Setup guide

Chapter 3 Configuring Nearchive Drives and Software
36
Nearchive RAID Configuration
Use the following procedure to configure the Nearchive drives from a 16-raw-drive format
into four 4-drive, RAID 5 arrays. Before you begin the procedure, you should have the
drives physically installed and the Nearchive Base Server or Storage Server turned off.
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The RAID process overwrites all data on the drives you are RAIDing.
To configure the Nearchive Base Server or Storage Server into four 4-drive,
RAID 5 arrays:
1. Boot the Nearchive Base Server or Storage Server, and allow the BIOS process to begin.
2. As the DOS level BIOS screen presents the first 3ware
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host bus adapter (HBA) with
four drives, press the Alt and 3 keys simultaneously. The 3ware BIOS screen appears
with the warning “The RAID process will overwrite any data on the drives you are
RAIDing.”
3. Read the warning, and press any key on the keyboard to accept it. The configuration
screen appears showing four raw drives as available. If less than four drives appear,
there is a hardware malfunction. If you have this problem contact Avid Customer
Support as described in “If You Need Help” on page 14.
4. Alternately press Enter to select a drive and the Down Arrow key to go to the next drive
for selection. Continue this procedure until 4 drives are selected. An asterisk (*) on the
left side of each drive indicates the drive is selected.
5. After you select 4 drives, “Create Array” is highlighted. Press Enter.
6. Press the Up Arrow key to select the “Select RAID configuration” option and
press Enter.
7. Press the Down Arrow key to select RAID 5, and press Enter. The default drive
configuration screen appears showing the RAID 5 configuration at the top. The default
drive configuration is the Array Write Cache State enabled, and the stripe size set
to 64K.
8. Press the Down Arrow key to select the “OK” box, and press Enter. Press the F8 key. A
final warning screen appears. Read the warning and press the Y key to accept it. A
window opens showing “Init RAID5 array Unit 0” and a “percentage done” counter.
This process takes approximately 2.5 hours for each RAID controller. When the RAID
initialization is complete, the system will continue the boot process to the Windows
2000 desktop.
9. Restart the system.