Understanding Raid Concepts And Terminology - HighPoint RocketRAID 4320 User Manual

Understanding RAID Concepts and Terminology

The following concepts and terminology is commonly used when describing the
functions of the RocketRAID 4320 Host Adapter.
Disk initialization
Initializing a disk writes necessary RAID configuration information to that disk. Disks
must be initialized before configuring them into RAID arrays. The initialization
process will destroy all data on the disk.
Disk Status
New The disk contains no data and has not been initialized.
Initialized The disk has been initialized and can be used for array creation.
Configured The disk has been assigned to one or more arrays, or configured as a
spare disk.
Legacy The disk was used on other controllers before use with the
RocketRAID 4320 (see legacy disk below).
Array initialization
A redundant array (RAID5, RAID1, RAID10) needs to be initialized to ensure full
performance and reliability. Non-redundant arrays (RAID0, JBOD) do not need to be
initialized.
When you create a redundant array using the RocketRAID 4320 controller's BIOS
Configuration Utility, it will automatically start the initialization process. When
creating an array using the HighPoint RAID Management Console software, you can
specify an initialization option (Skip initialization, foreground and background).
Online Capacity Expansion (OCE)
This feature allows disks to be added to existing RAID arrays, in order to increase the
array's capacity, without fear of data loss. Any number of disks can be added to an
array, at any time. Data can be accessed and utilized even while being redistributed.
Online RAID Level Migration
This term describes the ability to change one type of array (RAID level), into a different
type of array (changing a RAID 1 array into a RAID 10 array for example). Data is still
Introduction
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