Switchvox - How do I rebuild a RAID array using 3ware controller?

When one disk in a 2-disk array goes bad, the following steps should allow you to recover the array (these steps also work for creating a brand new array from a cloned drive):

1. Move the good disk to Slot 0

2. Insert a new, blank disk in Slot 1

3. Boot the machine with the original and new drives installed.

4. Select the new, blank disk and the existing RAID array (i.e. the original disk or disks).

5. Select "Rebuild".

6. Press F8 to save the changes and continue with booting

7. Once the machine boots up, the array should rebuild itself after about 10 minutes

In the event that an array did not get rebuilt properly or if you are reusing a disk that was previously in an array, you can follow these steps to delete the failed/previous array information from the disk and start over:

1. Shut down the machine.

2. Remove the original, good disk.

3. Boot up the machine with only the disk to be deleted in the array.

4. Press Alt-3 to bring up the 3Ware BIOS utility.

5. Select the array (which will now be marked incomplete) and then select Delete.

6. Shut down the system, reinsert the original, good disk and boot the machine back up.

Should an array fail to rebuild properly, you can try the following steps to get it to do so, despite the occasional I/O error.

1. Make sure all of the disks that will be in the array are installed in the machine. The original, good disk should be in Slot 0, if possible.

2. Boot the machine.

3. Press Alt-3 to bring up the 3Ware BIOS utility.

4. Select the new, disk and the existing RAID array.

5. Select "Rebuild".

6. This time, select the "Ignore source errors" setting.

7. Press F8 to save the changes and continue with booting

8. Once the machine boots up, the array should rebuild itself after about 10 minutes

9. Reboot the machine.

10. Press Alt-3 to bring up the 3Ware BIOS utility.