Problems with new drives on a SMART-2P

Hi,

I am currently running a Prosignia 500 with a Smart-2P and 5 9,1G harddrives
in a RAID-5 array.
The drives are Seagate ST19171W, they are non-compaq drives that I have
bought from various sources.

Recently I bought a couple of new drives to extend the array to 6 disks, and
have some spares. The new drives are also ST1917Ws and they are co-branded
as Sony drives.

My problem is that the Compaq Array tool does not recognise them at all.
Somtimes they show up as unidentified disks and at other times they don't
show up at all.

When running som of Compaqs own diagnostic tools the show up, but with som
strange attributes. First they seems to be formated for a lower capacity
than 9.1G (I haven't done the math, but it seems more like 8G). Secondly
S.M.A.R.T seems to be disabled.

I downloaded a tool from Seagate that seemd handy but it thinks that all the
drives are Compaq (probaly due to them sitting on a Smart-2), and the tool
can't update or inspect the "foriegn" Compaq drives.
(Unfortunately I don't have access to a non-array 68-pin SCSI controler, as
that migth help with the runing of the Seagate program)

So my questions a
How can I do a low level format on those drives?
How do I enabel S.M.A.R.T for those drives?
And last will those two actions help to get the Array tool to recognese
these disks, or is ther somthing else that I need to do?


Best Regards
Karl Hansell

"Karl Hansell" wrote in message
news:RnzKb.6516$7U1.65808@amstwist00...
Hi,

I am currently running a Prosignia 500 with a Smart-2P and 5 9,1G
harddrives
in a RAID-5 array.
The drives are Seagate ST19171W, they are non-compaq drives that I have
bought from various sources.

Recently I bought a couple of new drives to extend the array to 6 disks,
and
have some spares. The new drives are also ST1917Ws and they are co-branded
as Sony drives.

My problem is that the Compaq Array tool does not recognise them at all.
Somtimes they show up as unidentified disks and at other times they don't
show up at all.

When running som of Compaqs own diagnostic tools the show up, but with som
strange attributes. First they seems to be formated for a lower capacity
than 9.1G (I haven't done the math, but it seems more like 8G). Secondly
S.M.A.R.T seems to be disabled.

I downloaded a tool from Seagate that seemd handy but it thinks that all
the
drives are Compaq (probaly due to them sitting on a Smart-2), and the tool
can't update or inspect the "foriegn" Compaq drives.
(Unfortunately I don't have access to a non-array 68-pin SCSI controler,
as
that migth help with the runing of the Seagate program)

So my questions a
How can I do a low level format on those drives?
How do I enabel S.M.A.R.T for those drives?
And last will those two actions help to get the Array tool to recognese
these disks, or is ther somthing else that I need to do?

there is an onboard SCSI controller on that server. I presume you are using
some kind of external tower, since the cage usually supports 4 1.6" drives
(i have had 5 1" drives with some modifications)... and in neither case are
they hotswappable.

you may need a 50 pin to 68 pin converter... but you will be able to attach
the drives to the external scsi controller interface from the back of the
server. this should allow you to work with each drive individually.

Or... buy a WU SCSI controller from ebay... should be $20 or less these
days.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tegory=39 969

SMART isnt a configurable option, per se.... all that is handled throught
the insight agents (and they are DMI and CMI compliant, so they provide the
functionallity). You need to install the foundation agents, and then the
storage agent components on top of those... I presume you are running
2000... you should DL the 2000 support Paq, as i believe it supports the
500. If not, see if you can sell it and buy a machine that is supported
under the OS you are using. I have a PL800 Dual 550, 1GB machine that is not
supported under 2003, and it has problems because there are drivers that the
hardware wont support... so i dont have most of my insight monitoring...
FYI.

low level formatting the drives *might* help an array controller notice
them, since the drives wont think they are part of any existing array groups
or logical drives.

The other thing you might try to do is run the system erase utility... yes,
it clears the entire machine config, but it also wipes the minds of the
array controller and the drives attached to it. It means that you will need
to rebuild your machine from scratch using the smartstat CD, but a nice
fresh, clean build is always a nice thing to have.

Cheers,

LC


Best Regards
Karl Hansell