Dell PowerVault ME4 Series Storage System Administrator’s Guide

Add Disk Group panel overview

The Add Disk Group panel displays different options based on the type of disk group you want to create and the data protection level selected. There are three sections in the panel.

The top section provides options to name and define the disk group type, select the pool that it resides on, and choose its data protection (RAID) level.

The middle section contains the Disk Selection Sets summary, which presents cumulative data for the disks that are selected for the disk group. The section displays information about the data protection and disk type that is selected for the disk group, as well as the total number of disks selected, the minimum and maximum number of disks allowed for the specified data protection level, the size of the disk group (total capacity of all selected drives), and the Complete check box. The Complete check box indicates if the minimum number of disks that are needed to configure the disk group have been selected, and automatically changes from to a . For dedicated spares, it is always , since selecting additional spares is optional.

As you select drives to add to the disk group, a color-coded bar graph displays the following:

• Disk group available capacity
• Dedicated overhead capacity (for data protection and array metadata)
• Wasted capacity

The bottom section lists the disks that are located within each enclosure in your system, along with their details. Add disks to the disk group by doing one of the following:

• Select a range of disks within an enclosure by entering a comma-separated list that contains the enclosure number and disk range in the Enter Range of Disks text box. Use the format enclosure-number.disk-range,enclosure-number.disk-range.

  For example, to select disk 3-12 in enclosure 1 and disk 5-23 in enclosure 2, enter 1.3-12,2.5-23.

• Select all disks by selecting the Select All checkbox.
• Filter the disks in the list per disk type, enclosure ID, slot location, disk size, or health by entering applicable search criteria in the text box. Clear the filter by clicking the Clear Filters button.
• Click individual disks within the table to select them and add them to the disk group.