dear god, how long will this take!?

N

NecessaryEvil

Guest
I have an 8 drive RAID 5 array in my new server. 80gbs per.

I started a zero format yesterday(I assume this means it does a low level format on all drives when creating the array.

14 hours later, I'm at 67%.

How long should this normally take?

HPT RocketRAID 404 ; 8x 80gb WD drives
 
I think it took an hour or two to low level format each of my 36gig Cheetahs.
 
my elite 47gigs took more than 2hrs each - i'd assume you're on track with time with those larger HDs
 
I guess it's a good thing that I didn't opt for the 200gbs like I originally planned?

*sigh*

I have a feeling I should have purchased a better controller...but a RAID 5 controller for $50 is hard to pass up.


it just ruins my plans for today; I had hoped to install W2K on it yesterday...now I have to do it today instead.
 
The highpoint doesn't have any sort of onboard parity or XOR support the last time I checked.
 
i thought about that card, but it uses your cpu for all the calculations, so, IMHO, its not a "hardware" raid solution
 
FUCK!
25.5 hours wasted.

it finishes, reboots, and apparantly it created an array for chanel 1, and a seperate for 2-4.

So I have to do it again.

If this fucks up again, I'm going to get my fucking money back and get a real card.
 
the promise one is very nice, ive used the S150 SX4 and that card is amazing, the SX4000 lite is an ide version, and works great as well, i recomend the full sx4000 though, the lite doesent let you expand array's
 
Originally posted by NecessaryEvil
If this fucks up again, I'm going to get my fucking money back and get a real card.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the world of not-quite-enterprise computing.
 
3Ware it is!
initialized a 1.8Tb total / 800Gb data Raid 5 array in about 4 hours in a 7500-8
 
Well, to add insult to injury (or maybe this is the reason it fucked up), I was just woken up up an hour or so ago by clicking from one of the drives at the 34% format point.

So...maybe that's the reason for it screwing up; any suggestions as to how to find what drive is messed up? it hasn't clicked in 45 minutes.
 
not sure. I don't even have an OS loaded on the system yet to troubleshoot it; I'll be doing that tonight (OS) regardless of how the array turns up.

I'll be looking into it tonight; I have a spare...but I was going to use it for something else. It can wait though, I'll find the bad drive and RMA it.

funny thing is, from 30%-35% it did it...but didn't do it from 35-42 (after that, I left for work)
 
Originally posted by Morpheus256
does it have any management software to shop which drive has gone critical?
Click to expand...

typically that would log to an OS though
(and be run from one, at least on my array)

If its not reported in the BIOS
you might have to break the array and test drives individually
unless you can manage to install to it
and then hope for an error in the log to ID the bad drive

for the record my Promise SX6000 (w\ onboard Intel RISC) takes about 7 hours to initialize 6x40GB HDDs in RAID 5
of course its coming up on it third birthday soon
and I never bothered to upgrade its BIOS so...
Id guess its a couple of generations back in IDE RAID, at least :p
 
after the second zero build, channel 1 isn't a seperate array or whatever, it's simply disappeared.

I'm doing drive fitness tests on all drives...if they pass, what do I look at next? cable? or the RAID controller itself?
 
personally i would blame the controller.
cables are a quick way to check though, but if all the drives are showing up in the cards firmware properly, then cables are more then likely good
 
I'm thinking it's gotta be the controller.

all disks checked out with no errors using WD's drive tests.


So, I tried again.

But, this morning at 2:30, at the same 32%, I was woken up by clicking.

I don't know what to do...replace the controller if possible, of course.

But, do I get a better RAID card for >$150?

or do I just migrate to an IC7-MAX for 63 bucks, a new keyboard, mouse, and videocard? (RAM and P4 on hand)
 
Transient clicking doesn't mean squat if the drive can recover and continue on. It's only when you get DMA timeouts and failures that you should start worrying. Your optimal solution will depend on your goals. I do not know your goals here, hopefully you do.
 
full test on each drive.

each time they passed perfectly.

I'm at 30% on the RAID creation...it wil likely start clicking every 45 seconds in about 20 minutes.

As for my needs...just file storage. Nothing mission critical...but nothing I'd care to just lose for no good reason.
IMG_0001a.jpg
 
I found the clicking drive and swapped it out with my spare.

I'll hope for the best.
 
Damn those drives are stacked tight :eek:

Ive got 1" inbetween mine (with fans & AC)
but it looks like you have no room :(
 
*sigh*

still clicks on disc 1 at 32%....no matter what disc is put in there. I've tried it with 4 different discs so far, same problem.

So, I guess it's time to get my money back for this controller and figure out my next step.
 
Originally posted by Ice Czar
Damn those drives are stacked tight :eek:

Ive got 1" inbetween mine (with fans & AC)
but it looks like you have no room :(
Click to expand...

Cooling is overrated. I stacked my IDE units tight the other day and they're behaving better than before, even with just the default quarter inch or so of room between drives, no fans. Go figure. Of course there's that old, first gen 7200rpm full-height SCSI drive in an old pizzabox HP Apollo; it will burn your fingers after being on a while, yet it keeps trucking.

Originally posted by NecessaryEvil

still clicks on disc 1 at 32%....no matter what disc is put in there. I've tried it with 4 different discs so far, same problem.

So, I guess it's time to get my money back for this controller and figure out my next step.
Click to expand...

Be happy you found the exact cause of the issue. Most just bitch about drive Brand X and leave it at that.
 
actually, did a little more investigation. (I installed an OS).

Found that channel 1 was showing drives as gibberish (As opposed to WD800BB), and as 1.2 TB per disc.

I'd seen this before, when both drives were set to master, and when there was a bad cable.

Since both drives were set properly (master & slave), I tried the cable.


rebooted, and it showed up properly.


Figuring it was worth a shot, I started to create the array.


now instead of 1% every 15 minutes, I had 11% in 15 minutes.

now, 2 hours later, I'm at 83%.

I think I found the problem...a cheap 3 dollar cable.

God dammit.


oh well.

at least this afternoon has been positive. RAID issue figured out & free copy of Windows Server 2003.

I think that makes up for the crap I put up with to get here
 
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