Users Guide

Assigning the dedicated hot spare disks

A dedicated hot spare is a backup physical disk for the redundant virtual disk to which it is assigned. The physical disk that is

used as a dedicated hot spare cannot be a member of an existing virtual disk. When the hot spare is activated, it becomes the

receptacle for the data from the failed physical disk member of the volume, without interrupting the system or requiring your

intervention. A dedicated hot spare can be assigned to any redundant virtual disk, and up to four hot spares can be assigned to a

virtual disk. A dedicated hot spare cannot be assigned while a task is running on the virtual disk.

NOTE: A virtual disk is marked Failed or Degraded if a physical disk reports a Failed state, or if the SAS/SATA cable to

the physical disk or power cable is disconnected.

NOTE: If a virtual disk with an assigned dedicated hot spare is deleted, the dedicated hot spare is also deleted and the

physical disk state changes to Ready.

Perform the following procedure to assign a dedicated hot spare disk:

1. Enter the BIOS Configuration utility. See Entering the BIOS Configuration Utility on page 20.

2. In the Main Menu screen, select the Manage Hot Spare and press <Enter>.

3. Select Assign Dedicated Hot Spare(s). Press <Enter>.

NOTE: Assign dedicated hot spare for boot virtual disk only from disk drives populated across slots 0-3 of the system.

For slot information, see the system Owner's Manual at dell.com/poweredgemanuals.

NOTE: For PowerEdge R330, R230, T330, and T130 systems, you can assign a dedicated hot spare for boot virtual disk

on the disk drives populated across any slots in the system.

4. Use the up or down arrow key to select a physical disk(s) for use as a dedicated hot spare(s). Press <Insert>.

5. Use the up or down arrow key to select a physical disk(s) for use as a dedicated hot spare(s) and press <Insert>.

6. Press <Enter> to add the dedicated hot spare.

7. Press the <C> key to confirm the action.

Unassign hot spare disks

1. Enter the BIOS Configuration utility. See Entering the BIOS Configuration Utility on page 20.

2. In the Main Menu screen, select the Manage Hot Spare and press <Enter>.

3. Select Unassign Hot Spare(s). Press <Enter>.

4. Use the up or down arrow key to select the physical disk(s) to delete as a hot spare(s).

5. Press <Insert>. To delete the hot spare, press <Enter>

6. Press the <C> key to confirm the action.

Viewing the physical disks details

1. Enter the BIOS Configuration Utility. See Entering the BIOS Configuration Utility on page 20.

2. In the Main Menu screen, select View Physical Disk Details and press <Enter>.

3. Use the arrow keys to choose a physical disk.

4. The following details of the physical disks are displayed:

a. Physical disk number

b. Channel number

c. Physical disk size

d. Physical disk status: Non-RAID/Ready/Online

e. Amount of free space

f. Manufacturer and model number

g. World Wide Address

h. SATA Cache Policy (Enabled or Disabled)

i. S.M.A.R.T. State: Error (if a disk with a S.M.A.R.T. error is discovered)

5. Press <Esc> to return to the main window.

BIOS Configuration Utility