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 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…
After installing the SATA card and booting into Windows, the Add Hardware Wizard will prompt for loading a driver for a "storage adapter". This process is similar to loading the drivers for the ATA/133 card and should be successful when you point the wizard to the Maxtor SATA drivers, wherever they are located on the machine.
Once complete, the Add Hardware Wizard will prompt again to load driver support for a "Promise SATA Console Processor Device". You won’t be able to load a driver for this device so just ignore it. Cancel the Add Hardware Wizard.
After this is done, the Device…
The most common reason for drives being marked offline is cabling/termination issues. Make sure the cabling is of the highest quality (twisted pair or Teflon ribbon) that’s within SCSI specifications as to maximum bus length, impedance matching, and maximum allowed devices.
For best results, use a system level SCSI terminator (LVD/SE) on the end of the cable, instead of using the last drive for termination. Make sure the hard drives are set to provide SCSI Termination Power, if supported. Rarely is drive firmware an issue more often a SCSI controller BIOS or ASPI driver update.
Try the following troubleshooting steps:
- Check all…
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…
There are several items to consider when replacing a drive from a failed RAID. If you are building a new RAID, then all drives in the array should be the identical model if at all possible.
However, if you must replace a failed drive, it can sometimes be difficult to find the same model if that model is out of production. Below are some tips to follow when selecting a replacement.
Keep in mind that the controller may or may not allow different models in a RAID, so check the RAID controller documentation.
- Product life: What is the expected life of the remaining drives? If the other…
