Raid Recovery Tips

Problem:
Under Mac OS 10.4.7, the My Book RAID Manager utility hangs or fails to start when the WD My Book Premium II or Pro II is connected to the computer by USB.
Cause:
An accompanying file (WDDrvSvc) used by the My Book RAID Manager utility may have a link issue between the Operating System and the program attempting to run.
Resolution:
Reboot the computer and start the My Book RAID Manager utility again.

Problem:
Changing from RAID-0 to RAID-1 on a My Book Studio II under Windows XP SP3 connected via 1394a (FireWire 400) fails to complete. Disk Management cannot be opened, and Cannot restart as well (Windows Freeze).

Cause:
The cause of this issue is unknown.

Resolution:
To resolve this issue, please connect the My Book Studio II via USB or 1394b (FireWire800) and perform the RAID change again.

Problem:
Attaching another drive while doing a RAID change can reformat the second drive.

Cause:
If the second drive is assigned the same unix device name that was assigned to the RAID device before it was dismounted from the system, the second drive will be reformatted.

Solution:
External drives should not be removed or attached during a RAID change operation.

If a single hard drive fails while the WD My Book World (Blue Rings) storage system is operating under RAID-1 mode, the data on the storage system will still be saved and accessible on the properly working hard drive.

Dismantle the unit and replace the faulty hard drive. Once the hard drive has been physically replaced and the unit has been reassembled, please follow the directions below to format and mirror the existing data to the new replacement hard drive.

Ensure that the WD My Book World (Blue Rings) storage system is powered on and is detected by WD Anywhere Access…

RAID (redundant array of independent disks) is a method of using multiple hard disk drives to act as one. RAID is used to increase hard drive speed and storage capacity, prevent data loss in the event that one of the disks in the array physically fails, or both. As far as the operating system concerned, a RAID array will appear to be a single logical drive. RAID uses a method called striping in which the drives are broken down into small partitions. These partitions, called stripes, are distributed such that each successive stripe is on a different drive.

Important: There are many different…

Recover corrupted RAID arrays in a fully automatic mode. DiskInternals Raid Recovery is a popular tool to automatically detect the type of the original RAID array while still allowing for fully manual operation. Raid Recovery is no doubt a highly valuable tool for users of all types of RAID arrays, whether hardware, native, or software. The drag-and-drop user interface allows for easy operation by anyone.

Reconstruct all types of arrays just as easily as a single hard disk. Raid Recovery recognizes all imaginable configurations of various types of arrays, including RAID 0, 1, JBOD, RAID 5, and 0+1, no matter whether…

What if your computer memory system crashes, and you don’t have any backup of your data stored elsewhere? Crashing of the hard drive puts one in a difficult situation. The RAID (redundant array of independent disks) data storage system is designed in such a way that data recovery is possible even if storage devices fail. The RAID disks (tape disks or magnetic disks) are so arranged that it allows maximum redundancy (mirroring or repetition). Some RAID architectures are designed for faster read operation, some for faster write operation, while some are designed for both faster read and write operations. Hence,…

RAID is a method of combining multiple disk drives into a single entity in order to improve the overall performance and reliability of your system. The different options for combining the disks are referred to as RAID levels. There are several different levels of RAID available depending on the needs of your system. One of the options available to you is whether you should use a Hardware RAID solution or a Software RAID solution.

RAID Hardware is always a disk controller to which you can cable up the disk drives. RAID Software is a set of kernel modules coupled together with management utilities…

I have a SCSI RAID controller and the drives keep coming up marked dead/off-line. I can return the drives on-line again, but why is this happening and what can I do to fix it?

Drive randomly marked dead (off line) by SCSI controller.

There are many reasons why a SCSI controller or operating system marks one or more drives off line. Here is a list of common issues, likely to cause a drive to be remarked off line–dead.

It’s important to make sure the cabling, termination, and drive enclosure hardware is suitable based on SCSI specification–or as required by your configuration. Use the…

This post details software driver installation of the Maxtor Ultra ATA 100 and 133 PCI Adapter Card when used with Windows 2000 operating systems.

Preparing the Hard Drive:
Use the Ultra ATA cable supplied with your card and configure the jumpers on the hard drive(s) you’re preparing to install with the appropriate master / slave settings. The primary (master) drive should be connected to the black connector at the end of the cable. If a secondary (slave) drive is also being installed it must be connected to the gray connec tor in the middle of the cable. The blue connector on the cable…