Learn If You Should Initialize Your RAID Array for Intel® Storage System SS4000-E

If the Intel® Entry Storage System SS4000-E web browser interface reports a disk change notification after booting the unit, the option for to the user is to to 'Initialize' the RAID array.

Such a disk change notification can be the result of hard drive failure, or one or two of the RAID drives going offline, depending on the RAID configuration.

If you encounter this message on an Intel® Entry Storage System SS4000-E, do not immediately press the Initialize button. Before deciding to initialize the existing RAID array, please take a moment to consider the consequences.

If you decide to initialize you will lose all existing data on the RAID array. It may be prudent to try other steps first to repair the failed array.

1. Check on the Tested Hardware and Operating System list which firmware the hard drive was validated with by Intel. If there is a different firmware version on your hard disk, check with the manufacturer, what the differences between these firmware versions are. A newer drive firmware may support features which the SS4000-E does not support. Such features may be enabled by default on the drives. If that is the case, the drive manufacturer may be able to provide tools to turn such features off.
2. Check with the hard drive manufacturer if there are any issues with your drive model, such as drives going offline. If so, the hard drive manufacturer can probably provide a fix.
3. Remove and reinsert all hard drives (in the same order as they were in before). If one hard drive was offline, rather than faulty, the reinsertion may trigger it back into online state and the RAID array may start rebuilding.

If none of these steps recover the RAID failure, initializing the array may be the only available option. To minimize the possibility of data loss, a backup should always be created at regular intervals, especially if the Intel® Entry Storage System SS4000-E is used for storage purposes, rather than for backup purposes.