Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller H700 - Manual (Page 25)

Storage Controller Features 25
Initializing Virtual Disks
You can initialize the virtual disks as described in the following sections.
Background Initialization of Virtual Disks
Background Initialization (BGI) is an automated process that writes the
parity or mirror data on newly created virtual disks. BGI does not run on
RAID 0 virtual disks.
NOTE: You cannot disable BGI permanently. If you cancel BGI, it automatically
restarts within five minutes. For information on stopping BGI, see "Stopping
Background Initialization" on page 111.
You can control the BGI rate in the Dell OpenManage storage management
application. Any change in the BGI rate does not take effect until the next
BGI run.
NOTE: Unlike full or fast initialization of virtual disks, background initialization does
not clear data from the physical disks.
Consistency Check (CC) and BGI perform similar functions in that they
both correct parity errors. However, CC reports data inconsistencies through
an event notification, but BGI does not. You can start CC manually, but not
BGI.
Full Initialization of Virtual Disks
Performing a full initialization on a virtual disk overwrites all blocks and
destroys any data that previously existed on the virtual disk. Full initialization
of a virtual disk eliminates the need for the virtual disk to undergo a BGI.
Full initialization can be performed after the creation of a virtual disk.
During full initialization, the host is not able to access the virtual disk.
You can start a full initialization on a virtual disk by using the Slow Initialize
option in the Dell OpenManage storage management application. For more
information on using the BIOS Configuration Utility to perform a full
initialization, see "Initializing Virtual Disks" on page 91.
NOTE: If the system reboots during a full initialization, the operation aborts and
a BGI begins on the virtual disk.
PERC7.2_UG.book Page 25 Thursday, March 3, 2011 2:14 PM