Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) Disk Management Capabilities in Windows*

The user can manage disks by clicking a selected disk in the storage system view from the Intel® VROC Graphical User Interface (GUI) application. This allows the user to review the properties and access all actions associated with that disk, such as marking a disk as spare. Depending on their usage or status, some actions may not be available.

Note

The user must be logged on as an administrator to perform the actions listed below.

The following provides a list of available actions within the Intel® VROC GUI application for disk management.

Disk Properties

The disk properties listed below display to the left of the storage system view under Home and report values such as usage and status that are specific to the disk selected in the view. Based on the detailed information provided, the user can make changes to the way each disk is configured or take action on one or more disk to keep the user’s overall storage system healthy.

Parameter	Value	As Seen in the HII
Port	Reports the port number to which the disk or device is attached.	SATA: Port
Port Location	Reports whether the port is internal or external.	Information not available.
Usage	Array Member: A disk that has been grouped with other disks to form an array containing RAID volumes.	Information not available - but status RAID Member indicates that state.
Spare: The disk has been designated as the destination drive for automatic volume rebuilds in the event of a failed, missing, or at-risk array disk. For RAID 0 volumes, automatic rebuilds will only occur when one of its array disks is reported as at risk.	Information not available - but status Spare indicates that state.
Available: The disk is physically connected to the computer, healthy, and available to be used in an array or as a spare disk. Assigning an available disk to an array or marking it as a spare will permanently delete any existing data on that disk.	Information not available - but status non-RAID indicates that state.
Unknown: The disk is available but contains metadata that cannot be displayed in the operating system. Even though the disk is reported as normal, the user will need to clear and reset the disk to make the disk available.	Information not available - but status Unknown indicates that state.
Status	Normal: The disk is present, functioning as expected.	Normal
At risk: An impending error condition was detected on the disk, and it is now at risk of failure.	Information not available.
Missing: The disk is not present or physically connected to the computer.	Missing
Failed: The disk has failed to properly complete read and write operations in a timely manner, and it has exceeded its recoverable error threshold.	Error Occurred
Offline: Indicates that an array disk contains metadata but no longer fits the array or RAID volume. E.g., Drive-1 and Drive-2 are in a RAID 1 configuration. Drive-1 is removed and replaced with Drive-3. The RAID 1 is rebuilt. Drive-1 is reinserted into the system. Drive-1 will be marked as offline because it is no longer an active member of the RAID volume. The Intel® VROC GUI application (that contains all three of these drives) will not do anything with this drive until RAID metadata is cleared. If Drive-1 is removed and taken to another system, the Intel® VROC GUI application will show the drive as online as part of a degraded RAID 1 volume.	Offline
Size	Reports the total capacity of the disk in Megabytes (MB) in the disk properties and in Gigabytes (GB) in the storage system view.	Size
Serial Number	Reports the manufacturer's serial number for the disk.	Serial Number
Model	Reports the model number of the disk.	Model Number
Firmware	Reports the version of the firmware found in the disk.	Information not available.
System Disk	Reports whether the disk contains system files that are required to start and run the operating system.	Information not available.
Protection	Reports whether the disk is protected with a password.	Information not available.
Disk Data Cache	Reports whether the disk supports this feature.	Information not available.
Native Command Queuing	Reports the data transfer rate between the SATA controller and the SATA disk. The supported rates are: SATA 1.5 Gb/s (generation 1) SATA 3 Gb/s (generation 2) SATA 6 Gb/s (generation 3) The reported rate depends on the Intel® chipset and the SATA disks present in the system.	Information not available.
Physical Sector Size	Reports the size of physical sectors on the disk (bytes).	Information not available.
Logical Sector Size	Reports the size of logical sectors on the disk (bytes).	Block Size

Marking a Disk as Spare

Marking a disk as a spare allows the user to designate an available disk as the default destination for automatic volume rebuilds in the event of a failed, missing, or at-risk array disk. However, for RAID 0 volumes, automatic rebuilds will only occur if one of its members is reported at risk. This action is only available for non-system disks in a normal state.

1. Under Home, in the storage system view, click the disk that the user wants to mark as a spare. The volume properties are now displayed on the right.
2. Click Mark as Spare.
3. Click OK.

RAID 1, 5, and 10 volumes can use one or more spares. When marking a disk as a spare, any existing data on that disk is permanently deleted. Before starting this action, back up all data the user wants to preserve.

If the user’s system is running a version of the Intel® VROC (SATA RAID) Legacy OROM that does not support disks 2TB or larger, the user can reset such a disk to available but disallow marking it as a spare.

Resetting a Disk to Available

After a disk is marked as spare, the user can choose to make that spare disk available again and use it differently. Once available, the disk can be used to create a volume or be added to an existing volume if all other requirements are met.

1. Under Home, in the storage system view, click the disk that the user wants to reset to available. The volume properties are now displayed on the right.
2. Click Reset to Available. The page refreshes, and the disk usage is now reported as available.

Resetting a Disk to Normal

The user can reset a disk to normal when the storage system reports one of the following disk statuses:

• At Risk: A disk is reported at increased risk of failing in the near future, which could be due to a slow degradation over time. The user can choose to ignore this alert at this time by resetting the disk to normal, but it may reappear if the disk continues to assert this condition. We recommend that the user contact the manufacturer for more information to prevent potential data loss.
• Failed: A disk has failed to properly complete read and write operations in a timely manner, and data may be lost. We recommend that the user replace the failed disk as soon as possible to return the overall storage system to normal. In this state, data may be lost, but the user can try resetting the disk to normal and attempting a data recovery. If the disk operations continue to fail, the disk will return to a failed state immediately.

If the failed disk is an array disk, refer to Troubleshooting Tips for Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) in Windows* Environments for guidelines on rebuilding a failed or degraded volume.

1. Under Home, in the Device pane, locate the disk reported as at risk or failed. The user can also perform this action from the Disk Properties on the right.
2. Click Reset disk to normal. The page refreshes instantly, returning to a normal state.

Completing this action clears the event on the disk and does not delete existing data. However, ignoring early warning signs of disk failure may result in data loss.

Resetting a Disk to Online/Normal

After a disk was marked as offline, the user can bring that drive back online by removing the metadata on the drive under drive properties. Once back online, the disk can be used to create a volume or be added to an existing volume if all other requirements are met.

1. Under Home, in the storage system view, click the disk that the user wants to bring back online. The disk properties are now displayed on the right.
2. Click Clear metadata on the status line, next to Offline. A window will pop up explaining that the data on the disk will be deleted.
3. Click Yes to complete the process. The page refreshes, and the disk usage should now be reported as Normal.

If there is critical data on the drive, take the drive to another system to recover the data before clearing the metadata.

This process can also be performed using the Intel® VROC Command Line Interface (CLI) tool and in the Pre-OS environment.

Connecting a Disk

Installing new hardware is one step the user may have to take to keep the storage system healthy or to extend the life of a computer that is running out of storage space.

The Intel® VROC family of products will provide NVMe* and SATA drive hot-plug support. This feature allows disks to be removed or inserted while the computer is turned on and the operating system is running. For example, hot-plugging may be used to replace a failed external disk.

The Intel® VROC application provides support for SATA 1.5 Gb/s (generation 1), SATA 3 Gb/s (generation 2), and 6 Gb/s (generation 3) data transfer rates. The rate support depends on the Intel® chipset and SATA disks present in the user’s system.

Follow these procedures to replace or connect a disk in case the user needs to power off the user’s computer:

Replacing a Disk

1. Power off the user’s computer.
2. Replace the disk that reports a problem.
3. Turn on the user’s computer.

If the replaced disk was part of an array, the user will need to follow the procedure provided in Troubleshooting Tips for Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) in Windows* Environments based on the volume state and type.

To install an external disk, plug it into the user’s computer and connect the power cord.

To remove and install an internal disk, the user should be comfortable opening the user’s computer case and connecting cables. Follow the manufacturer’s installation guide to complete this procedure. If the user is replacing the system disk, the user will have to reinstall the operating system after the user connects the disk because the system disk contains the files required to start and run the user’s computer.

Installing a New Disk (To Increase Storage Space)

1. Power off the user’s computer.
2. Connect the new disk.
3. Turn on the user’s computer.

During the system startup, the application's Pre-OS should automatically detect the new disk if it is installed correctly. Once the user opens the application, verify under Home, in the storage system view that the new disk displays. The user can then access management options by clicking that disk.

Managing Ports

A port is a connection point on the user’s computer where the user can physically connect a device, such as a SATA disk, an ATAPI device, or an NVMe* SSD. A port transfers I/O data between the device and the computer.

If a port is reported as empty in the storage system view, the user can use that port to connect a new device to increase the storage system capacity. Currently, the maximum number of internal ports that can be used to connect SATA devices is eight (per controller).

The port properties listed below display to the left of the storage system view under Manage and report values specific to the element selected in the view.

Parameter	Value
Port	Reports the port number to which the disk or device is attached.

Detecting a Spare Drive

The Intel® VROC family of products will provide support to detect spare drives.