|HELP| Switching out 2 HDDs on RAID0 for single after HDD failure (Misc Q's)?

[i3lueHorneT]

Alright, I recently had a HDD failure, but I'm on a RAID 0 and am therefore not sure which disk is producing the errors (is there a way to know while still on the RAID 0 config?). I'm now trying to reconfigure the setup for a single disk, thereby needing to bypass the RAID card (right, I can't just unplug the one of the HDDs can I?), what I'm trying to do/need to know is:

1. Are there any jumper caps I need to change going from a Hight Point RAID card to the mobo's IDE slot?
2. The same IDE cables that the RAID card uses can be used for the mobo IDE slot right?
3. How should the jumper look/be set to on the HDD?
4. I have two CD/DVD drives running off a single cable in 'SEC_IDE1' slot, that doesn't really apply to anything here right, I use the 'PRI_IDE1' slot for a cable that breaks into two connectors?
5. What do I need to do in BIOS once the HDD is installed?
6. Anything else I need to do/set before booting? Is there any kind of 'boot safety' lets say if I hook one of these components up wrong will there be an error before something can be damaged/can I fry something, no so long as I have the power cabling correct right?
7. Once the single drive is installed, I'll obviously need to format/reinstall the OS, will I be able to run any HDD diagnostics prior to this however?
8. Is it at all possible that, through the RAID, both HDDs were brought to physical failure or is this issue limited to failure by one of the disks -that is can a RAID card create physical failure on a HDD?


NOTE: HDD Failure - At this point I can't even get past WinXP login, safe mode doesn't help, an I/O error comes up and it freezes, AUTOCHK tries to run each boot but it eventually crashes (I 'press any key' exit), and when I was last able to get to my desktop I would get all kinds of 'STOP: Hard errors' 'Hard error' popups, and similar all forcing a crash or hardboot, so I'm pretty confident its a hard disk error.

SPECS:
3yr 3mo+ rig by: abspc.com
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe MOBO
2x Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM 8MBCache EIDE WD800JB
High Point RocketRAID133
CDRW
DVD

Lastly, anyone looking to buy a WD 80GB disk?
/Thanks.


peace,

 

[OregonLAN]

The RAID controller's BIOS/Utility may or may not tell you which hard drives have failed. Onboard RAID controllers are usually software based. Thus, they have little or no diagnostic capabilities other than the utility that runs in Windows/Linux. When you boot up, a message will indicate which key(s) you must press to enter the utility (usually CTRL-S). If the RAID BIOS/Utility offers no help, proceed with the following:

1. Disconnect both drives from the RAID controller
2. Remove the jumpers from both hard drives.
3. Plug only 1 hard drive into the primary IDE port of the motherboard.
4. Using another computer, download the DOS version of Western Digital Life Guard Diagnostics from: http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?swid=1 and copy it to a disk/disc
5. Put the disk/disc in the other computer and run a full diagnostics on the drive.
6. Rinse and repeat

If the drive truly has a problem, the diagnostics utility should tell you…

 

[drizzt81]

Alright, I recently had a HDD failure, but I'm on a RAID 0 and am therefore not sure which disk is producing the errors (is there a way to know while still on the RAID 0 config?). I'm now trying to reconfigure the setup for a single disk, thereby needing to bypass the RAID card (right, I can't just unplug the one of the HDDs can I?), what I'm trying to do/need to know is:

1. Are there any jumper caps I need to change going from a Hight Point RAID card to the mobo's IDE slot?

if you two HDDs were attached to individual cables on the RAID card you will not need to switch any jumpers, provided that you connect the HDD to the same connector on the cable.

2. The same IDE cables that the RAID card uses can be used for the mobo IDE slot right?

yes

3. How should the jumper look/be set to on the HDD?

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=32&language=en
select "How To" from the tabs. which will show you an image and a better explanation of how to set them than I can offer.

4. I have two CD/DVD drives running off a single cable in 'SEC_IDE1' slot, that doesn't really apply to anything here right, I use the 'PRI_IDE1' slot for a cable that breaks into two connectors?

yes, just connect your HDD to PRI_IDE1

5. What do I need to do in BIOS once the HDD is installed?

There will be some option to select to boot from the onboard first or add-in card. You will want to choose onboard. Also, make sure that your IDE controller detects the HDD.

6. Anything else I need to do/set before booting? Is there any kind of 'boot safety'

Connect power to the drive. Unplug the computer while you are working in it. Make sure that you are grounded while doing so.

lets say if I hook one of these components up wrong will there be an error before something can be damaged/can I fry something, no so long as I have the power cabling correct right?

if you reverse the IDE signaling cable, depending on what the pinout is, there may be damage, but I am not sure. Then again, the cables are keyed and so are your HDDs, so that shouldn't be a problem.

7. Once the single drive is installed, I'll obviously need to format/reinstall the OS, will I be able to run any HDD diagnostics prior to this however?

Unless you know which drive is bad, it would be a smart idea to do this.

8. Is it at all possible that, through the RAID, both HDDs were brought to physical failure or is this issue limited to failure by one of the disks -that is can a RAID card create physical failure on a HDD?

It is quite possible that only one HDD failed. It is also possible that two HDDs fail. Unless there was some form of external influence, it is more likely that only one HDD failed, not both.

 

[i3lueHorneT]

Alright, I setup and began testing a single drive, jumpers, RAID, IDE cables, power, all that stuff I went through cafefully and am fully positive I did correctly.

1. Upon first boot I went straight to BIOS to see if it recognized the HDD and had it all set right, it did.
2. From there I booted with the WinXP install disk that shipped with my PC way back when when I bought it.
3. WinXP installed fine, got to desktop, everything seems to be normal.
4. Rebooted with the Western Digital Life Guard Diagnostics diskette, and I get a SMART error every time instantly (Quick and Extented tests but start the same, therefore not letting my past the SMART error), the error displayed was 'Warning, one or more attributes are below threshold' then it forces me to reboot/shutdown ending the test -it displays a readout above this but I can't make sense if it, a listing of 14 ID's, their name, a 'Value' a 'Threshold' and a 'Worst' number. The log file that it writes to the diskette only states some test time/type/misc info and "SMART ERROR" giving no breakdown of what it means, I went through the Help file which states the command line switches to disable the SMART check but I haven't been able to do this.

Disabe error code for SMART failures:
1. I created a boot to DOS diskette, from which I'm able to list the Western Digital Life Guard Diagnostics diskettes .dir, but not actually run 'DLGDIAG', typing it in as the help file states produces a 'Bad command, unrecognized...' DOS error.

I'd rather not switch out with the other HDD just yet as the Western Digital Life Guard Diagnostics test hasn't really told me anything yet:
1. How do I disable the SMART failure check/How do I set the command line switches?
2. Or, what should I try now? Writing 0's to the disk -quick or complete?
/Thanks for all the info so far.


peace,

 

[i3lueHorneT]

Alright, I've gone on to test the other, identical drive. It returns flawless results in both the quick ~3 min and complete ~30 min tests, so yay for me. I'm still curious as to how one would go about bypassing the SMART error's I get instantly on the other drive, for kicks I set it up as the Slave to the other one once I knew the other worked fine, still getting the same results (didn't have any expectation of otherwise but wanted to check to see if I could set the drives as Master/Slave correctly, which BIOS suggested I did). I still have a few questions regarding all this now if anyone has any ideas:

1. Where would I go to find out about disabling SMART errors (how do I set the command line switches?) to produce a more complete set of test results for the bad drive beyond the ''Warning, one or more attributes are below threshold' SMART error I receive?
2. Is it worth it to write zeros to the faulty disk, if so a quick read to start and end or complete write?
3. I have some interest in putting WinXP on its own partition but I'll write up a new thread for that in a more appropriate place.
4. Anything else I should know/that is pertinent at this point, can't think of anything else myself seems pretty open and shut no?
/Thanks a lot for following all of this thus far.


peace,