Recovering From Disk Failures 9
Recovering from Disk Failures
Your system's internal disk storage has been pre-configured as RAID 5. 
Additionally, as described in the Dell PowerVault Data Protection Solution 
Storage Expansion Guide, any additional disks you add to your system will be 
configured as RAID 5. 
RAID 5 provides uninterrupted operation of your system in the event a single 
disk drive in the group fails. However, until the failed disk drive has been 
replaced, your system will operate in degraded state. During this degraded 
state, another disk failure within the same RAID group will cause loss of all 
data in that RAID group. Therefore, it is extremely important to monitor the 
status of your system's disks and to replace any failed disk within the same 
RAID group as quickly as possible. 
Detecting and Monitoring Disk Failures 
To optimize the protection of RAID 5-configured storage on your system, it is 
essential that you are able to detect hard drive failures immediately as they 
occur. Replacing failed disks as soon as possible reduces the risk of unplanned 
downtime and loss of critical data.
The following methods can be used to monitor the health of your system's 
physical disks.
RAID Adapter Audible Alarm
Refer to the "Enabling the Alarm to Alert in Case of Physical Disk Failures" 
section of the Dell™ PowerEdge™ Expandable RAID Controller (PERC) User's 
Guide for more information on how to configure the audible alarm. Note that 
this feature is not available on all PERC adapters. Refer to your specific 
PERC adapter documentation to determine whether this feature is 
supported.
OpenManage™ Server Administrator
Dell™ OpenManage™ Server Administrator (OMSA) can monitor the health 
of both internal and external disks. Refer to "Replacing Disks" in this chapter 
for more information.