Users Guide

controller perceives this operation as similar to resynching a mirror, and therefore may display the Resynching state.
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Performing a controller rescan during the virtual disk reconfiguration may also cause the virtual disk to display a Resynching state.
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While the virtual disk displays a Resynching state, the "Pause Check Consistency" and "Cancel Check Consistency" tasks will be available. Executing either of
these tasks on the virtual disk while it is in Resynching state will cause the virtual disk to be in a Failed Redundancy state.
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Format and Initialize; Slow and Fast Initialize
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Does my controller support this feature? See "Supported Features."
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The Format or Initialize task erases the files and removes the file systems on virtual disks while keeping the virtual disk configuration intact. Formatting or
initializing a virtual disk destroys all data on the virtual disk. If the boot partition resides on the virtual disk, it will be destroyed by the format operation.
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Some controllers have BIOS settings for a fast initialize or a slow initialize. In this case, the Initialize task performs the type of initialization (fast or slow) that
is specified in the BIOS.
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Other controllers have a Fast Initialize and Slow Initialize task available on the controller task drop-down menu. See "Considerations for Fast Initialize" and
"Considerations for Slow Initialize" for more information.
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Considerations for Format
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The format task applies to the PERC 3/Si, 3/Di, and CERC SATA1.5/6ch controllers. After the format is initiated, it cannot be cancelled.
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Considerations for Initialize
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The initialize task applies to the PERC 3/SC, 3/DC, 3/QC, 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, 4e/Di, and CERC ATA100/4ch controllers.
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These controllers also have a Cancel Initialize and Background Initialization feature. For more information, see "Format and Initialize; Slow and Fast Initialize"
and "Background Initialization on PERC 3/SC, 3/DC, 3/QC, 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, and 4e/Di Controllers."
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Considerations for Fast Initialize
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Use the Fast Initialize task to initialize all physical disks included in the virtual disk. The Fast Initialize task updates the metadata on the physical disks so that
all disk space is available for future write operations. The initialize can be completed quickly because existing information on the physical disks is not erased,
although future write operations will overwrite any information that remains on the physical disks.
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In comparison with the Slow Initialize task, the Fast Initialize task has the following advantages:
l The Fast Initialize task takes less time to complete.
l The Fast Initialize task does not write zeroes to the disk blocks on the physical disks. Because the Fast Initialize task does not perform a write
operation, it causes less degradation to the disk than does the Slow Initialize task.
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NOTE: On a Linux system, you cannot format a virtual disk that contains a mounted volume.
NOTE: A fast initialization on the PERC 3/SC, 3/DC, 3/QC, 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, 4e/Di, and CERC ATA100/4ch controllers may occur so quickly
that the virtual disk's State does not display Initializing. Use the controller BIOS to change the initialization settings.
NOTE: Doing a Fast Initialize causes existing data to be inaccessible. This task should be considered data destructive.