Software Support

Physical Disks Or Physical Devices

Physical disks or physical devices reside within an enclosure or are attached to the controller. On a RAID controller,

physical disks or devices are used to create virtual disks.

Related Links

Physical Disk Tasks

Guidelines To Replace A Physical Disk Or Physical Device

A replacement disk may not be the same model as the physical disks or devices in the storage enclosure. Use the

following guidelines when replacing a disk:

• A drive within an array must be replaced with a drive of equal or greater capacity.

• Consider the bus speed while replacing a drive. Replacing drives with equal or greater bus speeds within the

same array is supported. You can use both 3 GB and 6 GB drives in the same array. However, it is not

recommended to replace a 6 GB drive with a 3 GB drive. Although it is fully functional, the performance could be

impacted. Replacing 3 GB drives with 6 GB drives is supported. This occurs more frequently as legacy parts are

depleted and warranty service is required.

• Consider the Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) while replacing a drive. Replacing drives with equal or greater

spindle speeds within the same array is supported. You can use both 10000 RPM and 15000 RPM drives in the

same enclosure. However, it is not recommended to replace a 15000 RPM drive with a 10000 RPM drive.

Although it is fully functional, the performance could be impacted. Replacing 10000 RPM drives with 15000 RPM

drives is supported. This scenario occurs while replacing parts from service inventory due to part unavailability.

• SAS and SATA drives on the same backplane but not within the same virtual disk.

• Solid-State Disks (SSD) and Hard Disk Drives (HDD) on the same backplane but not within the same virtual disk.

NOTE: Except for combining SAS,SATA,SCSI, and SSD drives, only upgrades are supported.

Adding A New Disk To The System

1. Install or attach the new physical disk (or disks) or physical devices. For more information on installing or attaching,

see the documentation that came with the disk.

2. Perform the following steps:

For SCSI, SATA, And ATA Controllers

1. In the Server Administrator window, under the system tree, expand Storage to display the controller objects.

2. Select the controller to which the disk is attached and click Information/Configuration on the controller Properties

page.

3. Select Rescan from the Controller Tasks.

4. Click Execute.

The new disk is displayed in the tree view after the rescan. If the new disk is not displayed, restart the system.

119