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RAID-1 Question - Is this normal?

V

vsrdan

Gawd
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Jun 29, 2005
Messages
663
Yesterday I set up a RAID-1 array using two SATA-1 HD's (Sil 3114 chip based MB). Everything went fine, but it took 14 hours for me to format the new "drive" in XP (NTFS full format). Is this normal?

Also, is there any way I can check if both HD's are working properly (means saving data without a problem)?
 
I have never done RAID 1, but I did a stripe and it didn't take any longer than a single drive.

The point of a RAID 1 is to protect your data incase a drive fails. Disconnect one drive and see if everything still works. My question is does everything work as if nothing happens, or does it prompt you to replace the disk so the RAID can be rebuilt?
 
liquidcypher said:
I have never done RAID 1, but I did a stripe and it didn't take any longer than a single drive.

The point of a RAID 1 is to protect your data incase a drive fails. Disconnect one drive and see if everything still works. My question is does everything work as if nothing happens, or does it prompt you to replace the disk so the RAID can be rebuilt?
Click to expand...

stripe means RAID-0??

Yes, everything works as if nothing happened. I transferred about 5GB data into it and works fine (not visibly slow or anything like that). Didn't check what happens if I unplug one drive yet.
 
so how big is the array?

14 hours seems rather long even for a full format.
 
a quick format should have been fine enough..
it could be taking that long because it's onboard raid.. which i think is usually software based.
you can always do a chkdisk but that'll probably take just as long or longer.
if it's a SMART drive, you can use the tools from the vendor to check for errors at the hardware level. I would contact them to see if it'll still work against drives that are in RAID config.

and for heavens sake.. don't unplug the drive for the hell of it.. you'll either ruin the RAID or the drive or both!
 
stripe means RAID-0??
Click to expand...
Yes. I didn't call it RAID 0 because a Stripe isn't really a Redundant Array. If one drive fails I'm SOL, but I love the performance. It's only semantics, but I have just got use to calling it a Stripe.


ZeroH said:
a quick format should have been fine enough..
it could be taking that long because it's onboard raid.. which i think is usually software based.
you can always do a chkdisk but that'll probably take just as long or longer.
if it's a SMART drive, you can use the tools from the vendor to check for errors at the hardware level. I would contact them to see if it'll still work against drives that are in RAID config.

and for heavens sake.. don't unplug the drive for the hell of it.. you'll either ruin the RAID or the drive or both!
Click to expand...

Don't unplug the drive hot, but if you really want to test if it works, why not try it while the system is shutdown? Everyone builds backup systems, and RAID's drives, but if a failing drive kills both, why RAID in the first place?
 
I didn't mean unplugging the drive while the system is running.

The drives are 320GB Seagate 7200.10 running at SATA-I mode (on board Sil 3114 SATA supports SATA-I only).

The motherboard is Foxconn 955X7AA-8EKRS2 (this ) one. Here is manufacturer's link.

I don't think if it is going to be a disaster if one drive fails in RAID-1. There is a "rebuild" option in BIOS RAID setup.
 
Everyone builds backup systems, and RAID's drives, but if a failing drive kills both, why RAID in the first place?
Click to expand...

The performance. 400MB/s burst and 140MB/s avg read is pretty damn fast for desktop use.
 
Tested and it seems good to me. Here is what I did. Saved couple of files when both HDD's are connected as RAID-1. Then turned off the system and unplugged drive-1. restarted and checked for the files (inside couple of folders). They were there. Then turned off the system. Plugged drive-1 and unplugged drive-2, started the system, checked the files - they were there. Finally, plugged both drives back in RAID-1, started the system, checked the files, they were there. I didn't have to go through any settings changes during this process. I guess this is working fine. I am going to "close the box" for now (and tidy the mess around the computer). :)
 
Thats awesome. It looks like it is working as it should be. The long format is still odd, but if it works, that is all that really matters.
 
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