How often to Sync or Rebuild RAID array

[Gregory Abbey]

Greetings.. have an IDE RAID array (mirror) of twin 160GB ATA-100
WD drives on Promise FastTrak 100 TX2 adapter. How often should
Sync be performed on the array? How about a Rebuild?

After only a day or two of heavy activity.. the Sync will FAIL and
message appears that REBUILD is necessary? Comments or
suggestions welcome.


-Gregory

 

[Ron Reaugh]

Greetings.. have an IDE RAID array (mirror) of twin 160GB ATA-100
WD drives on Promise FastTrak 100 TX2 adapter. How often should
Sync be performed on the array?

Only on an anomaly.

How about a Rebuild?

Only upon a failure.

After only a day or two of heavy activity.. the Sync will FAIL and
message appears that REBUILD is necessary? Comments or
suggestions welcome.

Something is busted. That is not nominal.

 

[Toshi1873]

news.ops.worldnet.att.net>, (e-mail address removed)
says...

Something is busted. That is not nominal.

Agree with everything.

If you're having issues with RAID arrays desyncing or
drives mysteriously going offline and then having to
rebuilt... verify that you have enough quality power for
your system. (In addition to verifying cables / drivers
/ firmware.)

I have a RAID5 system (6x7200rpm PATA) which had
horrible issues on the old 300W power-supply (generic).
Drives would randomly drop off the array about once a
month. I've since upgraded that box to a 480W TruePower
(or other "name-brand").

 

[Gregory Abbey]

news.ops.worldnet.att.net>, (e-mail address removed)
says...

Agree with everything.

If you're having issues with RAID arrays desyncing or
drives mysteriously going offline and then having to
rebuilt... verify that you have enough quality power for
your system. (In addition to verifying cables / drivers
/ firmware.)

This could very well be the problem. The box is a Dell Precision 610
Xeon workstation with two of everything. Two 10k SCSI drives, two CD
ROM drives, two video cards, a third SCSI (card) channel, two sound
devices, and a Promise TX2 adapter with two 160GB. Even a fifth 80GB
ATA drive on the mainboard.. not to mention fans.

I have a RAID5 system (6x7200rpm PATA) which had
horrible issues on the old 300W power-supply (generic).
Drives would randomly drop off the array about once a
month. I've since upgraded that box to a 480W TruePower
(or other "name-brand").

So the new Power Supply has solved the problem? Am thinking of moving
the array to another box that's on the LAN. We're back to the problem
of 18" cable length limit aGaiN. Else there would be two RAID-0 arrays
on a TX2 card already.

 

[Ron Reaugh]

This could very well be the problem. The box is a Dell Precision 610
Xeon workstation with two of everything. Two 10k SCSI drives, two CD
ROM drives, two video cards, a third SCSI (card) channel, two sound
devices, and a Promise TX2 adapter with two 160GB. Even a fifth 80GB
ATA drive on the mainboard.. not to mention fans.


So the new Power Supply has solved the problem? Am thinking of moving
the array to another box that's on the LAN. We're back to the problem
of 18" cable length limit aGaiN. Else there would be two RAID-0 arrays
on a TX2 card already.

Uusally one can get away with 24" ATA cables of good quality especially with
only one drive per cable.

 

[Noozer]

So the new Power Supply has solved the problem? Am thinking of moving

Uusally one can get away with 24" ATA cables of good quality especially with
only one drive per cable.

First you insist that folks use defective software (SP2) and now you tell
them it's OK to ignore the ATA specification of 18"... Real good advice you
give out.

WACKO!

 

[Gregory Abbey]

Uusally one can get away with 24" ATA cables of good quality especially with
only one drive per cable.

No need to attack Ron.. his response indicates he understands the
issue. I've not violated the 18" rule.. and the points were; 1) you'd
not want to go with 36" cables running four drives on two ribbons at
ATA133.. especially for RAID pairs; 2) you may be able to get away
with two ATA66 or ATA100 drives.. one at the end of each 24" ribbon.

 

[Gregory Abbey]

news.ops.worldnet.att.net>, (e-mail address removed)
says...

Agree with everything.

If you're having issues with RAID arrays desyncing or
drives mysteriously going offline and then having to
rebuilt... verify that you have enough quality power for
your system. (In addition to verifying cables / drivers
/ firmware.)

I have a RAID5 system (6x7200rpm PATA) which had
horrible issues on the old 300W power-supply (generic).
Drives would randomly drop off the array about once a
month. I've since upgraded that box to a 480W TruePower
(or other "name-brand").

Have already replaced the Promise TX2 card and the problems persist.

WD has been able to identify the problem. I've been using the 1600BB
drives and it turns out the 1600SB drives are specifically designed
for RAID application. I'll be getting the new `server' drives to
replace the `desktop drives'. Confidence is high that it will work ok!

 

[Toshi1873]

So the new Power Supply has solved the problem? Am thinking of moving
the array to another box that's on the LAN. We're back to the problem
of 18" cable length limit aGaiN. Else there would be two RAID-0 arrays
on a TX2 card already.

It solved the issue for me... I've heard that Dell uses
proprietary pin-outs on their power connectors to the
motherboard. (Only a rumor, dunno if it's only certain
models or all systems.)

These are plain-jane IBM DeskStar 75GXPs PATAs with the
3-year warranty and 8MB cache (6x75GB) attached to a
Promise SuperTrak SX6000 PATA PCI RAID controller. I'll
probably rip those drives out this fall and upgrade to
6x250GB (2 mirror pairs plus 2 single drives instead of
a 4+1+spare RAID5 setup).

 

[Ron Reaugh]

First you insist that folks use defective software (SP2) and now you tell
them it's OK to ignore the ATA specification of 18"... Real good advice you
give out.

WACKO!

The resident NG troll has a hissy fit and exposes his shallow knowledge.

Anyone interested in ATA cables should have a look here as it's one of the
best drive cable suppliers of the net:
http://www.cablemakers.com/ide_cables.htm