Handling Disk Drive Failures - Compaq 3200 Reference Manual

Handling Disk Drive Failures

Although drive failures are not common, it is important to protect your critical
data. The best way to recover from a failed drive is to configure your drive
system with some form of fault tolerance.
To ensure a quick and transparent recovery, Compaq recommends that you
configure your Smart Array 3200 Controller with hardware fault tolerance.
Another advantage of hardware fault tolerance is that the controller is able to
perform a background surface analysis on the hard drives to monitor for bad
sectors and to remap data to a new location on the media. This feature enhances
the reliability and availability of your data. Compaq also recommends that you
use good back-up procedures, in case of catastrophic failure.
If you discover a failed drive:
Identify and document which physical drive has failed. Note the drive
type and capacity.
Note which partition and volume, if any, has failed. This information is
provided in the error message on the server console. It is also recorded in
the server error log file, which can be viewed using the SYSCON utility
(intraNetWare 3.12) or NWADMIN utility (NetWare 4.x).
Make sure you have a recent backup. If the drive is part of a fault-
tolerant mirrored volume, or a hardware fault-tolerant volume, you will
be able to back up the data again in case of a second drive failure.
Locate a replacement drive of the same type and capacity.
Follow the instructions in the following sections for replacing a drive in
your server configuration.
Writer: Rickard Project: Compaq Smart Array 3200 Controller Reference Guide Comments: 340862-002
File Name: G-CH06.DOC Last Saved On: 12/7/98 9:23 AM
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Compaq Smart Array 3200 Controller Reference Guide
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