Re: PERC 5/i and SAS 5/iR - what is maximum disk (SATA) capacity supported by this controllers?

I am trying to build from scratch and am using six drives all in the raid.  No hot spare.

BIOS is at 2.6.1 (I know there is an update available but it look more like new CPU support)

PERC:

Package 5.2.2-0072

FW: 1.03.50-0461

BIOS: MT28-9

Did you replace each drive one at a time, rebuilding each, in an attempt to make your array bigger, or are you simply trying to build from scratch with larger drives?

I would ensure your PERC 5 firmware is up to date before trying to use 2TB drives.  What is your firmware at?  2TB drives are supported on the PERC 5, but they were not available when the PERC 5 was first released, so there is likely some tweaks to be made.

As good practice, update your BIOS and ESM/BMC before updating the PERC firmware.

Firmware should be fine.  Are you using cheap consumer/desktop drives?  Or are you using enterprise-class drives?  What model are the drives?

They are Seagate ST2000DL003, is that my problem?

I also have some Hitachi 0F12117's if you think those are worth a shot.  Those are some cheap drives as well.

The problem with cheap consumer-class drives is they were not programmed to work in a RAID array, so there are several, if not dozens, of commands they are not programmed to respond to properly - it at all.  Sometimes certain consumer-class drives will work, but problems with them range from only "hiccups" seen only in the controller log to more severe problems, including random drive failures, read/write errors, inability to configure RAID, and/or not being seen by the controller at all.  It is very hit/miss situation, so the Hitachi "may" work better, but they are still risky.

The Seagate ST2000DL003 and the Hitachi 0F12117 are both desktop/consumer-class drives.

Enterprise-class drives are designed to work within the tight tolerances of high-performance RAID systems.  Not getting the correct drives can put your data at risk.

For more information on the differences and the importance:

download.intel.com/.../enterprise_class_versus_desktop_class_hard_drives_.pdf

I'm not saying that "yes, this is the cause", but it is something you must consider as a possibility.

The type of SATA drive should make no difference other than performance wise - they dont 'know' if they are in a RAID array or not and are not 'programmed' - all SATA disk respond to the same command set. And updating the Firmware is always a good idea.

Are you sure you are saving the configuration properly? If in doubt connect one drive and set that up as a single disk - if that works then try two as a mirror. The PERC 5/6 aren't always the best with newer disks compatibility wise from experience.

PP's post contradicts much of what you will ever see/read about RAID arrays and consumer vs enterprise disks, so take it with a grain of salt.  Drives are most certainly 'programmed' with various settings (firmware) that tell it HOW to respond to SATA commands.  The controller gives commands to the drives, and if it does not receive the expected response in the expected amount of time, it will usually "offline" the drive, repeat the command until it times out or until receives the expected response, and/or skip the command with an error.  

Yes, you are correct -  my experience had been that any SATA drive will work on any RAID card that I tested, which was a few years back admittedy. After having a quick investigate What seems to be appearing - and what the poster has highlighted - is that newer SATA drives deliberately don't implement some Error Recover Control commands and this can stop proper function under RAID. Its not that the drives are cheap or otherwise - rather its a direct change in design from the manufacturers no doubt so you get more of a divide ($$$) between Enterprise and non-Enterprise (other than the standard differentiators).

This wasn't the case a few years ago when there were no Enterprise SATA drives intially or ATA drives - which Dell also ran as arrays on CERC cards. I have a number of older Dell servers with standard Segate 7200.7 drives (i.e. standard desktop) in SAS 5 arrays from the factory.

Dell now specifically designate drives as 'Enterprise' on the label with SATA drives - the base drives (7.2k) appear to be standard desktop drives but with the firmware fully enabled. They also say they only give one year warranty on these disks when you have the 3 year base warranty on the rest of the system - I noticed it mentioned on the server order page.

The specific drive ST2000DL003 mentioned is one of these without some commands implemented - so won't always work properly in arrays. There is some talk of which drives have the command and which not on the web.