don't even have an
operating system on this thing, I'm just using the debian boot CD
because it's what I intended to eventually install. :o)

I would also rather not use LVM, though I know I could "cheat" and not
deal with the hardware that way. 

I know MegaCli and the CTRL+R utility are really out of Dell's hands, 
but I miss the good old days of CTRL+M. *plays Taps for CTRL+M*

Feel free to contact me directly if you have or require more
information. Any input is welcome. (Also, feel free to beat up the
commercial imaging software manufacturers for their inability to image
2+TB systems -- just supporting GPT isn't enough, folks!)

Thanks,
-nicole