Problems with my raid setup

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by zhorntix, Dec 27, 2009.

  1. zhorntix

    zhorntix MDL Novice

    Oct 25, 2009
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    Hey guys, i'm throwing this out in the open because i'm stumped with it.

    Im running a Promise Fast Track EX8350 updated to the latest firmware & bios & redboot. I'm using 5 Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB drives that i'm seting up in a raid 5 setup. My problem is that when i first setup the drives i created 1 large partition of 6TB. I installed windows and ran some updates, on the first reboot the system stayed in a constant reboot cycle.

    After not being able to track down the issue or rollback to a previous state i decided to wipe the partition and start from scratch. Here is where my biggest problem showed.

    When i deleted the logical drive and created it i noticed that all 5 drives are reporting 2.19 TB free instead if their normal 1.5TB. I'm not sure why they are reporting that way, or how to fix it.

    Ive installed windows 7 on a seagate 2TB drive as my main drive now and I tried using the windows utility (web pam) to delete and create the logical drive. the drives still report the wrong size. I connected them to my moterboard sata controller and used diskpart to select and clean all of the drives thinking it would help, but no avail.

    If you have read all of my rambling i'm sorry it was long, but i'm still not sure what is going on and would appreciate some advice.

    Zhorntix
     
  2. 2centsworth

    2centsworth MDL Senior Member

    Feb 12, 2008
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    Use killdisk or other "write zero's" app to zero out the MBR and first track on each drive as a stand alone hdd (not in an array). Basically put each drive back to raw unformatted.

    Then go ahead and connect them to the promise and build your array...then restore your image to the array.


    RAID 5 has it's place, but in my experience it's not always ideal for consumer level software based SATA controllers, especially very large arrays where rebuild time can be very long. You might get better performance with a RAID 10 array.
     
  3. zhorntix

    zhorntix MDL Novice

    Oct 25, 2009
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    Thanks for the info

    Than kyou for your suggestion, i'll give it a whirl when i get home from work today. I was hoing that it would be an easy solution and all i would need to do it ask.

    I was under the impression that the Pomise EX8350 was a hardware based solution for raid? I know it has a 500mhz cpu and 128MB of ram, and that i don't need any special drivers to run the array. I am considering using raid 6 though, i just don't want to lose the space that a 1+0 setup would require.

    Zhorntix
     
  4. 2centsworth

    2centsworth MDL Senior Member

    Feb 12, 2008
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    #4 2centsworth, Dec 29, 2009
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2009
    Sorry, didn't take the time to look up your controller, you are correct it's a real controller (shoulda figured that from model #). RAID 5 with 5 drives should be no problem for it. Rebuild times can be slow though.

    I stand corrected. Sorry bout that. Doh! *puts dunce hat on and sits in corner*

    I would still wipe each drive (takes a min or 2 to wipe MBR and first track) and make the array RAW, then partition it. Might check each 7200.11 on a different machine/controller as you write zeros to it (smart or quick DST) make sure it's happy.

    I've got a number of those drives (the 7200 rpm 1.5 tb versions) in my server right now and their performance is impressive in server I/O and transfer rate just below the new 7200.12's. (about 225MB/sec outer tracks 2 drives striped)

    The 2.19 TB figure seems to be 1.5 X the actual volume...interesting.
     
  5. zhorntix

    zhorntix MDL Novice

    Oct 25, 2009
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    Solved

    Well i split my drives up on a few of my home computers and let them write 0's all night long, they were done when i woke up. I setup the new array and everything is well with it, i'm not sure what happened the first time though. I did end up integrating the storport driver for windows 7 this time though, maybe that helped.

    Thank you for your help, it worked like a charm.


    Zhorntix
     
  6. 2centsworth

    2centsworth MDL Senior Member

    Feb 12, 2008
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    #6 2centsworth, Dec 30, 2009
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2009
    I've run across similar issue before and that's how i resolved it. My guess is when the array is defined, something went wrong and or cable got swapped, but I never proved the actual cause. These days you just get it working again asap.

    If the storport driver is needed by your OS to properly see your array on that controller, then that makes sense....maybe that was the problem...?