Why Has My RAID 0 Array Failed...AGAIN!!!??

lettuce

lettuce

lettuce

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Ok got 2 150GB WD VeloceRaptors drives around the start of November last year, with in about a day of setting the array up i got the message from Intel Matrix Storage Manager that one of the drives on the array was failing and to backup info ASAP. I thought that it may have been a dodge install or something, so reformatted and started again.

This time it was ok for about 2-3 weeks until i got the same message again for Intel Matrix Storage Manager, this time i setup each drive as a single drive and ran diagnostic tests on both drives, all came back with 100% health and no errors.

So i thought 3rd time luck, its been around 2 months now since i reinstalled the RAID 0 array and all has been fine....until tonight!!! :mad: when Intel Matrix Storage Manager once again told me that 'one of the drives on the arry was failing'!!!

Why does the array keep failing its not the drives as they are all fine!, any suggestions??
 
Yeah both same drives. I did leave it last time, but then i started getting random restarts and sometime not booting into Vista
 
Very strange, have you tried disabling the caching and trying that? Might be the drive cache rather than the drive itself, is it always the same drive listed as having a fault?
 
one or both drives need RMAing
or bad sata cable(s)
or bad sata ports

i've never had any raid 0 problems in 5 years
 
Pandobear said:
Very strange, have you tried disabling the caching and trying that? Might be the drive cache rather than the drive itself, is it always the same drive listed as having a fault?
Click to expand...


Cant remember if it is the same drive both time, i'll make a note of it this time though! Where do i need to go to disable the cache again?

bledd. said:
one or both drives need RMAing
or bad sata cable(s)
or bad sata ports

i've never had any raid 0 problems in 5 years
Click to expand...

Well as i said im 99% sure it isnt the drives as ive tested the both with the WD diagnostic tool and they both came back fine! If it is a bad sata cable or plug, wouldnt the notification from the matrix manager be intermittent?
 
Problem might be something to do with your drives not coping well with error handling, and why there are drives built especially for use in RAIDs which handle the issue better.
WD make the RE3 series drives with TLER for RAID, quote:

RAID-specific, time-limited error recovery (TLER) - Prevents drive fallout caused by the extended hard drive error-recovery processes common to desktop drives.
 
could be a unstable overclock on your system ?, RAID + Overclocking can be bad unless your 100% sure southbridge is running 100% perfect at higher speed.

just a guess :(
 
as said, keep backup's of your data and actually wait for it to fail rather than go on the intel storage manager deciding to make a fuss. You might find nothing fails, you might find something fails properly and you can determine which drive was smegged in the first place.

See if theres a bios update that has updated raid controller version or check if anyone has the same problem with your mobo of false positives in terms of raid problems. Might be you have the one faulty bios that gives random error warnings with no actual error.

Personally after using raid in every computer i've built for my main and backup comps for the past 8 or so years, and only using raid 0, I would never rip apart a raid array or reinstall just because something tells me there might be an issue. I'm fairly sure a while ago i've had the intel boards tell me there was an issue, and a boot later it would "dissappear" aswell, but tbh can't remember which one of my boards or systems it was and how long ago either, but a good year or two.


If I can no longer boot or i get bad sectors/data loss every boot I know somethings wrong, till that happens I will always assume there is no problem and not do anything drastic based on a bit of software telling me their might be a problem, without actually being able to see a problem tbh.
 
drunkenmaster, I had this last week, BIOS was whining that RAID member disk was 'Invalid' ..system booted fine but a little slow, next reboot however the array was destroyed, and all data gone for good

I put it down to a doggy overclock in the end, as disks were physically fine
 
Hmm, not sure what to do, the first time i had this problem, my cpu wasnt OC then and was at stock!, so i dont think its an OC issue. I know i have the latest BIOS for my Abit Ip35-Pro. I guess i could jump back one BIOS update and see if that helps?, as i pretty sure its the RAID controller on the mobo thats the problem
 
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