Array configuration, Logical drives, Configuring logical drives – Dell PERC 4/SI User Manual
Page 43
Only one RAID level can be assigned to each logical drive.
shows the minimum and maximum number of drives required for each RAID level.
Table 4-12. Physical Drives Required for Each RAID Level
Array Configuration
After you configure and initialize the hard drives, you are ready to configure arrays. The number of drives in an array determines the RAID levels that can be
supported. For information about the number of drives required for different RAID levels, see
Logical Drives
Logical drives, also known as virtual disks, are arrays or spanned arrays that are available to the operating system. The storage space in a logical drive is
spread across all the physical drives in the array or spanned arrays.
You must create one or more logical drives for each array, and the logical drive capacity must include all of the drive space in an array. You can make the logical
drive capacity larger by spanning arrays. In an array of drives with mixed sizes, the smallest common drive size is used and the space in larger drives is not
used. The RAID controller supports up to 40 logical drives.
Configuring Logical Drives
After you have attached all physical drives, perform the following steps to prepare a logical drive. If the operating system is not yet installed, use the BIOS
Configuration Utility to perform this procedure.
1.
Start the system.
2.
Run your array management software.
3.
Select the option to customize the RAID array.
In the BIOS Configuration Utility, use either Easy Configuration or New Configuration to customize the RAID array.
4.
Create and configure one or more system drives (logical drives).
5.
Select the RAID level, cache policy, read policy, and write policy.
6.
Save the configuration.
7.
Initialize the system drives.
After initialization, you can install the operating system.
and
for detailed configuration instructions.
RAID
Level
Minimum # of Physical
Drives
Maximum # of Physical Drives for PERC 4//si and
4e/Si
Maximum # of Physical Drives for PERC 4/Di and
4e/Di
0
1
14
28
1
2
2
2
5
3
14
28
10
4
14
28
50
6
14
28
CAUTION:
If you select New Configuration, all previous configuration information will be deleted.
NOTE:
Refer to the section
Summary of RAID Levels
for RAID level explanations and
for information about the policy settings.
NOTE:
A full initialization will not resume after a power loss; it will start completely over.