Adaptec Storage Manager-Browser Edition

For arrays which need to be initialized such as RAID-1 and RAID-5, advanced options allow you to select which method is used to initialize the array and set the priority of the initialization task.

Step 3 in the Advanced area of the Create Array wizard offers the following initialization options:

Build—For a RAID-1, the data from the primary or master drive is copied to the secondary or slave drive. For a RAID-5, correct parity is generated for the entire array.

The advantages of building an array are that the array is immediately available for use, and that when the build is complete, the array operates at maximum performance. The disadvantages are that building takes some time, for a large array possibly many hours, and performance is impacted until the build completes.

Clear—In this case, the contents of all the drives are cleared. The advantages of clearing an array are that the process is much faster than building and when completed, the array operates at maximum performance. The disadvantage is that the array is not accessible until the clear completes.

Quick—In this case the array is immediately available. The advantage of quick initialization is that the array is immediately available with no on-going build. The disadvantage is that the write performance of a RAID-5 or RAID-50 initialized in this way is impacted until a Verify with fix Task is run on the array.

Initialization Priority—This drop-down list allows you to adjust the priority of the initialization task. The default setting is high, and initialization will complete as fast as possible. The other options are medium and low. Depending on what other tasks are running on the controller, selecting either of these options may cause the initialization to take significantly longer.

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