•IfyouwanttodeletetheexistingRAIDarray,exittheprogramandbackupallyourdataonthe
harddiskdrives.Afterbackingupallyourdata,entertheprogrammaininterfaceandselectClear
Configuration.SelectY eswhenpromptedandfollowtheinstructionsonthescreen.
Attention:DeletinganexistingRAIDarrayerasesalldataonthearray.Ensurethatyoubackupall
databeforedeletingtheRAIDarray.IftheoperatingsystemisinstalledontheRAIDarrayyouwantto
delete,youneedtoreinstalltheoperatingsystemafterdeletingtheRAIDarray.
•IfyouwanttodeletetheexistingRAIDarrayandcreateanewRAIDarray,exittheprogramandback
upallyourdataontheharddiskdrives.Afterbackingupallyourdata,entertheprogrammain
interfaceandselectNewConfiguration.SelectYeswhenpromptedtoproceedandthenfollowthe
instructionsonthescreen.
Attention:DeletinganexistingRAIDarrayerasesalldataonthearray.Ensurethatyoubackupall
databeforedeletingtheRAIDarray.IftheoperatingsystemisinstalledontheRAIDarrayyouwantto
delete,youneedtoreinstalltheoperatingsystemafterdeletingtheRAIDarray.
Initializingavirtualdrive
ThistopicprovidesinstructionsonhowtoinitializeavirtualdriveusingtheLSISoftwareRAIDConfiguration
Utilityprogramaftercompletingtheconfigurationprocess.
Virtualdriveinitializationistheprocessofwritingzerostothedatafieldsofavirtualdriveand,infault-tolerant
RAIDlevels,generatingthecorrespondingparitytoputthevirtualdriveinareadystate.Initializationerases
alldataonthevirtualdrive.Drivegroupswillworkwithoutbeinginitialized,buttheycanfailaconsistency
checkbecausetheparityfieldshavenotbeengenerated.
Notes:
•Ensurethatyoubackupanydatayouwanttokeepbeforeinitializingavirtualdrive.
•Ensurethattheoperatingsystemisnotinstalledonthevirtualdriveyouareinitializing.Otherwise,you
needtoreinstalltheoperatingsystemafterinitializingthevirtualdrive.
ToinitializeavirtualdriveusingtheLSISoftwareRAIDConfigurationUtilityprogram,dothefollowing:
1.StarttheLSISoftwareRAIDConfigurationUtilityprogram.See“StartingtheLSISoftwareRAID
ConfigurationUtilityprogram”onpage73.
2.Onthemaininterfaceoftheprogram,selectInitializeandfollowtheinstructionsonthescreen.
Settingahot-sparedrive
Thistopicprovidesinstructionsonhowtosetaharddiskdriveasahot-sparedriveusingtheLSISoftware
RAIDConfigurationUtilityprogram.
Ahot-sparedriveisanextra,unuseddrivethatispartofthedisksubsystem.Itisusuallyinstandbymode
andreadyforserviceifaharddiskdrivefails.Fordetailedinformationabouthot-sparedrives,referto
“IntroductiontoRAID”intheMegaRAIDSASSoftwareUserGuideonthedocumentationDVDthatcomes
withyourserver.
Tosetaharddiskdriveasahot-sparedriveusingtheLSISoftwareRAIDConfigurationUtilityprogram,
dothefollowing:
1.StarttheLSISoftwareRAIDConfigurationUtilityprogram.See“StartingtheLSISoftwareRAID
ConfigurationUtilityprogram”onpage73.
2.Dooneofthefollowing:
•IfyouwanttocreateoraddanewRAIDarray,youcansetahot-sparedriveduringtheconfiguration
processbyfollowingtheinstructionsonthescreen.
Chapter5.Configuringtheserver75