Raid 5 installation and testing

[brisray]

I've just set up a Windows 2000 server with Raid 5 using 3 SCSI drives via the disk management console. It appears to be working, but I want to test it properly.

I loaded a couple of gigs of data onto the drive, turned the server off, then pulled one of the drives out. On restarting, the OS did NOT report the drive was missing. Surely there must be some sort of warning that the disk set is not complete?

After that I replaced the missing drive and reactivated the array. The disk set was regenerated and the files restored, but it seemed to take a long time. Is this normal?

I'd sooner test this server configuration while I've got the chance before it goes live. What I don't want to happen is the server to go live, fail and lose data because I either haven't set it up or tested it properly.

Any help would be useful especially on simulating a disk failure and the fact that there was no warning of a missing array disk bothers me.

Ray

 

[alarnold]

You did indeed set up your array correctly and after you reinserted your drive, all was restored. The only place the drive would have been not noticed was in the Computer Management, Manage Hard Drives window. Raid 5 is designed to still operate after the failure of a single drive.

Rebuilding does take a long time depending on the size of the drives. I have 4 80Gig drives and it takes mine about and hour and a half+ to rebuild.

Al

 

[brisray]

Thanks for the reply. I know hard drives are very reliable nowadays, but I'll keep an eye on the management console.

Ray