Dell (PERC) S100, PERC S300 manual Initializing Physical Disks

Initializing Physical Disks

New physical disks must be initialized before they can be used. Initialization writes controller configuration information to the physical disk.

Physical disks with the following statuses can be initialized:

•Non-RAID— A physical disk that was configured by a non-PERC S100 adapter or PERC S300 adapter.

•Ready — Contains no stored data but has PERC S100 adapter or PERC S300 adapter configuration information.

Physical disks that are Online cannot be initialized.

1Power-up the system to start booting.

2When prompted, press the <Ctrl><R> keys to access the PERC Virtual Disk Management utility.

3At the Main Menu field use the arrow keys to select the Initialize Physical Disk(s) option.

4Press <Enter>.

5Use the arrow keys to select Initialize for PERC S100 (PERC S300) or Initialize to Non-Raid.

6Press <Enter>.

7Use the arrow keys to select a physical disk. Press <Insert> to select the physical disk, or press the <A> key to choose all selectable physical disks.

NOTE: You can select and initialize multiple physical disks. There is no need to initialize one physical disk at a time.

8Press <Enter> to initialize the selected physical disk or disks.

NOTE: After a physical disk is initialized as Non-Raid, it appears as Non- Raid in the Physical Disks field of the PERC Virtual Disk Management utility. A Non-Raidvirtual disk is also created and appears in the Virtual Disks field.

9A dialog box appears, warning that any data on the physical disk will be permanently lost if it is initialized. Press the <C> key to continue with initialization or press <Esc> to cancel.

Initialization takes 10–15 seconds per physical disk. A status indicator shows which physical disk is being initialized. When initialization is complete, the status indicator turns off, and all channels are re-scanned automatically.

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RAID Configuration and Management