User's Manual

Virtual Disks 255
Considerations for Initialize
The initialize task applies to the PERC 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, and
4e/Di controllers.
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 Controllers.
NOTE: A fast initialization on the PERC 4/SC, 4/DC, 4e/DC, 4/Di, 4e/Si, and 4e/Di
controllers may occur so quickly that the virtual disk’s State does not display
Initializing. Use the controller BIOS to change the initialization settings.
Considerations for Fast Initialize
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 overwrite any
information that remains on the physical disks.
NOTE: Doing a Fast Initialize causes existing data to be inaccessible. This task
should be considered data destructive.
In comparison with the Slow Initialize task, the Fast Initialize task has the
following advantages:
•The Fast Initialize task takes less time to complete.
•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.
If you have had trouble with a physical disk or suspect that it has bad disk
blocks, you may want to perform a Slow Initialize task, as this task remaps
bad blocks and writes zeroes to all disk blocks.
Considerations for Slow Initialize
Use the Slow Initialize task to initialize all physical disks included in the
virtual disk. The Slow Initialize task updates the metadata on the physical
disks and erases all existing data and file systems.