7 of the last 12 times I have done a power on boot, the raid controller thinks one of the disk drives is degraded. All hard drives are OK, and the Raid Volume is rebuilding. I don't see any errors and once the volume is rebuilt, everything appears to be normal, until the next power on boot. I have replaced some drives recently, but am not sure what the next step might be if "All hard drives are OK". Any suggestions would be appreciated.
A little history:
5/20/10 - Bought new Dell Precision T3500 with 2-300GB SATA 10K RPM drives with raid 1 (mirroring).
10/27/13 - one of the original hard drives fails.
10/28/13 - Purchase new hard drive with the same model number as original and installed in system. Raid volume gets rebuilt successfully.
12/24/13 - Second original hard drive fails. Purchase new hard drive with the same model number as original and install in system. Raid volume gets rebuilt successfully.
3/24/14 - One of the new disk drives fails. Got a RMA replacement from WD. Same size as original, but different model number. Installed in system and powered up. Raid volume starts to get rebuilt. I left the room after is had got to about 2 % rebuild, and when I returned, the second new disk drive had failed and my PC was a vegetable.
3/28/14 - Got a second RMA replacement from WD, but neither of the two drives in machine had a boot section. So, did a total reload of system from a windows backup on an external hard drive. System finally came up and raid volumes were rebuilt
4/19/14 - Power on boot and raid controller thinks disks are degraded. "All hard drives are OK, raid volume is rebuilding.
Since 4/19/14, 9 of the power on boots have resulted in the same thing. System thinks the Raid 1 mirror is degraded, but all hard drives are OK, Raid volume is rebuilding.
I am not sure about all the rebuild problems, but sever of the last few have been for the disk in port 1. Port 0 disk seems to be OK.
Could this be caused by something different in the disk model numbers or something in the Raid controller, or is there something not right with one of the RMA replacement drives? If you think it is a problem with one of the drives, how do I check it out?
Constantly rebuilding the raid volumes is getting kind of old, so any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks for your help.
Following is the raid system report:
System Information
Kit Installed: 8.9.2.1002
Kit Install History: 8.9.2.1002, Uninstall
Shell Version: 8.9.2.1002
OS Name: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
OS Version: 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
System Name: DELLT3500
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: 09KPNV
Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU W3530 @ 2.80GHz
BIOS Version/Date: Dell Inc. A07, 04/12/2010
Language: ENU
Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager
Intel RAID Controller: Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO/PCH SATA RAID Controller
Number of Serial ATA ports: 6
RAID Option ROM Version: 8.5.2.1002
Driver Version: 8.9.2.1002
RAID Plug-In Version: 8.9.2.1002
Language Resource Version of the RAID Plug-In: 8.9.2.1002
Create Volume Wizard Version: 8.9.2.1002
Language Resource Version of the Create Volume Wizard: 8.9.2.1002
Create Volume from Existing Hard Drive Wizard Version: 8.9.2.1002
Language Resource Version of the Create Volume from Existing Hard Drive Wizard: 8.9.2.1002
Modify Volume Wizard Version: 8.9.2.1002
Language Resource Version of the Modify Volume Wizard: 8.9.2.1002
Delete Volume Wizard Version: 8.9.2.1002
Language Resource Version of the Delete Volume Wizard: 8.9.2.1002
ISDI Library Version: 8.9.2.1002
Event Monitor User Notification Tool Version: 8.9.2.1002
Language Resource Version of the Event Monitor User Notification Tool: 8.9.2.1002
Event Monitor Version: 8.9.2.1002
Array_0000
Status: No active migrations
Hard Drive Data Cache Enabled: Yes
Size: 558.9 GB
Free Space: 0 GB
Number of Hard Drives: 2
Hard Drive Member 1: WDC WD3000HLHX-01JJPV0
Hard Drive Member 2: WDC WD3000HLHX-01JJPV0
Number of Volumes: 1
Volume Member 1: ARRAY0
ARRAY0
Status: Normal
System Volume: Yes
Volume Write-Back Cache Enabled: No
RAID Level: RAID 1 (mirroring)
Size: 279.4 GB
Physical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Logical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Number of Hard Drives: 2
Hard Drive Member 1: WDC WD3000HLHX-01JJPV0
Hard Drive Member 2: WDC WD3000HLHX-01JJPV0
Parent Array: Array_0000
Hard Drive 0
Usage: Array member
Status: Normal
Device Port: 0
Device Port Location: Internal
Current Serial ATA Transfer Mode: Generation 2
Model: WDC WD3000HLHX-01JJPV0
Serial Number: WD-WXP1E21TCH57
Firmware: 04.05G04
Native Command Queuing Support: Yes
Hard Drive Data Cache Enabled: Yes
Size: 279.4 GB
Physical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Logical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Number of Volumes: 1
Volume Member 1: ARRAY0
Parent Array: Array_0000
Hard Drive 1
Usage: Array member
Status: Normal
Device Port: 1
Device Port Location: Internal
Current Serial ATA Transfer Mode: Generation 2
Model: WDC WD3000HLHX-01JJPV0
Serial Number: WD-WX61EC1TVJ43
Firmware: 04.05G04
Native Command Queuing Support: Yes
Hard Drive Data Cache Enabled: Yes
Size: 279.4 GB
Physical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Logical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Number of Volumes: 1
Volume Member 1: ARRAY0
Parent Array: Array_0000
Unused Port 0
Device Port: 4
Device Port Location: Internal
Unused Port 1
Device Port: 5
Device Port Location: External
CD/DVD Drive 0
Device Port: 2
Device Port Location: Internal
Current Serial ATA Transfer Mode: Generation 1
Model: HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM DH30N
Serial Number: K78A41I5627
Firmware: A101
CD/DVD Drive 1
Device Port: 3
Device Port Location: Internal
Current Serial ATA Transfer Mode: Generation 1
Model: HL-DT-ST DVD+/-RW GH50N
Serial Number: K3R97J23340
Firmware: B101