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I have a Dell PowerEdge T100 server with Windows Server 2008 and raid1 configuration. I've just replaced the secondary disk by a new one. (it was pred fail = yes)

Now, the raid1 status is ok and the disks are synchronized.

Now, I want to turn this new disk in the primary disk and the old one(primary) in the secondary, how do I do that?

Thanks!

user1421676
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  • Why would you want to do that? And how do you see which one is primary? – Spack Apr 17 '14 at 10:04
  • I can see that in raid1 configuration, primary and secondary disks and its position. That's how I knew which disk to replace when one of them was indicating pred fail = yes. Later, I want to replace the old disk (the one that is primary now) by a new one. – user1421676 Apr 17 '14 at 10:56
  • Where are you seeing this primary/secondary information? In the RAID configuration utility? Can you post a screen shot? Why does it even matter? – joeqwerty Apr 17 '14 at 12:46

1 Answers1

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In a RAID 1 configuration, changes are written to both disks. Disk reads are up to the implementation, for example ZFS reads from both disks, does checksumming and takes the data blocks with the right checksum. However, most hardware RAID controllers just read from one disk.

There is however no point in changing which disk the RAID controller reads from. If it detects an error with the disk it will automatically fail over to the other disk.

mtak
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  • Thanks. How can I know what is the implementation of my server, regarding the disk reads? Later, I want to replace the old disk (the one that is primary now) by a new one. Can I just replace it, as I replaced the secondary disk? – user1421676 Apr 17 '14 at 10:54
  • You would have to check the manual of the RAID controller to see if you need to take any special action, but essentially yes, if the volume status is ok (disks are synchronized), you can switch the disk and your OS will be unaware. – mtak Apr 17 '14 at 11:11