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XPS 420 SATA RAID and drive failing
I have recently bought an XPS 420 with 4GB RAM, and an Intel SATA RAID controller with a pair of 320GB drives in RAID 1 configuration running Vista Home premium
Sometimes the machine claims that one of the drives has failed, but (on the recommendation of a Dell support technician) I can go into the Intel Matrix Storage Manager software and mark the drive as active (or similar wording) then all is OK for a while, sometimes a number of hours, sometimes days and then it all happens again.
I was informed by Dell that this was a driver issue, can someone confirm this and also what Dell is doing to sort this issue out as the machine become very slow when the array is being rebuilt. Is it possible that the drives are failing but the software can bring them back online for short periods?
If this is a known issue, I am rather disappointed that it wasn't flagged up when ordering the system.
Any pointers or info on this would be appreciated.
THanks,
Rupert.
rupert_hollom
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February 1st, 2008 13:00
mtempelm
39 Posts
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February 1st, 2008 13:00
nigelwill
32 Posts
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February 1st, 2008 16:00
So perhaps I should call them again tomorrow and see if they can arrange for an engineer to swap out my drives. The alternative is to break the RAID into the component disks and re-install Vista.
Both solutions seem to involve some sort of re-installation, but if that means I have a reliable PC, I will be happy.
rupert_hollom
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February 1st, 2008 19:00
Unfortunately the engineer installed the drives as RAID 0! So I ended up deleting that array, putting one of the original drives back in (which they have left us with for a few days to make sure all is OK) together with one of the new drives - this was added to the original RAID 1 array, courtesy of the original Samsung drive and the Array rebuilt itself. I then swapped the original Samsung for the other new Seagate Barracuda and this was added to the array which is currently re-building as I type this, so I have got the original data but on an array with 2 new drives, took a bit of time, but was less painful than re-installing everything again!
Be interested to know if other people who have been affected by this also have Samsung drives - which is what Dell claims the problem to be...
nigelwill
32 Posts
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February 1st, 2008 19:00
rupert_hollom
10 Posts
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February 1st, 2008 20:00
I oroginally logged a cal about 3 weeks ago, but then I contacted Dell support via email saying that the problem was getting worse. We got a phone call from one of the Dell support teams in India saying that the engineer would call to swap the drives.
I don't know if it makes any difference but the machine was bought via my company.
nigelwill
32 Posts
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February 1st, 2008 21:00
I supppose I'll have to call them again and arrange something. Think I'll speak to Customer Services at the same time and complain.
nigelwill
32 Posts
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February 6th, 2008 18:00
rupert_hollom
10 Posts
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February 6th, 2008 20:00
I ended up having to re-install the disks myself as the Dell engineer installed them as RAID 0 (something that I can't understand!) so I ended up deleting that array, then putting one of the original (failing) disks back in the machine on port 0. The machine booted up found that disk, and hence the original array, but with an unassigned disk (one of the new ones) this I assigned to the array and then booted into Vista from the original disk, so no settings where lost, and let the software get on with rebuilding the array.
Then I shut down the machine, took the original disk out, and put the other new one in, and repeated the process, so I ended up with the 2 new disks in the machine but with the original install - so I didn't have to re-install any software.
The actual physical installation of the disks is a quick 2 minute job, and the array re-build took about 1 to 2 hours each time - but at least I could walk away and let it get on with it rather than having to re-install and setup everything again.
BTW What is happening to your old drives, are Dell going to collect them off you?
Hope the above helps.
nigelwill
32 Posts
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February 6th, 2008 21:00
For a RAID 0 stripe, data is spread across both disks, so losing one would mean the entire array is lost.
Is your PC stable with the new Seagate drives?
Dell are going to arrange to collect the drives next week when I have tested the new ones.
rupert_hollom
10 Posts
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February 7th, 2008 06:00
You are, of course, correct about not being able to rebuild a RAID 0 array in the way that I described.
nigelwill
32 Posts
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February 8th, 2008 11:00
rupert_hollom
10 Posts
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February 8th, 2008 13:00
nigelwill
32 Posts
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February 8th, 2008 14:00
mtempelm
39 Posts
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February 8th, 2008 14:00
I think I already know the answer but thought I'd make sure.
My system came equipped with the RAID0 configuration and I would prefer to have RAID1 enabled instead for the added reliability. Certainly willing to sacrifice the 500GB for the added piece of mind.
A couple weekends ago I disabled/broke and then re-enabled the RAID0 in an attempt to resolve the random system shutdowns, etc. As I was doing that I noticed that there was no option for RAID1, just RAID0. So I suspect that the Intel Matrix Storage controller card I have installed only supports RAID0?
Thanks,
Mike