XPS 420 Raid 0 2X500GB "Error Encountered" on 2nd HD but system boots

does not sound good.

 

but it is only 4 months old, call support and get them to deal with it, with the sounds, i would be thinking of a new HD.

 

 

You might also check and see if your hard drives are Samsung. There were some issues with the Samsung drives and a firmware update is available. I would agree that the clunking noise does not sound good. Even if heard occasionally. Over the years, I have had this happen, only to have a hard drive fail soon afterwards.

Hi Randy,

 

If at all possible could you post the manufacturer and model of drives you have installed in the array thats failing?

 

We've seen the issues with Samsung (forced scan causing problem) corrected with firmware.  We're seeing an uptick on Seagate drive, but it would be very helpful to know exacting which models.

Like i said, it is only 4 months old, phone tech support and ask them to replace it,

 

also i would go out of my way to way a backup of all the data you need, as clunking noise and hard drive, are not a good mix. 

Hello Ryanh6178, Just for informational purposes, my XPS 420 came with one Western Digital 500 gb, 7200 rpm, 16 mb cache. Although I had severe issues with the system from the time I received it, none appeared to be with the hard drive. After I, not Dell, sorted out and resolved the issues, and got the system to perform as it should, I then added two Maxtor 500 gb, 7200 rpm, 16 mb cache drives in a Raid0 array, and tried to install Vista and Vista would not recogonize the array even though the BIOS and Intel Raid utility did. The only reason I used the Maxtor drives in the Raid0 array is that I already had them. I use the Western Digital as a backup drive. I then updated the BIOS to A04 and tried again and Vista recogonized the Raid0 array and installed in 20 minutes. I have had not one issue with the system since then. Hope this info helps.

Hello, I know they are both Western Digital 500G Hard Drives and their serials are close in sequence. But I will list the exacts after I check them tonight. It looks like I may be on my way to a new Hard Drive.  But I haven't spoke with support yet. I think I did get at least 1 good system backup from Ghost 14 before it stopped working. I need to verify that too.

 

Regards,

 

Randy E. Barger

XPS 420, 4G Ram, Nvidia 512, 1TB Raid 0, Vista 32 Home Premium

Hello Everyone, Well the new drives arrived.  They are Hitachi Deskstar drives.  I found out you need to run the Hitachi Utility Program to change the defaults to the higher speeds.  They offer an ISO file for a boot disk.  Has anyone burned an ISO file? Do you just copy it to a CDR and it's bootable? or Do I need NERO to burn it correctly? Support was surprised that I had a "D" Drive with Dell REcovery on a RAID 0, I told him it was shipped that way. Anyway I have a good ghost backup but I will need to partition a 20G Drive "D" Partition prior to starting my restore.  I have never really played with a Raid config before but that's what I'll be doing this weekend.  Any insight or watch outs will be greatly appreciated.

 

Regards,

Randy E. Barger

XPS 420, 1TB Raid 0, 4GB RAM, Bluetooth w/slots, Wireless Keyboard w/mouse, 512M Nvidia

Hello,

 

You need to use a program that understands ISO files

 

nero uses a option of burn image

 

also ultraISo is a good program to burn ISO's

 

their are lots of programs that can burn iso images some of which are free or have a free full use trial (one is ultraiso, good program, and no i dont work for them)

Andy

Hello Everyone, I was reading a bit on the Hitachi Feature Tool.  Does anyone know if the XPS 420 supports Spread Spectrum Clocking on the Hard Drive? I know it can handle 3G interface speed.

 

Thanks,

 

Randy E. Barger

XPS 420, Raid 0 1TB, 4G Ram, 512 Nvidia,Etc.

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@HowLakota wrote:

Hello Everyone, The Hitachi 500G's are up and running Raid 0, I got the Recovery Partition Restored.

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hey HowLaKoto, That is very good news indeed. I have one Hitachi drive on a home built system and the drive works beautifully. I did have to change the speed setting however. I've used it for a couple years now, but not very much, because it was a test system that I have retired and replaced with another test system after I got my XPS 420. Your success is very good information for the future, if I ever need another Hitachi drive. Thanks

 

Hello Everyone, The Hitachi 500G's are up and running Raid 0, I got the Recovery Partition Restored. All is well so far.

If they fail I will let you know.

 

Regards,

 

Randy E. Barger

XPS 420, 4G Ram, 1TB Raid 0, Nvidia 512M, Dual DVD Burners, Bluetooth w/ slots