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.

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 best quality SCSI data cable. Make sure it is certified for either Ultra SCSI or Ultra 2 or Ultra 3(Ultra 160) or Ultra 320 SCSI. Most SCSI controller vendors support a line of cables and terminators for their product.

If there is a mix of LVD (low voltage differential) and non-LVD devices on any one SCSI channel? Then Ultra SCSI (single-ended narrow) specifications apply–cables not longer than 1.5 meters, and not more than four devices supported. Both LVD cables and termination devices are available from: Granite Digital at 510-471-6267, and TMC at 415-454-5425. A distributor or computer reseller may sell LVD SCSI data cables and terminators.

Not enough SCSI Termination Power can be at fault. As a precaution, be sure the last two physical devices (hard drives) on each SCSI channel, provide Term. Power to the SCSI bus. For SCSI bus Termination Enable, we highly recommend you use either the disk array enclosure (if supported) or a system terminator at cable end. If you use LVD drives, you must use an LVD terminator. If you are using SCSI single ended devices, or mixing single-ended and LVD you must use an active terminator at cable end.

Sometimes the disk array enclosure, the drive slide trays may be defective, or there could be a problem with the SCA back-plane logic board. Try the drive in a different system–does the failure follow to another ‘known good’ platform?

The system power supply can be at fault. Under or over current will cause the drive to spin down in the name of data integrity. You will want to make sure a high quality power supply is used, and that it will meet the power needs of your system.

Software drivers and BIOS on the SCSI RAID controller can affect timing and communications. You should visit all system component and operating system manufacturer’s Web sites, to confirm that all drivers and firmware is up to date.

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 Manager should show two new listings. One should be under "SCSI and RAID controllers" and should be listed as "Win(x) Maxtor SATA/150 PCI Card". The other should be under "Other Devices" with a question mark next to it. This is the "Promise SATA Console Processor Device". Again, ignore this device. A driver cannot be loaded for it.

Once a SATA or PATA drive is connected to the card, the "Promise SATA Console SCSI Processor Device" listing will go away. If all drives are disconnected from the card, the Add Hardware Wizard will reappear when the system is booted.

Additional Information:

The Promise SATA150 TX2plus drivers will work with the Maxtor SATA/150 controller cards since they are based on the same hardware but are not supported by Maxtor. They do not address this issue but have various compatibility fixes:

http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productId=97&category=driver&os=0

Try the following troubleshooting steps:

1. Check all cable connections. Test the data cable by trying a different cable or try the cable on a known working drive.
2. Confirm the jumper settings.
3. Check termination.
4. Check the host adapter card. Test the card by either trying a known good card or a known working drive.
5. Check host adapter settings. Set to asynchronous negotiation and the transfer rate to 10MB/s. (or the slowest setting).
6. Make the offending drive the only SCSI device in the system and re-test.
7. Run the low-level format routine provided by the host adapter manufacturer.
8. Try the drive in a different system.

Cause:
This is a firmware issue, and will be fixed in a follow-on release.

Solution:
As a workaround, restore the system to factory defaults, and then select the new RAID mode.

Later releases of the OneTouch III Turbo 600GB are available with RAID 0/1 capabilities. 600GB products with RAID 1 functionality have Kit Numbers that start with "C0". All OneTouch III Turbo 1TB models are avaible with RAID 0/1 capability.

While it’s not possible to determine if a OneTouch III Turbo 600GB Drive has RAID 0/1 capabilities based on its model number or serial number, and you may not know the kit number if the drive’s original packaging is no longer available, you can still determine the drive’s RAID capabilities based on its firmware.  If the OneTouch III 600GB Drive’s firmware is revision 3.3.6 or greater, it has RAID 0/1 capabilities.  If the firmware is 3.3.5 or less, it can only be configured as RAID 0.  Use Maxtor OneTouch Manager to determine the drive’s firmware revision.

There are currently no plans to offer firmware updates for the OneTouch III Turbo 600GB Drive.

Note: Currently only the OneTouch III Turbo 1TB (Terabyte) drives provide RAID 1 (Mirrored) support. Configuring a RAID volume is a data destructive process. It is strongly recommended that you backup any/all data on your OneTouch III Turbo drive before proceeding.

1. Double-click on the Maxtor OneTouch Manager icon on your Windows Desktop. This will launch the Onetouch Manager application.  
   Note: If this icon has been removed from the desktop, click Start > Programs (All Program for Windows XP) > Maxtor > OneTouch > Maxtor OneTouch^T Manager
2. Click on the Settings button.
3. The Settings window appears. Click on the RAID Settings button.
4. The RAID Settings window appears. At any time you may click on the link "How do these RAID Settings work", located at the bottom of the screen to learn more about the offered RAID configurations for the OneTouch III Turbo Edition drives.
5. By default the OneTouch III Turbo drive is configured with a RAID 0 (Striped) volume – this RAID setting provides speed, but no redundancy in the event of of a single disk failure. To setup a RAID 1 (mirrored) volume, click on the RAID 1 – Redundancy radio button and click Next.
6. A Warning displays notifying you that configuring a RAID 1 volume is a data destructive process. It is recommended that you backup any/all critical data on your OneTouch III Turbo drive. When you are ready, click Continue
7. You will see a window stating that the RAID Setup is in progress. When the setup is finished, you will be prompted to format the newly created RAID 1 volume. Click OK to close this window. The RAID Setup process may take awhile to complete.
8. When the RAID Setup is finished, a window displays prompting you to format the new volume. Click Format to proceed.
9. To confirm that you want to prepare the RAID 1 volume, click Format.
10. At this point, the RAID volume is partitioned and formatted. This may take awhile to complete.
11. When the format is complete, click OK. The OneTouch III Turbo Drive is now configured with a RAID 1 volume.

Maxtor OneTouch III Video Tutorial – Performing Diagnostics From a Windows PC

This page will link you to a Flash Video that shows you how to configure a RAID 1 (mirrored) volume on your Maxtor OneTouch III Turbo drive.

The intial release of the OneTouch III Turbo 600GB Drive were available with a RAID 0 (Striped) volume only. Products in question that solely possess RAID 0 capability have a Kit Number that starts with "G0".

Later releases of the OneTouch III Turbo 600GB are available with RAID 0/1 capabilities. 600GB products with RAID 1 functionality have Kit Numbers that start with "C0". All OneTouch III Turbo 1TB models are avaible with RAID 0/1 capability.

While it’s not possible to determine if a OneTouch III Turbo 600GB Drive has RAID 0/1 capabilities based on its model number or serial number, and you may not know the kit number if the drive’s original packaging is no longer available, you can still determine the drive’s RAID capabilities based on its firmware.  If the OneTouch III 600GB Drive’s firmware is revision 3.3.6 or greater, it has RAID 0/1 capabilities.  If the firmware is 3.3.5 or less, it can only be configured as RAID 0.  Use Maxtor OneTouch Manager to determine the drive’s firmware revision.

There are currently no plans to offer firmware updates for the OneTouch III Turbo 600GB Drive.

The following are the steps necessary to configure a RAID 1 (mirrored) volume on your OneTouch III Turbo 1TB drive:

Currently only the OneTouch III Turbo 1TB (Terabyte) drives provide RAID 1 (Mirrored) support. Configuring a RAID volume is a data destructive process. It is strongly recommended that you backup any/all data on your OneTouch III Turbo drive before proceeding.

1. Double-click on the Maxtor OneTouch Manager icon on your Windows Desktop. This will launch the Onetouch Manager application.  
   If this icon has been removed from the desktop, click Start > Programs (All Program for Windows XP) > Maxtor > OneTouch > Maxtor OneTouch^T Manager
2. Click on the Settings button.
3. The Settings window appears. Click on the RAID Settings button.
4. The RAID Settings window appears. At any time you may click on the link "How do these RAID Settings work", located at the bottom of the screen to learn more about the offered RAID configurations for the OneTouch III Turbo Edition drives.
5. By default the OneTouch III Turbo drive is configured with a RAID 0 (Striped) volume – this RAID setting provides speed, but no redundancy in the event of of a single disk failure. To setup a RAID 1 (mirrored) volume, click on the RAID 1 – Redundancy radio button and click Next.
6. A Warning displays notifying you that configuring a RAID 1 volume is a data destructive process. It is recommended that you backup any/all critical data on your OneTouch III Turbo drive. When you are ready, click Continue
7. You will see a window stating that the RAID Setup is in progress. When the setup is finished, you will be prompted to format the newly created RAID 1 volume. Click OK to close this window. The RAID Setup process may take awhile to complete.
8. When the RAID Setup is finished, a window displays prompting you to format the new volume. Click Format to proceed.
9. To confirm that you want to prepare the RAID 1 volume, click Format.
10. At this point, the RAID volume is partitioned and formatted. This may take awhile to complete.
11. When the format is complete, click OK. The OneTouch III Turbo Drive is now configured with a RAID 1 volume.

Maxtor OneTouch III Video Tutorial – Performing Diagnostics From a Windows PC

This page will link you to a Flash Video that shows you how to configure a RAID 1 (mirrored) volume on your Maxtor OneTouch III Turbo drive.

How to configure a raid 1 volume on maxtor onetouch iii turbo drive

Yes, you can the NAS 4000 Series for JBOD (just a bunch of disks), spanned, spanned and mirrored, or striped disk configurations.