RAID question

[Brandiles]

Hi all,

I'm having problems with my RAID array. I'm running a p-iv 2.4 ghz (533 mhz), 512 meg RAM, and a 2x60 meg hard drives on a Promise RAID controller that came with my motherboard (GigaByte 8IHXP). This system has run wonderfully for the past five months, but now is having serious troubles.

I was having lots of pausing/crashing problems all the sudden, so I tried to reinstall XP. I was unable to do this on my RAID array, but for diagnostic purposes I've installed XP on an old 4 gb hard drive. I was then planning to back up some stuff off the RAID, reformat, and reinstall. Now, when trying to copy some files (backing up) from the array to this little drive, I'm getting intermittant errors saying "Error Copying File or Folder: Cannot Copy DSCN0837: The device is not ready." I think this is the same problem I was running into before that was causing my crashes.

My question is this: what do you folks think is the problem here? Is it the drives? The controller? The power supply (antec 380W truepower)? Do you think a rebuild of the array would be helpful, or is it more serious than that? Any advice/guesses would be very much appreciated--I'm at the end of my knowledge here.

Thanks,
Justin

 

[sjonnie]

First thing, what RAID configuration are you running? RAID0 or 1? Only redundant arrays allow rebuilding so if you are running RAID0 this is not an option. Anyway, I assume you are using RAID0.

Why don't you begin by getting the drive checking program from your drive manufacturer and testing the drives for errors. If there are errors fixing them is probably going to wipe the disk and all your data will be bye bye.

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[Brandiles]

Thanks for your reply. I am indeed running RAID 0.

I downloaded a drive check program off Maxtor's website, but it runs off a boot disk, and cannot seem to recognize my RAID array (shows no devices when I boot with that disk). I'll keep working on this, but can you recommend another program that would do the trick?

I'm ok with wiping the drive (sorry, I guess I used the wrong word when I said "rebuild"...I was talking about removing and then re-creating the RAID array) if that's what it'll take to fix this. I just want to make sure the hardware is ok.

Thanks,
Justin

 

[scamtrOn]

you might have a virus. your cables could be bad. have you moved the pc around? did you open it and mess with it at all?

you say you got 2 60gb hds... use partition magic and make another partition. make sure you use a different format than you have with the existing partition. then do a quick format on your existing partition and install windows on the second partition that you made. now use getdataback to get your old files back. do this only if you want to save your files and if you have a virus that did not infect the hds firmware.

if you don't care about your files, just format and reinstall. also check your cables. i'll see if i remember any thing else and let you know.

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[Brandiles]

Thanks for your response.

The first thing I did was check and double-check all my cables. I haven't tried swapping them out, however. I might try that.

I keep current with Grisoft's AVG antivirus, and have done virus scans (all negative). Actually, one of the ways I started to think the problem might be with the array is that I was unable to complete a virusscan, defrag, or chkdsk (what's up with microsoft ditching scandisk and going back to chkdsk anyway?) without the computer freezing up.

I think I will go ahead and remove the array, then recreate and format. The strange thing is that as of last night the problem seemed to have disappeared. I was able to copy everything I wanted to save over to my old drive (I'm calling it the diagnostic drive...just enough space for winxp + 2.5ish gb of backup space), and also run a thorough chkdsk, virusscan, and was even able to defragment (something I've never really been able to do effectively with the huge RAID array..). Seems pretty weird for a problem that has been plaguing me since Wednesday morning to suddenly disappear.

But since I've already gone this far, I might as well start fresh again and reformat. I'm just worried that the problem hasn't gone away for good and is just teasing me with thoughts of a problem-free computer!
Justin

 

[sjonnie]

it runs off a boot disk, and cannot seem to recognize my RAID array

Just connect your RAID drives to the standard IDE and do the tests, if everything checks out okay, you can attach them back to the RAID afterwards and nothing will be changed.

Seeing as you don't mind wiping the drive why not just delete the array and set it up again in the RAID BIOS. Incidentally, this doesn't wipe the drive of course, if you use the same setting as previously then the controller will read the installation that is on there already. If you want to totally wipe the drives do a low level format from the PowerMax program. That might solve your problems anyway.

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[Brandiles]

Thanks again for your reply.

Hmmm...well, I tried moving my connections to the IDE controller, but powermax still can't detect them (either one at a time or set up as a master/slave). I tried installing winXP, instructing it to reformat the drive (not quick), but during the format it said that it could not complete the format and that the drive might be damaged. I've tried swapping my IDE cables, power connectors, etc, but powermax just can't seem to detect the drives. The funny thing is that the BIOS and the MaxBlast (their installation software) *can* detect the drives.

Anyway, I've contacted Maxtor's tech support (by e-mail...their phone system is down! ...amazing...when it rains, it pours...), but does anyone have any ideas?

 

[sjonnie]

What drives do you have? PowerMax should be able to detect your Maxtor drives if they are attached via the onboard IDE or even some RAID controllers. You're running it as a boot disk of course i.e not from windows?

During the XP install, did you remove the partitions? A rebuilt raid can often say there are partitions present but the partition table will be incorrect and need rewriting. Remove all partitions, make new ones and then try formatting.

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[Brandiles]

Thanks to everyone for your help. Here's the final scoop (I hope): it was a combination of some sort of software corruption causing windows to get messed up, not deleting the partition before formatting (thanks sjonnie), and also bad cables. ... though I wonder if the cables went bad as I was trying to fix the problem. And apparently, according to Maxtor, PowerMax is not compatible with my system for some reason. It was a learning experience..

But anyway, after deleting the partition AND replacing the cables (didn't work without the cable replacement), everything seems to be golden. Here's hoping it stays that way.
-Justin