I currently have a Dell Poweredge 2500 server connected to an external
array (dell powervault 200S). The server has 2 of 6 bays filled with 2
14gb u160 80 pin hot swappable drives and the array has 5 of 8 bays
filled with 5 73gb u160 80 pin hot swappable drives. RAID 1 on the
server, RAID 5 on the array, with a PERC3 card running, Windows 2000
Server, with Dell Openmanage array manager software.

We want to rebuild the server from the ground up, in the following
fashion. Rearrange the drives to be like the following: Keep the 2 14gb u160 drives
as the RAID 1 drives to run the OS. Take 4 of the 5 73gb drives from
the array, and fill the other 4 bays of the server, run RAID 5 on these
4 drives. Then purchase 8 146gb u320 drives for the external array, and run
RAID 5 on the external box. Wipe everything clean and reinstall OS,
reconfigure arrays, etc.

Questions - is the system going to be OK with u160 drives on the server
box, and u320 drives on the external box?

Also - is the same type of cable that I'm using now going to be
suitable for connecting the external box, since all the drives are now
going to be u320?

What order should I do everything? Below is what I'm thinking so far - correct me if I'm wrong....

1. Backup all data
2. powerdown machine, fill 4 empty bays with existing 73gb drives, fill all 8 bays in external array with 146gb drives
3. format everything (is this available in the scsi bios?)
4. run openmanage server assistant to start perc configuration & start OS install
5. complete OS install
6. install Openmanage array manager, reconfigure all arrays
7. recreate users, groups, permission, restore data