Newsletter Archives

• Fixing Onyx’s RAID 1 failure — second drive

  Posted on June 26, 2023 at 02:41 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE DIY

  

  By Will Fastie

  In our May bonus issue, I wrote about fixing Onyx’s RAID 1 failure.

  There was one task left. I had replaced the failed drive in the mirror with a new Seagate FireCuda drive, but I did not want to install the second without giving the first drive time to burn in. In this brief article, I describe that final task.

  It went as expected.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.26.0, 2023-06-26).

  Hardware DIY, Hardware, Intel RST, Newsletters, RAID 1

• Windows Storage Spaces

  Posted on May 22, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE DIY

  

  By Will Fastie

  I decided to try Storage Spaces on Opal, just to see what it would be like.

  It’s a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s less technically challenging than the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) solution that lives partly in UEFI and partly in a Windows driver. On the other hand, it’s a work in progress, with some confusing configuration steps.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.21.0, 2023-05-22).

  Hardware DIY, Newsletters, RAID, RAID 1, Storage Spaces, Windows

• The pros and cons of RAID 1

  Posted on May 1, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.18 • 2023-05-01

  HARDWARE

  

  By Will Fastie

  Revisiting an old friend, it’s time to update our thinking about RAID 1.

  In our all-too-brief time working together, Fred Langa and I had only one point of disagreement — RAID (redundant array of inexpensive drives). Our bone of contention dealt with RAID level 1, the “mirror.” That’s the focus of this, our spring bonus edition of the newsletter.

  Following this brief explanation, I’ll provide an update on the RAID situation with two of my PCs, Onyx and Opal.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.18.0, 2023-05-01).

  Hardware DIY, Drive Mirrors, Newsletters, RAID, RAID 1

• Fixing Onyx’s RAID 1 failure

  Posted on May 1, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE DIY

  

  By Will Fastie

  Before I was able to decommission Onyx, my daily driver desktop PC, one of my hard drives failed. Hard.

  Why the hard failure? Because I didn’t take my own advice — to replace hard drives every five years. The two Seagate drives in Onyx’s RAID 1 array were built in 2014 and put into service in 2015.

  One of the drives failed nine months ago, so it lasted seven years — two years later than when I should have replaced it. Fortunately, Onyx is modern enough to have a good RAID system, from Intel. The fix was remarkably easy and, for the most part, automated.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.18.0, 2023-05-01).

  Hardware DIY, Drive Mirrors, Intel RST, Newsletters, RAID, RAID 1

• Configuring RAID 1 for Opal

  Posted on May 1, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE DIY

  

  By Will Fastie

  The last stumbling block in my quest to bring Opal, my new desktop PC, online has been resolved.

  Back when I was building Opal, my new PC to run Windows 11, I ran into a problem configuring two 6TB drives as a RAID 1 array. I struggled with that, which surprised me because it was relatively easy setting up the mirror on my original box, Onyx.

  I let Opal lie fallow. My excuse was that my wife had acquired her Lenovo Yoga, which was happily running Windows 11 Pro. That gave me access to a machine when I needed to deal with a Windows 11 topic for this newsletter. The delay that ensued turned out to have been a good thing.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.18.0, 2023-05-01).

  Hardware DIY, Drive Mirrors, Intel RST, Intel Storage Management, Newsletters, RAID, RAID 1