Drive Issues - Promise Technology FastTrak S150 SX4 User Manual

FastTrak S150 SX4 / SX4000 / SX4000 Lite User Manual

Drive Issues

Q: Can I add a drive to a FastTrak S150 SX4 or SX4000 / SX4000 Lite array
via hot-swap and dynamically adjust the array size/configuration?
A: No. The FastTrak Controller does not support dynamically adjustable RAID
size/configurations.
Q: Do the HDDs on the FastTrak S150 SX4 and SX4000 / SX4000 Lite have to
be the same size?
A: The HDDs that you use with the FastTrak S150 SX4 and SX4000 / SX4000
Lite do not have to be the same size. If the sizes differ, the FastTrak
Controller will truncate the bigger HDD so the drives match. The resulting
difference in HDD space is unusable, so avoid using HDDs of significantly
different capacities.
Q: I already have an array on an older FastTrak controller. Can I move that
array to my new FastTrak S150 SX4 or SX4000 / SX4000 Lite controller?
A: Yes. All FastTrak controllers read the arrays the same way and can be
moved from one controller to another.
Q: Can I take a drive used in a FastTrak S150 SX4 or SX4000 / SX4000 Lite
array and access it directly with a different controller, such as the one
integrated on the motherboard?
A: Yes, but only under certain configurations. First, the other controller must
address the drives as LBA, not CHS.
Second, only Single-drive striped (RAID 0) and Mirrored (RAID 1) array
configurations and JOBD allow the drive(s) to be accessed individually on
another controller. Multiple-drive striped (RAID 0) will not work.
Q: If I have a problem with one of the drives on the FastTrak S150 SX4 or
SX4000 / SX4000 Lite, how can I low-level format it to correct the problem?
A: Do NOT do this! Low-level formatting hard disk drives is not only
unnecessary but it generally does not correct problems commonly
experienced during use.
Errors such as bad sectors or ECC/CRC failure are best remedied by
completely replacing the drive. For this reason, do NOT low-level format the
drives attached to the FastTrak Controller.
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