71
Creating a “Hot” Spare Drive for Mirrored Arrays
For automatic rebuilds of a mirrored array, attach an extra
“spare” drive to the FastTrak100. Drives that are not assigned
to an array and are the same size or larger than the original will
be used for the automatic rebuild. This is performed in the
background under all supported operating systems, except
DOS. At a later time, the system can be turned off and the failed
drive can be physically removed.
How FastTrak100 Orders Arrays
During startup, the disk arrays on the FastTrak100 are recognized in this
order: 1) The array set to bootable in the FastBuildTM Setup, and 2) the
Array number (i.e. Array 0, Array 1…). This would be involved in
determining which drive letters will be assigned to each disk array.
How FastTrak100 Saves Array Information
All disk array data is saved into the reserved sector on each array
member. Promise suggests that users record their disk array
information for future reference.
Another feature of the FastTrak100 disk array system is to
recognize drive members even if drives are moved between
different FastTrak100 card connectors. Since each drive’s array
data identifies itself to the array, it is possible to move or swap
drives without modifying the array setup. This is valuable when
adding drives, or during a rebuild.
72
Deleting An Array
The Delete Array <4> Menu option allows for deletion of disk array
assignments. This is not the same as deleting data from the drives
themselves. If you delete an array by accident (and before it has been
used again), the array can normally be recovered by defining the array
identically as the deleted array.
WARNING
: Deleting an existing disk array could
result in its data loss. Make sure to record all array
information including the array type, the disk
members, and stripe block size in case you wish to
undo a deletion.
FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.xx (c) 1995-2000 Promise Technology, Inc.
[ Delete Array Menu ]
Array No RAID Mode Total Drv Capacity(MB) Status
Array 1 Stripe 2 16126 Functional
Array 2 Mirror 2 8063 Functional
Array 3 —— —— —— ——
Array 4 —— —— —— ——
[ Keys Available ]
[
↑
] Up [
↓
] Down [ESC] Exit [Del] Delete
1. To delete an array, highlight the Array you wish to delete and press
the [Del] key.
The View Array Definition menu will appear (see below) showing
which drives are assigned to this array.
FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.xx (c) 1995-2000 Promise Technology, Inc.
[ Define Array Menu ]
