Dell 745N Personal Computer User Manual


 
partitions. Data can be stored on all four SATA hard drives in partitions that are configured as RAID 5 by default.
Table 3-1. Software RAID Default Hard-Drive Partitions
Figure 3-1. Software RAID Default Hard-Drive Partitions
Each hard drive has front-panel LEDs that provide information about the drive and RAID volume(s). See "Front-Panel Indicators" in the Installation and
Troubleshooting Guide for the location of the LEDs. Table3-2 provides the front-panel RAID volume LED codes.
Table 3-2. Front-Panel RAID Volume LED Codes
Hardware-RAID NAS System Drive Configuration
A NAS system with hardware RAID configuration contains four SATA hard drives that are connected to a CERC SATA RAID controller. Unlike the software-RAID
NAS system where Windows Storage Server 2003 controls the hard drives, the drives in the hardware-RAID NAS system are controlled by a RAID controller
card installed in a PCI expansion slot. All four CERC-SATA hard drives appear as only two virtual disks to the operating system. See Table3-3 and Figure3-2.
The operating system and boot sectors are installed on one RAID 5 volume that is spanned across the four CERC-SATA hard drives. Data can be stored on the
other RAID 5 volume that is also spanned across the four CERC-SATA hard drives.
Table 3-3. Hardware RAID Default Hard-Drive Partitions
Figure 3-2. Hardware RAID Default Hard-Drive Partitions
Volume
Hard Drives and RAID Layout
Description
C:
0 and 1: RAID 1
Primary operating system volume
D:
2 and 3: RAID 1
Recovery operating system volume
E:
0, 1, 2, and 3: RAID 5
Data volume
Volume Condition
LED Status Indicator Pattern
The drive bay is empty.
Off
The RAID volume is online.
Steady green
The RAID volume is rebuilding.
Blinking green
The drive has failed.
Blinking amber
NOTE: RAID 1 hard-drive configurations are not supported on hardware-RAID NAS systems.
Volume
Hard Drives and RAID Layout
Description
C:
0, 1, 2, and 3: RAID 5
Primary operating system volume on virtual disk 0 (10 GB)
D:
0, 1, 2, and 3: RAID 5
Data volume on virtual disk 1