raid1 rebuild procedure for intel matrix storage manager · raid1 rebuild procedure for intel...

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RAID1 rebuild procedure for Intel Matrix Storage ManagerDocument number GD-2012-0022-A

Date: March 9, 2012

Written by: Torleif Ringsaker, Tordivel AS

Distribution: Public

1 IntroductionRAID1 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 - of 9

http://www.tordivel.no






3 Table Of Contents1 Introduction2 Revision History3 Table Of Contents4 Noteworthy information5 RAID1 - graceful degradation

5.1 Symptoms5.2 Identify the failing drive5.3 Replace the faulty drive5.4 Rebuild the RAID volume

6 Hard degradation7 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 GBb. with a Seagate 250 GB drive

■ actual capacity 232.8 GBc. 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.








5 RAID1 - graceful degradation

5.1 SymptomsRAID1 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 driveClick 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.








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 driveFollow 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 volumeOnce 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.








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.








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.








6 Hard degradationThe 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.








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.








7 Changing the languageIf 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.







raid1 rebuild procedure for intel matrix storage manager · raid1 rebuild procedure for intel...

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