PlatinumRAID Owner’s Manual
1
Volume Set
A Volume Set is seen by the host system as a single logical device. It is organized in a RAID
level with one or more physical disks. RAID level refers to the level of data performance
and protection of a Volume Set. A Volume Set capacity can consume all or a portion of
the disk capacity available in a RAID
Set. Multiple Volume Sets can exist
on a group of disks in a RAID Set.
Additional Volume Sets created in a
specified RAID Set will reside on all
the physical disks in the RAID Set.
Thus each Volume Set on the RAID Set
will have its data spread evenly across
all the disks in the RAID Set.
• Volume Sets of different RAID
levels may coexist on the same
RAID Set.
• The maximum addressable size of a single volume set is 2 Terabytes.
• Up to eight volume sets can be created in a RAID set
Online Capacity Expansion
Online Capacity Expansion makes it possible to add one or more physical drives to a volume set,
while the server is in operation, eliminating the need to store and restore after re-configuring
the RAID set. When disks are added to a RAID set, unused capacity is added to the end of the
RAID set. Data on the existing volume sets residing on that RAID set is redistributed evenly
across all the disks. A contiguous block of unused capacity is made available on the RAID set.
The unused capacity can create additional volume set. The expansion process is illustrated
as following figure:
Disk 1
200GB
Disk 2
200GB
Disk 3
200GB
Disk 1
200GB
Disk 2
200GB
Disk 3
200GB
Disk 4
200GB
Free Space
200GB
Vol 1 (200GB)
Vol 2 (200GB)
Free Space
400GB
Vol 1 (200GB)
Vol 2 (200GB)
Before Expansion: Disk Array A, 600GB
After Disk Expansion: Disk Array A, 800GB
The RAID subsystem controller redistributes the original volume set over the original and newly added disks, using the same
fault-tolerance configuration. The unused capacity on the expanded RAID set can then be used to create additional volume
sets, with a different fault tolerance setting if required.
Hot Swappable Disk support
Your PlatinumRAID has a built in protection circuit to support replacement of disk drives
without having to shut down or reboot the RAID. In case of drive failure, the failed drive
can be removed from the PlatinumRAID and replaced with a new drive without disrupting
dataflow to the host computer.
Instant Availability/Background Initialization
RAID 0 and RAID 1 volume set can be used immediately after the creation, whereas RAID 3
A 4 Disk RAIDset may contain two volumes. Volume 1 can be
assigned a RAID 5 level of operation while Volume 2 might be
assigned a RAID 0+1 level of operation.
Free Space
Volume 1
Volume 2
Disk 1
Disk 2
Disk 3
Disk 4
2-Understanding RAID