which RAID hard drive is going bad?

[nikko]

I have a Dell computer with 2 250 GB SATA hard drives running as a single 500 GB hard drive (I think that's RAID 0, right?). Anyway, when I boot up, I get a warning message that says something like "The drive on channel 1 is operating outside normal specifications". I assume that means it's failing and I need to replace it. What I want to know is how to figure out which of the two drives I should be replacing when I open the case. i.e. how do I know which one is on "channel 1"? Any tips? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[MegaVovaN]

Do you have important data on these disks?
Yes, it is RAID 0.
If you don't care about data, format both disks and rebuild the RAID.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

if its raid 0, he would lose all the data if he formatted one right?

 

[bwatson283]

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
if its raid 0, he would lose all the data if he formatted one right?

Yah, raid 0 make all them (max of 32) like one big drive. If one drive drops, all the data is lost.

 

[corkyg]

If that is your boot drive, are headed for trouble. Before the drive fails, copy all your important data files to another drive. If one drive fails, the other is useless for data.

The only advantage of RAID 0 is a very slight speed increase - but it is high risk unless you have the whole array backed up to another large drive, tape, and DVDs.

Most mobos have a chart which shows which SATA port is #1. Usually the one closest to the IDE controller ports. You can't replace either drive in a RAID 0 array and not lose the whole enchilada.