User manual
Table Of Contents
- SuperTrak User Manual
- Contents
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: Installation
- Unpacking the SuperTrak Card
- Installing the SuperTrak Card
- Choosing the Physical Drives
- Creating a Logical Drive
- Installing the CLI
- Installing WebPAM PRO
- Logging into WebPAM PRO
- Setting up WebPAM PRO
- Chapter 3: Installing Drivers
- Chapter 4: SuperBuild™ Utility
- Chapter 5: Management with WebPAM PRO
- Logging into WebPAM PRO
- Accessing the Interface
- Managing Users
- Working with Subsystem/Host Management
- Managing Software Services
- Managing the Host
- Managing the Subsystem
- Viewing Subsystem Information
- Clearing Statistical Data
- Setting an Alias for the Subsystem
- Updating the Firmware
- Checking Subsystem Health
- Viewing the Runtime Event Log
- Saving the Runtime Event Log
- Clearing the Runtime Event Log
- Viewing the NVRAM Event Log
- Saving the NVRAM Event Log
- Clearing the NVRAM Event Log
- Viewing Current Background Activities
- Making Background Activity Settings
- Running Background Activities
- Running Media Patrol
- Running PDM
- Viewing Scheduled Activities
- Scheduling an Activity
- Deleting a Scheduled Activity
- Viewing System Configuration
- Managing the Controller
- Managing Enclosures
- Managing Physical Drives
- Viewing a List of Physical Drives
- Locating a Physical Drive
- Making Global Physical Drive Settings
- Viewing Physical Drive Information
- Viewing Physical Drive Statistics
- Making Physical Drive Settings
- Clearing Stale and PFA Conditions
- Viewing the SMART Log
- Viewing Advanced SMART Log Information
- Saving Advanced SMART Log Information
- Making SMART Log Settings
- Managing Disk Arrays
- Viewing Disk Arrays
- Locating a Disk Array
- Creating a Disk Array
- Creating a Disk Array - Automatic Configuration
- Creating a Disk Array - Express Configuration
- Creating a Disk Array - Advanced Configuration
- Deleting a Disk Array
- Viewing Disk Array Information
- Making Disk Array Settings
- Creating a Logical Drive
- Deleting a Logical Drive
- Migrating a Disk Array
- Rebuilding a Disk Array
- Running Media Patrol on a Disk Array
- Running PDM on a Disk Array
- Transitioning a Disk Array
- Preparing a Disk Array for Transport
- Managing Logical Drives
- Managing Spare Drives
- Working with the Logical Drive Summary
- Chapter 6: Management with the CLI
- Opening the CLI on Windows
- Opening the CLI on Linux, FreeBSD, and VMware
- Table of Supported Commands
- Notes and Conventions
- List of Supported Commands
- Chapter 7: Technology Background
- Chapter 8: Troubleshooting
- Chapter 9: Support
- Appendix A: Partition and Format
- Appendix B: Upgrades
- Appendix C: Battery Backup Unit
- Appendix D: LED Backplane Connections
- Index

SuperTrak EX Series User Manual
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Hot Spare Drive
A hot spare is a physical drive that is available to a disk array but not actually a
part of it. If you designate a spare drive, SuperTrak will replace a failed physical
drive in a disk array with the hot spare drive automatically. See “Creating a Spare
Drive” on page 99 or page 179.
Compared to the failed drive, the replacement drive must be:
• The same media type, HDD or SDD
• Equal or larger capacity
There are two types of hot spare drive:
• Global – An unassigned physical drive available to any logical drive on the
Host PC.
• Dedicated – An unassigned physical drive that can only be used by a
specified logical drive.
There is another property you can assign to a hot spare drive:
• Revertible – A revertible spare drive will return to spare status when the
failed drive is replace with a new drive. See “Transition” on page 256.
Whenever possible, having a spare drive for your RAID system is good protection
against physical drive failure. Even though the spare drive is assigned to a disk
array, the rebuild operation is said to apply to a logical drive.
If you do not have a spare drive, but the Auto Rebuild function is enabled, the
critical disk array will begin to rebuild as soon as you replace the failed physical
drive with an unconfigured physical drive of equal or greater size. See “Making
Background Activity Settings” on page 137.
Partition and Format the Logical Drive
Like any other type of fixed disk media in your system, a RAID logical drive must
also be partitioned and formatted before use. Use the same method of
partitioning and formatting on an logical drive as you would any other fixed disk.
See “Appendix A: Partition and Format” on page 285.
RAID Level Migration
To migrate a disk array is to do one or both:
• Change its RAID level
• Increase the number of physical drives (sometimes called expansion)
On SuperTrak, RAID level migration is performed on the disk array but it applies
to the logical drives. Migration takes place on an existing Functional disk array
without disturbing the existing data. While the disk array is migrating, you can