User guide

Understanding Drive Arrays D-17
Drive Parameter Tracking
Drive parameter-tracking monitors more than 15 drive operational parameters
and functional tests. This includes parameters such as read, write, and seek
errors, spin-up time, cable problems, and functional tests such as track-to-track
seek time, one-third stroke, and full stroke seek time. Drive parameter tracking
allows the Smart Array 431 Controller to detect drive problems and predict
drive failure before they actually occur. It also makes pre-failure warranty
possible on Compaq disk drives.
Drive Failure Alert Features
Drive failure features produce various drive alerts or error messages depending
on the Compaq server model. Refer to the documentation included with your
server to determine what drive failure features are included on your server
model.
Other Compaq options such as Compaq Insight Manager and Compaq Server
Manager/R provide additional drive failure features. See your Authorized
Compaq Reseller for more information on these products.
Interim Data Recovery
In RAID 5 or RAID 1 fault-tolerant configurations, if a drive fails, the system
continues to operate in an interim data recovery mode. For example, if you had
selected RAID 5 for a logical drive with four physical drives and one of the
drives fails, the system continues to process I/O requests, but at a reduced
performance level. Replace the failed drive as soon as possible to restore
performance and full fault tolerance for that logical drive. See Appendix G for
more information on recovering from drive failure.