RAID1 rebuild procedure for Intel Matrix Storage Manager Document number GD-2012-0022-A Date: March 9, 2012 Written by: Distribution: Torleif Ringsaker, Tordivel AS Public 1 Introduction RAID1 is a drive mirroring functionality handled at the drive controller level in a computer. From the operating system, one drive is visible. In the drive bay, two drives are present, and the drive controller makes sure both of these drives have the same content at all times. If an error is discovered with one of the drives, the drive controller will continue to provide drive access, but only the healthy hard drive is used. The controller is now operating in degraded mode. This document describes the procedure for restoring full RAID1 functionality. It applies to computer assemblies supplied by Tordivel AS where the Intel Matrix Storage Manager is installed as the configuration interface to the RAID controller. 2 Revision History March 9, 2012 - TR: Revision A Copyright Tordivel AS 2012 - GD-2012-0022-A - Page 1 of 9
3 Table Of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Revision History 3 Table Of Contents 4 Noteworthy information 5 RAID1 - graceful degradation 5.1 Symptoms 5.2 Identify the failing drive 5.3 Replace the faulty drive 5.4 Rebuild the RAID volume 6 Hard degradation 7 Changing the language 4 Noteworthy information To rebuild a RAID volume, a healthy drive must be installed to replace the bad one. It is important that total capacity is equal to or exceeding the capacity of the volume. a. One example - replacing a Western Digital 250 GB drive actual capacity 233.7 GB b. with a Seagate 250 GB drive actual capacity 232.8 GB c. is not possible, as the Seagate drive has less space. Although the drive bay has hot swappable ports, a. In most condition hot-swapping works very well - but be cautious We have experienced problems like Windows bluescreen when pulling or inserting drives with the computer power on. b. In the cases where issues are experienced we recommend that the computer is shut down before changing the content of the drive bay. The language in the Matrix Storage Console application may not be of your choice. a. See the end of the document for instructions on how to change the language. Copyright Tordivel AS 2012 - GD-2012-0022-A - Page 2 of 9
5 RAID1 - graceful degradation 5.1 Symptoms RAID1 problems are usually showing as an icon on the system tray of Windows, maybe with a tooltip with some text: The text may be different, depending on the failure mode of the drive. 5.2 Identify the failing drive Click on the message or the RAID icon to open the Matrix Storage Console.. The drive on port 0 is present in the example above. This corresponds to the top drive bay on the computer. The drive in the middle bay should be replaced. Note that the Matrix Storage Console has two modes - Basic (shown above) and Advanced. Copyright Tordivel AS 2012 - GD-2012-0022-A - Page 3 of 9
The latter gives more information about volume and drives. Basic provides all required functionality for doing a volume rebuild. 5.3 Procedure - Replace the faulty drive Follow these steps: 1. Shut down the computer. 2. Remove the tray with the faulty drive. 3. Replace the failing drive with a new one in the tray. 4. Install the tray with the new drive. Make sure it is pushed all the way in before latching and locking. 5. Start the computer again. 6. If the computer now fails to boot, the healthy disk has probably been exchanged. Swap the drive in the other bay instead and retry starting the computer. 5.4 Rebuild the RAID volume Once the computer is started again and Windows is booted, the system tray message will appear again. Click on the text or tray icon to lauch the Matrix Storage Console. Copyright Tordivel AS 2012 - GD-2012-0022-A - Page 4 of 9
The Matrix Storage Console now shows two drives, one part of the RAID volume on Port 1, and the new drive on Port 0. To restore RAID 1 data protection, click on the button with the same text in the bottom right part of the dialog. Copyright Tordivel AS 2012 - GD-2012-0022-A - Page 5 of 9
Almost there - click the Rebuild RAID volume now button to continue. Finally, acknowledge the Are you sure... question by clicking Yes. RAID volume should now be rebuilding. The computer may be used while this is going on. Computer performance may be slightly reduced while the rebuild is going on. Copyright Tordivel AS 2012 - GD-2012-0022-A - Page 6 of 9
6 Hard degradation The computer may fail to boot in some situations. In this case, the problem may be just one of the disks. In this case, it should be possible to check for errors by accessing the RAID controller BIOS. This will be opened by pressing Ctrl-I when prompted during computer startup. Copyright Tordivel AS 2012 - GD-2012-0022-A - Page 7 of 9
Tordivel AS, Storgata 20, NO-0184 Oslo, Norway - Phone: +47 23158700 - VAT#: NO966813946MVA The failed drive should be identified using the RAID controller BIOS configuration utility. The above screendump shows one RAID volume (Volume0:1, ID 0) which is degraded, and one physical disk which is member of this volume (Member Disk(0)). The physical disk is on port 1. In normal installations, the upper disk bay is port 0, and the center disk bay is port 1. The failing disk should be identified. Shut down the computer with the power switch. Pull the failing disk from the bay, and switch on power again. The computer should now boot properly. If booting still fails, try pulling the other disk. Notice that if booting fails from any of the two disks, the content of the disk(s) is non-bootable. Other repair procedures will then apply. Once the computer will boot from one disk, it is possible to restore RAID protection if the booting disk is part of a RAID volume. Copyright Tordivel AS 2012 - GD-2012-0022-A - Page 8 of 9
7 Changing the language If the language of the Matrix Storage Console application is not of your choice, it may be changed from this dialog found under Regional and Language options in the Windows Control Panel. Select your preferred language in the Language for non-unicode programs section. The change is effective after a reboot of Windows. Copyright Tordivel AS 2012 - GD-2012-0022-A - Page 9 of 9