PERC 4/Di Questions...

[AriZoNaiCe]

One of my clients has a PERC 4/Di embedded controller card in their Dell Poweredge 2600. Their Array is RAID 1 and consists of 3 drives. What I would like to do is add a drive, which I have, independant from the array. Is this possible using the removeable caddies in the front? If not, how can I go about doing this? I do not need an additional controller card, do I?

- Brian

 

[AriZoNaiCe]

Okay...Can I set up a RAID 0 Array with just the 1 drive? Would that solve my problem? If so, how would I go about doing that? Should I use one of the 4 disk utilities provided or should I do it in the BIOS?

# RAID BIOS Configuration Utility

# Dell Manager

# WebBIOS Configuration Utility

# Dell OpenManage Array Manager

Any one of those better than another?

 

[adamroof]

RAID 1 cannot be more than 2 drives, how are they using 3? you sure its not a RAID 5? Find out first by going to step 2 first. Yes RAID 0 can be one disk(but why), RAID 1; 2, RAID 5; 3 to a bunch more than 3

heres a cool link -

http://www.ibeast.com/content/tools/RaidCalc/RaidCalc.asp

1. Insert your drive into the carrier, insert into system

2. Right click My Computer > Manage, Expand to the Disk Management (Dell Array Manager)

3. Configure your new disk by clicking Add Virtual Disk, your new unassigned disk should appear, it will tell you what options you have, (RAID 0, RAID1, i.e.) Click OK

4. Expand to Disk Management (Windows) It should prompt to initialize disk and configure and format with a drive letter.



To reconfigure your arrays, press CTRL+M at boot to enter the array manager BIOS, and reconfigure the drives, BUT going from any array level to anything else will usually wipe out your data requiring a reinstall.

 

[AriZoNaiCe]

Okay...I realized after I wrote that thread that it was a RAID 5...And it is 3 drives. My issue is that I'd like to add a drive that is NOT part of my original Array. That's why I thought a RAID 0 might be the only way to use the backplane and have a single drive be independent. Correct me if I'm wrong, or let me know if those instructions you sent me will be the way to go. Thanks!!

- Brian

 

[jkupski]

RAID 1 cannot be more than 2 drives, how are they using 3?

RAID1 specifies a minimum of two drives, it is not a maximum. You could have the same data mirrored across three, four, or more drives, so while a three drive RAID1 might be rare, it is quite possible.

 

[adamroof]

i stand corrected

http://www.acnc.com/04_01_01.html

in the Array Manager, clicking Add New Virtual Disk, creates the "additional" array, so it would be independent of the RAID5 and would be seen by your OS as an additional array albeit one disk.

So i think you are on the right track.

if its not a hot swappable backplane, you might need to power down before inserting (my disclaimer)

 

[adamroof]

oops again...

http://www.acnc.com/04_01_00.html

need 2 drives for RAID 0, but dell has an option when you click the add new vir disk that i dont recall, but it lets you do the one disk.

 

[AriZoNaiCe]

That sounds perfect...Thank you guys SOOO much for being so helpful. It's not too often that one IT person is willing to help another. Thankfully, you guys are here. It is a hot swappable backplane, so I think it will be alright. I'll be going in to implement this tomorrow evening. I'll let you know how it turns out.

- Bri