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Question : Problem: SCSI LVD as a SE drive with RAID - Is SCSI drive positioning in an array important?
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Okay, the question may seem cryptic so please allow me to explain.
All my Single Ended SCSI drives are now depleted (I just suffered a power interruption that took out my last three ST39173W drives and I'm forced to use a "newer" Seagate ST318436LW LVD drive for replacements in my older servers with the SE jumper installed for Single Ended emulation.
My question is: Since the Seagate ST318436LW doesn't have termination; this drive cannot be the last drive in any of these arrays. So in the event that I lose one of the last drives in the array, can I simply swap the positions of any of the other two working drives without adversely affecting the array?
Example (3 drives in a RAID 5 configuration): 1 - Good 2 - Good 3 - Bad (last drive in array)
Since I cannot install the ST318436LW in position 3, can I reconfigure the positioning as so:
1 - Good 3 - Replaced with ST318436LW 2 - Good
Note: I'm just moving the drives into different bays, their ID's do not change.
So does it matter about position? I doubting it's an issue but I thought I'd check with you folks.
Yes, I know I can install an internal term. but I haven't found one yet (even on ebay).
Hopefully, all this hard ware will be upgraded soon but it's complicated because this is all old NT 4 servers (try making this stuff compatible with modern RAID hardware). I'm opting to upgrade the s/w to Exchange 2003 and Windows 2003 but it's a very expensive proposition.
Thanks it's been a yucky night, Shawn
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Answer : Problem: SCSI LVD as a SE drive with RAID - Is SCSI drive positioning in an array important?
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Sure it is. Windows will do it. I'm pretty sure Linux will do it. I used to run an 8 disk SOFTWARE RAID 5 under NT4.
What RAID controller are you using?
Besides, I think those drives DO have a termination option - see http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/scsi/st318436lw.html (Note the bottom jumper configuration). Otherwise, I'd just add a terminator to the end of the chain.
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