Array and Hard Disks

The new disk should be displayed in the tree view after the rescan. If the new disk is not displayed, restart the computer.

For SAS Controllers

The new disk should be displayed in the tree view after refreshing the display. If the new disk is not displayed, restart the computer.

Related Information

• See "Replacing a Failed Disk" if you are replacing a disk that is part of a virtual disk.
  
  
• See "Virtual Disk Considerations for PERC 3/SC, 3/DCL, 3/DC, 3/QC, 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, 4e/Di, CERC ATA100/4ch, PERC 5/E Controllers" or "Virtual Disk Considerations for PERC 3/Si, 3/Di, CERC SATA1.5/6ch, and CERC SATA1.5/2s controllers" if you are intending to include the new disk in a virtual disk.
  
  

How to Avoid Removing the Wrong Disk

You can avoid removing the wrong disk by blinking the LED display on the disk that you intend to remove. See the following sections for information on blinking the LED display:

• See "Blink and Unblink" to blink the LED display on an array disk.
  
  
• See "Blink and Unblink" to blink the LED display on all array disks included in a particular virtual disk.
  
  

If you have already removed the wrong disk, see "Recovering from Removing the Wrong Drive".

Replacing an Array Disk Receiving SMART Alerts

SMART alerts are messages predicting that a disk may fail in the near future. If an array disk is receiving SMART alerts, you should replace the disk. Use the following procedures to replace a disk receiving SMART alerts.

If the disk is part of a redundant virtual disk:

1. Select the disk that is receiving SMART alerts and execute the Offline task.
   
   
2. Manually remove the disk.
   
   
3. Insert a new disk. Make sure that the new disk is the same size or larger as the disk you are replacing. (On some controllers, you may not be able to use the additional disk space if you insert a larger disk. See "Virtual Disk Considerations for PERC 3/SC, 3/DCL, 3/DC, 3/QC, 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, 4e/Di, CERC ATA100/4ch, PERC 5/E Controllers" for more information.) After you complete this procedure, a rebuild is automatically initiated because the virtual disk is redundant.
   
   

If the disk is not part of a redundant virtual disk:

1. Back up data from the virtual disk.
   
   
2. Delete the virtual disk.
   
   
3. Replace the disk that is receiving SMART alerts.
   
   
4. Create a new virtual disk. Make sure that the new virtual disk is the same size or larger than the original virtual disk. For controller-specific information on creating virtual disks, see "Virtual Disk Considerations for PERC 3/SC, 3/DCL, 3/DC, 3/QC, 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, 4e/Di, CERC ATA100/4ch, PERC 5/E Controllers" and "Virtual Disk Considerations for PERC 3/Si, 3/Di, CERC SATA1.5/6ch, and CERC SATA1.5/2s controllers."
   
   
5. Restore the backed up data from the original virtual disk onto the newly created virtual disk.
   
   

Related Information:

• "Monitoring Disk Reliability on RAID Controllers"
  
  

Other Disk Procedures

See the following sections:

• "Replacing a Failed Disk"
  
  
• "Recovering from Removing the Wrong Drive"
  
  
• "Moving Array and Virtual Disks from One System to Another"
  
  
• "Troubleshooting"
  
  

Array and Hard Disk Properties and Tasks

Use this window to view information about array disks and execute array disk tasks.

Array and Hard Disk Properties

Array disks are attached to RAID controllers and hard disks are attached to non-RAID controllers. The following table describes properties that may be displayed depending on the controller.

Property	Definition
Status	These icons represent the severity or health of the storage component. See "Storage Component Severity" for more information.
Name	This property displays the name of the array or hard disk. The name is comprised of the connector number followed by the disk number.
State	This property displays the current state of the array or hard disk. Ready — The array or hard disk is functioning normally. If the disk is attached to a RAID controller, Ready state indicates that the disk is available to be used by a virtual disk. When the array disk is used in a virtual disk, the state changes to Online. Online — The array disk is part of a virtual disk and is functioning normally. See "Online and Offline" for more information. Degraded — The array disk has suffered a failure and is operating in a degraded state. Failed — The array disk has suffered a failure and is no longer functioning. This state is also displayed when an array disk that is part of a redundant virtual disk has been taken offline or deactivated. See "Online and Offline" for more information. Offline — The array disk has failed or contains dead segments. Check to see whether the "Remove Dead Segments" task appears on the array disk drop-down menu. If it does, perform a "Rescan Controller" and then do a "Remove Dead Segments" for the array disk. If the "Remove Dead Segments" task is not displayed, then the array disk cannot be recovered. See "Considerations for PERC 3/Si, 3/Di, CERC SATA1.5/6ch, and CERC SATA1.5/2s Controllers When Array Disks are Shared by Redundant and Nonredundant Virtual Disks" for related information. On the PERC 5/E controller, the Offline state indicates that the disk is included in a virtual disk, but it is not receiving I/O. This may occur when a user has set the disk to Offline. See "Online and Offline" for more information.
	Rebuilding — Data from a redundant virtual disk is currently being rebuilt onto the array disk. Removed — The array disk has been removed. This state only applies to array disks that are part of a virtual disk. Clear — The Clear task is being performed on the array disk. An array disk may also display the Clear state if the array disk is a member of a virtual disk that is being slow initialized. For more information, see "Clear Array Disk and Cancel Clear" and "Format and Initialize; Slow and Fast Initialize." SMART Alert Detected — A SMART alert (predictive failure) has been detected on the hard disk. The hard disk may fail and should be replaced. This state applies to hard disks attached to non-RAID controllers. Unknown — The array disk has failed or is in an unusable state. In some cases the array disk can be returned to a usable state by performing an "Initialize" task. If the "Initialize" task does not appear on the array disk drop-down menu, then this disk cannot be recovered. Foreign — The array disk has been moved from another controller and contains all or some portion of a virtual disk (foreign configuration). See "Import Foreign Configuration" for more information. Unsupported — The array disk is using an unsupported technolgy. The array disk cannot be managed by Storage Management.
Capacity	This property displays the full capacity of the disk.
Failure Predicted	This property displays whether or not the array disk has received a SMART alert and is therefore predicted to fail. For more information on SMART predictive failure analysis, see "Monitoring Disk Reliability on RAID Controllers". For information on replacing the array disk, see "Replacing an Array Disk Receiving SMART Alerts". You may also want to review the Alert Log to see whether the array disk has generated alerts pertaining to a SMART predictive failure. These alerts can assist you in identifying the cause of the SMART alert. The following alerts may be generated in response to a SMART alert: "2094" "2106" "2107" "2108" "2109" "2110" "2111"
Type	This property displays the technology that the array disk is using. Possible values are: SCSI — Small Computer System Interface SAS — Serial Attached SCSI SATA — Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA)
Used RAID Disk Space	This property displays how much of the array disk space is being used by the virtual disks on the controller. This property is Not Applicable for hard disks attached to non-RAID controllers. In certain circumstances, the Used RAID Disk Space displays a value of zero (0) even though a portion of the array disk is being used. This occurs when the used space is 0.005 GB or less. The algorithm for calculating the used disk space rounds a figure of 0.005 GB or less to 0. Used disk space that is between 0.006 GB and 0.009 GB is rounded up to 0.01 GB.
Available RAID Disk Space	This property displays the amount of available space on the disk. This property is Not Applicable for hard disks attached to non-RAID controllers.
Hot Spare	This property indicates whether the disk has been assigned as a hot spare. This property is Not Applicable for hard disks attached to non-RAID controllers.
Vendor ID	This property displays the disk's hardware vendor.
Product ID	This property displays the disk's product ID.
Revision	This property displays the disk's revision number.
Manufacture Day	This property displays the day of the month during which the array disk was manufactured.
Manufacture Week	This property displays the week of the year during which the array disk was manufactured.
Manufacture Year	This property displays the year that the array disk was manufactured.
SAS Address	This property displays the SAS address of the array disk. The SAS address is unique to each SAS disk.

Array Disk Tasks

Do the following to execute an array disk task:

1. Expand the Storage tree object to display the controller objects.
   
   
2. Expand a controller object.
   
   
3. Expand a Connector object.
   
   
4. Expand the enclosure or Backplane object.
   
   
5. Select the Array Disks object.
   
   
6. Select the Information/Configuration subtab.
   
   
7. Select a task from the Available Tasks drop-down menu.
   
   
8. Click Execute.
   
   

Note: Different controllers support different features. For this reason, the tasks displayed on the Tasks drop-down menu can vary depending on which controller is selected in the tree view. If no tasks can be performed because of controller or system configuration limitations, then the Tasks drop-down menu displays No Task Available.

Array Disk Drop-down Menu Tasks:

• "Blink and Unblink"
  
  
• "Remove Dead Segments"
  
  
• "Assign and Unassign Global Hot Spare"
  
  
• "Prepare to Remove"
  
  
• "Online and Offline"
  
  
• "Initialize"
  
  
• "Rebuild"
  
  
• "Cancel Rebuild"
  
  
• "Clear Array Disk and Cancel Clear"
  
  

Blink and Unblink

Does my controller support this feature? See "Appendix: Supported Features."

The Blink task allows you to find a disk within an enclosure by blinking one of the light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on the disk. You may want to use this task to locate a failed disk.

On most controllers, the Blink task automatically cancels after a short duration such as 30 or 60 seconds. If you need to cancel the Blink task or if the array disk continues to blink indefinitely, use the Unblink task.

Note: The Blink and Unblink tasks are only supported for hotswap array disks (disks that reside in a carrier). When using an Ultra SCSI, Ultra2 SCSI, Ultra160 SCSI, or LSI 1020 or LSI 1030 controller, the Blink and Unblink tasks apply to hard disks contained in carriers that can be inserted into a server or an enclosure. If the hard disk is not contained in a carrier but is instead designed to be connected with a SCSI cable (typically a ribbon cable), then the Blink and Unblink tasks are disabled.

Remove Dead Segments

Does my controller support this feature? See "Appendix: Supported Features."

The Remove Dead Segments task recovers disk space that is currently unusable. A dead or orphaned disk segment refers to an area of an array disk that is unusable for any of the following reasons:

• The dead segment is an area of the array disk that is damaged.
  
  
• The dead segment is included in a virtual disk, but the virtual disk is no longer using this area of the array disk.
  
  
• The array disk contains more than one virtual disk. In this case, disk space that is not included in one of the virtual disks may be unusable.
  
  
• The dead segment resides on an array disk that has been disconnected from and then reconnected to the controller.
  
  

Assign and Unassign Global Hot Spare

Does my controller support this feature? See "Appendix: Supported Features."

A global hot spare is an unused backup disk that is part of the array group. Hot spares remain in standby mode. When an array disk that is used in a virtual disk fails, the assigned hot spare is activated to replace the failed array disk without interrupting the system or requiring your intervention. When a hot spare is activated, it rebuilds the data for all redundant virtual disks that were using the failed array disk.

You can change the hot spare assignment by unassigning a disk and choosing another disk as needed. You can also assign more than one array disk as a global hot spare.

Global hot spares must be assigned and unassigned manually. They are not assigned to specific virtual disks. If you want to assign a hot spare to a virtual disk (it will replace any array disk that fails in the virtual disk) then use the "Assign and Unassign Dedicated Hot Spare".

You should be familiar with the size requirements and other considerations associated with hot spares. See the following sections for more information:

• "Protecting Your Virtual Disk with a Hot Spare"
  
  
• "Considerations for Hot Spares on PERC 3/SC, 3/DCL, 3/DC, 3/QC, 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, 4e/Di, CERC ATA100/4ch, PERC 5/E Controllers"
  
  
• "Considerations for Hot Spares on PERC 3/Si, 3/Di, and CERC SATA1.5/6ch Controllers"
  
  

Prepare to Remove

Does my controller support this feature? See "Appendix: Supported Features."

Use the Prepare to Remove task to spin down an array disk so that it can safely be removed from an enclosure. It is recommended that you perform this task before removing a disk to prevent data loss.

This task causes the lights on the disk to blink. You can safely remove the disk under the following conditions:

• Wait for about 30 seconds to allow the disk to spin down.
  
  
• Wait until you notice the initial blink pattern has changed into a different pattern or the lights have stopped blinking.
  
  

An array disk is no longer in Ready state after doing a Prepare to Remove. Removing the array disk from the enclosure and replacing it causes the array disk to spin up and return to Ready state.

In some cases, a rescan is required for the controller to recognize configuration changes such as the removal of a disk. See "Rescan to Update Storage Configuration Changes" for more information.

Note: This procedure is not available for array disks that have been assigned as a hot spare or array disks that are part of a virtual disk. In addition, this procedure is only supported for hotswap array disks (disks that reside in a carrier).

Note: This procedure is not supported on the CERC ATA100/4ch, CERC SATA1.5/6ch, and CERC SATA1.5/2s controllers. For the PERC 4/IM controller, this procedure is only supported on a PowerEdge™ 1855 system.

Initialize

Does my controller support this feature? See "Appendix: Supported Features."

The Initialize task prepares an array disk for use as a member of a virtual disk.

Array disks attached to PERC 3/Si, 3/Di, and CERC SATA1.5/6ch controllers must be initialized before they can be used. On these controllers, the Initialize task can only be performed once on an array disk. In some cases an array disk that is in an Unknown state can be returned to a usable state by performing the Initialize task. The Initialize task is not displayed for array disks that have already been initialized using Storage Management or the BIOS.

Notice: This is a data-destructive task. Any virtual disks residing on this array disk will be removed.

Rebuild

Does my controller support this feature? See "Appendix: Supported Features."

Use the Rebuild task to reconstruct data when an array disk in a redundant virtual disk fails. See "Replacing a Failed Disk that is Part of a Redundant Virtual Disk" for more information.

Rebuilding a disk may take several hours.

Cancel Rebuild

Does my controller support this feature? See "Appendix: Supported Features."

Use the Cancel Rebuild task to cancel a rebuild that is in progress. If you cancel a rebuild, the virtual disk remains in a degraded state. The failure of an additional array disk can cause the virtual disk to fail and may result in data loss. It is highly recommended that you rebuild the failed array disk as soon as possible.

Note: If you cancel the rebuild of an array disk that is assigned as a hot spare, you will need to reinitiate the rebuild on the same array disk in order to restore the data. Canceling the rebuild of an array disk and then assigning another array disk as a hot spare will not cause the newly assigned hot spare to rebuild the data. You will need to reinitiate the rebuild on the array disk that was the original hot spare.

Online and Offline

Does my controller support this feature? See "Appendix: Supported Features."

The Online and Offline tasks only apply to array disks that are included in a redundant virtual disk and attached to a PERC 3/SC, 3/DCL, 3/DC, 3/QC,4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/Si, 4e/Di, 4e/DC, 4/Di, or CERC ATA100/4ch controller.

Use the Offline task to deactivate a disk before removing it. Use the Online task to reactivate an offline disk. In some cases, you may want to use the Online task on a failed disk in an attempt to recover data from the disk. See "Using the Array Disk Online Command on Select Controllers" for more information.

Note: The Online and Offline tasks are not supported on the PERC 4/IM controller or the PERC 3/Si, 3/Di, CERC SATA1.5/6ch, and CERC SATA1.5/2s controllers.

To online or offline the array disk:

1. Review the array disk that will be made online or offline. When making an array disk offline, be aware that there can be data loss. Back up your data if necessary. If you want to blink the array disk, click the Blink button.
   
   
2. Click Online or Offline when ready or click Go Back To Controller Information Page.
   
   

To locate this task in Storage Management:

1. Expand the Storage tree object to display the controller objects.
   
   
2. Expand a controller object.
   
   
3. Expand a Connector object.
   
   
4. Expand the enclosure or Backplane object.
   
   
5. Select the Array Disks object.
   
   
6. Select Online or Offline from the Available Tasks drop-down menu of the array disk you want to make online or offline.
   
   
7. Click Execute.
   
   

Clear Array Disk and Cancel Clear

Does my controller support this feature? See "Appendix: Supported Features."

Use the clear array disk task to erase data residing on an array disk. The Clear task applies to array disks that are in Ready state and that contain data or that are in Clear state.

Note: An array disk may display the Clear state if it is a member of a virtual disk that is being slow initialized. Performing a Cancel Clear task on the array disk causes the Slow Initialize task to be cancelled for the entire virtual disk. See "Format and Initialize; Slow and Fast Initialize" and "Considerations for Slow Initialize" for more information.

To clear the array disk:

1. Review the array disk that will be erased by the clear task. Be sure that it does not contain necessary data and make a backup if necessary. If you want to blink the array disk, click the Blink button.
   
   
2. Click Clear when you are ready to erase all information on the array disk. To exit without clearing the array disk, click Go Back To Controller Information Page.
   
   

To locate this task in Storage Management:

1. Expand the Storage tree object to display the controller objects.
   
   
2. Expand a controller object.
   
   
3. Expand a Connector object.
   
   
4. Expand the enclosure or Backplane object.
   
   
5. Select the Array Disks object.
   
   
6. Select Clear from the Available Tasks drop-down menu of the array disk you want to clear.
   
   
7. Click Execute.
   

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