VTrak 15110 User Manual
Hot Spare Drive(s)
A hot spare is a disk drive that is connected to the disk array system but is not assigned as a member of the disk array. In the event of the failure of a drive within a functioning fault tolerant disk array, the hot spare is activated as a member of the disk array to replace a drive that has failed.
VTrak will replace a failing disk drive in a disk array with an unassigned drive, if one is available. The unassigned drive is not part of any disk array. Such a drive is called a hot spare drive. There are two types:
•Global – An unassigned disk drive available to any disk array on the VTrak.
•Dedicated – An unassigned disk drive that can only be used by a specified disk array.
The hot spare policy function lets you select whether a disk array will access any unassigned disk drive or a designated drive in the event of disk drive failure. See page 127 (WebPAM PRO) or page 168 (CLU) for information on how to make this setting.
The spare drive effectively takes the place of the failed drive and the RAID system immediately begins to rebuild data onto the drive. When the rebuild is complete, the disk array is returned to fault tolerant status.
Once the failed drive is replaced, the new drive is automatically recognized as a hot spare and will be activated in the event of a subsequent drive fault.
Maintaining a hot spare drive is a good precaution to protect your disk array integrity in the event of drive failure.
Partition and Format the Logical Drive
Like any other type of fixed disk media in your system, a RAID logical drive must also be partitioned and formatted before use. Use the same method of partitioning and formatting on an logical drive as you would any other fixed disk.
Depending on the operating system you use, there may or may not be various capacity limitations applicable for the different types of partitions.
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