Western Digital Hard Drives

[Darkforce1]

Hi everyone !

I've set-up a RAID 10 Array on my new computer using 4 WD 500MB RE3 enterprise edition hard drives. My motherboard has an integrated storage manager (Intel Matrix Storage Manager) and I've installed the latest version (8.9) on the PC. One of the hard drive has failed and I'm ready to replace it so here are my questions:

1- Do you have to format the replacement drive prior to installing it on the computer in order for the manager to rebuilt the array?

2 Is it normal that the Intel manager is either checking the array for errors or its rebuilding it after one of the drives has dropped out temporarily (Its doing this once a day or so)?

I've checked my power & data wiring on all drives and everything is fine. My PSU is an Antec Truepower Quattro 850 Watts and I think its sufficient to power them. MY OS is Windows XP PRO 64 bit Edition. Is this normal for a RAID 10 array to be reacting this way?

If anybody out there has lived through this situation before, then any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot !

[Tripredacus]

It is normal for Matrix to rebuild the array on a reboot IF it finds a problem with it. But why are you running your OS on the RAID10?

But yes, your replacement drive should either be blank or in RAW format.

[Darkforce1]

It is normal for Matrix to rebuild the array on a reboot IF it finds a problem with it. But why are you running your OS on the RAID10?

But yes, your replacement drive should either be blank or in RAW format.

What should I do? Install the OS on a separate hard drive? Please explain how you would do it if it was your computer. Like I said before, RAID is kind of new to me and I did it because one of my friend suggested it to me.

Edited December 8, 2009 by Darkforce1

[CoffeeFiend]

1- Do you have to format the replacement drive prior to installing it on the computer in order for the manager to rebuilt the array?

No. It's going to get wiped regardless.

As for how to recover, check Intel's own RAID 10 Volume Recovery guide.

[Darkforce1]

Thanks for answering one of my questions CoffeeFiend.

[Tripredacus]

It is normal for Matrix to rebuild the array on a reboot IF it finds a problem with it. But why are you running your OS on the RAID10?

But yes, your replacement drive should either be blank or in RAW format.

What should I do? Install the OS on a separate hard drive? Please explain how you would do it if it was your computer. Like I said before, RAID is kind of new to me and I did it because one of my friend suggested it to me.

If it were my setup, I would either use JBOD or RAID1 for OS and programs, and then use the RAID10 for storage. Then again, I'd also only use RAID10 (or RAID5 for that matter) on a server and not a workstation. I have some server examples in the "my servers" link in my sig.