OT - Bad HD in Raid5 Array

Thanks, you guys. I wondered if it might have something to do with the
software, because this is the second set of HD's I've had on there. Thanks
for setting me straight. I didn't know software RAID was so
nreliable. -Gary

-----Original Message-----
From: Thad Jacobs [mailto:tjacobs@...]
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 12:55 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: OT - Bad HD in Raid5 Array


I second that.

Using software RAID will likely result in a significantly slower
implementation than hardware RAID. In fact if not using Hardware, you're
probably better off file serving running off of one drive, then using a
nightly scheduled XCOPY to copy the user files to the second hard drive for
redundancy. Would probably be more reliable, and would also provide a
backup.

However, the hardware is pretty darn cheap. Want an IDE RAID 10 controller
for $62.34? Check out

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=339353


HTH,

Thaddeus



-----Original Message-----
From: pile_of_34 [mailto:peter.paasch@...]
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 9:43 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Re: OT - Bad HD in Raid5 Array


So you have three drives total? Since you have one mirrored set C:
and a raid 5 set D: you must have them partitioned. I have to admitt
this is bad news. I would never recommend win2k based raid of any
form, Mirror or otherwise. I could understand 2 years ago when
hardware raid cost hundreds more because scsi drives and controllers
where so expensive, but now with built in IDE raid there is no reason
not to go with hardware.

Many of the problems I have experience with windows software raid
have been software related not bad hardware. Drives getting out of
sync due to software gliches is common place. I thought Win2k might
solve some of these issues, but not so. Even simple mirrors fail.

As far a diagnostics the windows basic windows tools may not cut it.
Chkdsk will look at file structure and surface problems, but buffer
and memory problems won't be detected everytime if they are
intermittent. Software like AMI Diag can run looping non-desturctive
tests that give more information.



--- In vantage@y..., "Gary Polvinale" <garyp@d...> wrote:
> Good morning. Question on hard drive diagnostics. I set up a
cheap server
> a few weeks ago to store redirected My Documents folders from the
> workstation desktops. It's not much, just a simple 800MHz Duron and
> motherboard to which I added three 120G HD's - using W2K server to
mirror
> C-drive and make D-drive a RAID5 array. The machine is slowing
way, way
> down. The drives keep regenerating. When they reach a certain
point in the
> regeneration, the machine locks up and I need to reboot. I think
one of the
> drives has failed. How do I determine if this is true and figure
out which
> one it is?
>
> Gary Polvinale
> Denton ATD
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
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Good morning. Question on hard drive diagnostics. I set up a cheap server
a few weeks ago to store redirected My Documents folders from the
workstation desktops. It's not much, just a simple 800MHz Duron and
motherboard to which I added three 120G HD's - using W2K server to mirror
C-drive and make D-drive a RAID5 array. The machine is slowing way, way
down. The drives keep regenerating. When they reach a certain point in the
regeneration, the machine locks up and I need to reboot. I think one of the
drives has failed. How do I determine if this is true and figure out which
one it is?

Gary Polvinale
Denton ATD


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Gary,

Since it is a WinNT, start a command prompt. chkdsk c: /f
NT will prompt "Do you wanna do this at next start?" Just say yes.
Then re-start. The /f switch means "Fixit."

Otherwise, go grab a 120GB off the shelf & replace the suspected.
FDisk the suspect in a 9x & run 9x diags on it. Norton SystemWorks
still has trouble with 2k drives & diags, although it does a bang-up job
on 9x platforms.

Sorry, this may only be worth USD0.02.

Dan

At 08:55 AM 8/21/02 -0400, you wrote:
>Good morning. Question on hard drive diagnostics. I set up a cheap server
>a few weeks ago to store redirected My Documents folders from the
>workstation desktops. It's not much, just a simple 800MHz Duron and
>motherboard to which I added three 120G HD's - using W2K server to mirror
>C-drive and make D-drive a RAID5 array. The machine is slowing way, way
>down. The drives keep regenerating. When they reach a certain point in the
>regeneration, the machine locks up and I need to reboot. I think one of the
>drives has failed. How do I determine if this is true and figure out which
>one it is?
>
>Gary Polvinale
>Denton ATD
>
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must
>have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
>(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
>Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
>(2) To search through old msg's goto:
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
>(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
So you have three drives total? Since you have one mirrored set C:
and a raid 5 set D: you must have them partitioned. I have to admitt
this is bad news. I would never recommend win2k based raid of any
form, Mirror or otherwise. I could understand 2 years ago when
hardware raid cost hundreds more because scsi drives and controllers
where so expensive, but now with built in IDE raid there is no reason
not to go with hardware.

Many of the problems I have experience with windows software raid
have been software related not bad hardware. Drives getting out of
sync due to software gliches is common place. I thought Win2k might
solve some of these issues, but not so. Even simple mirrors fail.

As far a diagnostics the windows basic windows tools may not cut it.
Chkdsk will look at file structure and surface problems, but buffer
and memory problems won't be detected everytime if they are
intermittent. Software like AMI Diag can run looping non-desturctive
tests that give more information.



--- In vantage@y..., "Gary Polvinale" <garyp@d...> wrote:
> Good morning. Question on hard drive diagnostics. I set up a
cheap server
> a few weeks ago to store redirected My Documents folders from the
> workstation desktops. It's not much, just a simple 800MHz Duron and
> motherboard to which I added three 120G HD's - using W2K server to
mirror
> C-drive and make D-drive a RAID5 array. The machine is slowing
way, way
> down. The drives keep regenerating. When they reach a certain
point in the
> regeneration, the machine locks up and I need to reboot. I think
one of the
> drives has failed. How do I determine if this is true and figure
out which
> one it is?
>
> Gary Polvinale
> Denton ATD
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I second that.

Using software RAID will likely result in a significantly slower
implementation than hardware RAID. In fact if not using Hardware, you're
probably better off file serving running off of one drive, then using a
nightly scheduled XCOPY to copy the user files to the second hard drive for
redundancy. Would probably be more reliable, and would also provide a
backup.

However, the hardware is pretty darn cheap. Want an IDE RAID 10 controller
for $62.34? Check out

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=339353


HTH,

Thaddeus



-----Original Message-----
From: pile_of_34 [mailto:peter.paasch@...]
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 9:43 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Re: OT - Bad HD in Raid5 Array


So you have three drives total? Since you have one mirrored set C:
and a raid 5 set D: you must have them partitioned. I have to admitt
this is bad news. I would never recommend win2k based raid of any
form, Mirror or otherwise. I could understand 2 years ago when
hardware raid cost hundreds more because scsi drives and controllers
where so expensive, but now with built in IDE raid there is no reason
not to go with hardware.

Many of the problems I have experience with windows software raid
have been software related not bad hardware. Drives getting out of
sync due to software gliches is common place. I thought Win2k might
solve some of these issues, but not so. Even simple mirrors fail.

As far a diagnostics the windows basic windows tools may not cut it.
Chkdsk will look at file structure and surface problems, but buffer
and memory problems won't be detected everytime if they are
intermittent. Software like AMI Diag can run looping non-desturctive
tests that give more information.



--- In vantage@y..., "Gary Polvinale" <garyp@d...> wrote:
> Good morning. Question on hard drive diagnostics. I set up a
cheap server
> a few weeks ago to store redirected My Documents folders from the
> workstation desktops. It's not much, just a simple 800MHz Duron and
> motherboard to which I added three 120G HD's - using W2K server to
mirror
> C-drive and make D-drive a RAID5 array. The machine is slowing
way, way
> down. The drives keep regenerating. When they reach a certain
point in the
> regeneration, the machine locks up and I need to reboot. I think
one of the
> drives has failed. How do I determine if this is true and figure
out which
> one it is?
>
> Gary Polvinale
> Denton ATD
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/