Delete Logical Drive - Not an option

In windows 2000 with a PERC 2DC FW u84/ami1.63, esm 5.21, sysbackplane 5.35 and drives in an SDS100 using disk manager it turned my RAID5(5x4gig) array into 1024gb clump of useless glob now in the last couple of weeks it has reduced the total glob to only 500gbs which is 480gb's more than the actual size. Perc/DAM see the correct sizes/drives

Perc console/dell array manager won't let me delete the logical drive - how can I get rid of the logical drive if it doesn't have the 'delete' option in the software. As an aside, I have a 3x9gigR5 and it has the delete option, only difference is the 3 drives are in the 6bay hotplug in the 2300 vs the 6x4gig is shared in the 2300/sds100 (1/5).

svc tags for system/sds are
G3SVY,GCXYD

HTH

--
Joshua L. Konkle
Business Technology Architect
http://www.digitalknowledge.net

Hi Joshua,

I believe the reason for the inconsistancies in size is the Flexraid option has been turned on in the Perc BIOS. This is not necessary for any Operating System except Netware 4.x and earlier.

To remove the array completely, reboot the system watching the screen for a prompt to press CTRL-M to enter the Perc BIOS.

You will get a Management menu with Configure as the first choice. Clear Configuration in the next submenu will completely delete the array.

FYI, it is not recommended to have drives in an array across 2 channels (some internal and some in the SDS100)

The Perc you have is the first one manufactured for Dell by AMI, in the interest of clarity it is normally called Perc II. The Perc 2/dc is a next generation card, though still manufactured by AMI

Thanks
Mark



Message Edited on 07/12/01 03:49PM by DELL-Mark A

I took that last comment about the flexraid like a bat to a ball, i.e. it finally sank in. I disabled flexraid option on the logical drive and the disk is not back to a resonable size.

I still have one problem and I know it probably makes sense to you, but I manage the business, do the tech, write the contracts, etc - so work with me here

I want to delete only the logical disk. I have three logical disks:

R1 System/Boot (logical 0)
R5 nothing, aka the one I want to delete (logical 1)
R5 data (exchange/some files) (logical 2)

I want to delete the logical disk 1 without harming the other physical disks/logical disks in the system. Everytime I go to clear configuration, I can't bring myself to do it. I am unsure of what the PERCII card is going to do with the Logical 0 and Logical 2 disk?

TIA Mark,etc

Joshua

--
Joshua L. Konkle
Business Technology Architect
http://www.digitalknowledge.net

I have the same problem and i could not understand, why the software for the perc not have an option to delete logical drive and the answer from Mark is more then disappointed.

Ines Wechsung
km-systems

Hi Ines,

I apologize for missing Joshua's last message, I do have a solution for the issue.

Please respond with you exact system configuration, with the problems and goals expected. I will do my best to get your system up and running at 100%.

Thanks
Mark


____Please include a Service Tag Number in _____
____all posts for the most accurate response.____

After much searching I have tried the following suggestion. :

"
RE: deleting a logical drive
studenthelper
Bronze
Posts: 3
Registered: 08-26-2001

hi,
The Information of the logical drives is stored in 2 places.The NVRAM of the PERC and on the HDDs. So the simplest way out for you is to.
1. Power down server and remove the HDDs.
2. Power up and go into Ctrl + M BIOS, goto,"Configure" --> "Clear Configuration"
Now your PERC has no info of any arrays in it's NVRAM.
3. Then power down,reattach your HDD's and power up, and go back into Ctrl + M BIOS and goto, "Configure" --> "View/Add configuration". It will obvisouly have an "NVRAM mismatch" and will prompt you to choose from NVRAM or Disk. You then choose "DISK"
This is the safest and easiest way to clear you old info, as logical drives cannot be removed individually.
"

In this case we have : BAV9W
Raid II v1.63, Perc II V2.41 card pci 2 channels.
1st channel is on 6 drives raid 5 (1 hot swap spare)
2nd channel is on 2 drives raid 0
The second channel of drives are showing errors of being dead for some reason.
I am trying to remove the drives for now because I don't know if both are dead or not.

I have done the above posting to no avail..
I removed all the drives and did clear config.
put the 1st channel of drives back on and did the disk load.
Well it also loaded the logical drive 2. of drives not present.

How else can we remove the logical drive?

Can someone confirm this? Can you really not remove any logical drives on a PERC array without destroying the entire adapter's configuration and losing the data on the other drives.

The method above is a welcome workaround if it is the only option. It just seems a basic function to remove a drive without interfering with others in the server.

Thanks,
Mark