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NT 4 Software Raid failure during initia

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by dewi.lloyd

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I am trying to set up a mirror set on 2 physical disks (IDE) using the software raid features on NT4 Server (6a). The OS is on a separate logical drive on one of the disks and is not being mirrored at this time. During the initialization period the server crashes after approx 12 of 15GB has been mirrored (this has been found from spliting the mirror afterwards). I suspect I have a HW fault but nothing appears obvious. The server is not being accessed by users during this. Does anyone have any ideas ?

5 replies

by ann777

Look at your IDE drive and make sure it supports RAID. With some (IDE drives especially) drives, you must download a BIOS patch if you are going to use it with a RAID adapter. Refer to the webiste of your IDE drive manufacturer.

by dewi.lloyd

What I forgot to mention was that I can actually create a smaller (5GB) mirrored set with no problem.

by curlergirl

I think that given you created a smaller mirror set without a problem, a hardware error is likely. I would try two things - if the two IDE drives are on the same controller, split them so that each is on its own controller, if possible. Conversely, if they've been on two separate controllers, it's possible (though less likely) that one of the controllers is failing at some point. Also, if all of your testing has been using one particular hard drive, then replace that drive with a new one andtry again. That's all I can think of. The other thing you might try, if money isn't a problem, would be to get a hardware RAID solution for IDE and try that instead of software RAID. They tend to be still a little pricey, but it might solve your issue. Hope this helps!

by dewi.lloyd

Turns out it was hardware - the system board was failing to read / write from parts of the memory. Replaced board - worked perfectly.

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