RAIDManagement

WD Drive Utilities Help

Managing the RAID configuration

The initial/default configuration of RAID-enabled WD dual-drive storage devices is as a striped RAID 0 disk array for high-speed/maximum-storage performance. You can use the WD Drive Utilities™ software to check the device status and reconfigure the device as either:

A mirrored RAID 1 disk array for maximum-protection/reduced-storage performance
JBOD (individual drives) that can be formatted differently for enhanced flexibility

Checking the device status

The WD Drive Utilities software provides a status indication of the device configuration.

If you have more than one supported device connected to your computer, select the RAID-enabled WD dual-drive storage device that you want to check.
Click RAID Management > RAID Status.
The RAID Status display shows:
- Current Configuration as either:
  - RAID 0 (Striped)
  - RAID 1 (Mirrored)
  - JBOD (Individual Drives)
- RAID Status as either:
  - Healthy
  - Not Configured
  - Cannot Access Data
  - Data Loss Detected
  - Degraded
  - Rebuild Failed
  - Rebuilding (x%)
  - Unknown
- Drive Status as either:
  - Drive Not Supported—The drive model is not supported
  - Empty—There is no drive installed, but none was expected
  - Failed—The drive has failed
  - ID Mismatch—The drive metadata information does not match its serial number
  - Insufficient Capacity—The drive you installed has insufficient capacity to be part of the mirrored RAID disk array
  - Missing—The expected drive is not installed
  - New Drive—The installed drive has not been configured
  - Online—The drive is healthy and part of the RAID disk array
  - Rebuilding—The drive is the target disk of the rebuild operation and that operation is still in progress

Note: In the RAID Status displays for RAID-enabled My Book devices, Drive 1 Status refers to the drive installed in the left slot of the device enclosure, viewed from the front, and Drive 2 Status refers to the drive installed in the right slot, regardless of the actual label on the drive.

Changing the device configuration

CAUTION! Changing the device configuration reformats both drives, which erases all of the data on them. If you have been using the device in one mode and then want to switch to a different mode, back up your files to another storage device before changing the configuration.

Note: Changing the device configuration also deletes the WD software and all of the support files, utilities, and user manual files. You can download these to restore the device to its original configuration after the change. See Restoring the WD software and disk image.

If you have more than one supported device connected to your computer, select the RAID-enabled WD dual-drive storage device that you want to change.
Click RAID Management > Configuration to display the configuration dialog.
On the configuration dialog, select the option for the mode that you want to change to:
- Stripe - maximum capacity and performance (RAID 0)
- Mirror - maximum data protection (RAID 1)
- Individual Drives (JBOD)
If you want to change the name of a volume, type over the name in the Volume Name box.

Note: For RAID-enabled My Book devices, Drive 1 refers to the drive installed in the left slot of the device enclosure, viewed from the front, and Drive 2 refers to the drive installed in the right slot, regardless of the actual label on the drive.

Read the explanation about permanently erasing all of the data when you change the device configuration and select the I understand... check box to signify that you accept the risk.
Important: If you want to save any of the data that is on the device drives, back it up to another storage device before continuing with the configuration change.
Click Configure to begin the configuration change.
During the configuration change, the device power/activity indicator blinks rapidly to show:
- Read/write activity for RAID 0 stripe or JBOD individual drives configurations
- Rebuild activity for a RAID 1 mirror configuration
After the configuration change completes, see Restoring the WD software and disk image in the next section.

Restoring the WD software and disk image

In addition to deleting all of the data on your RAID-enabled WD dual-drive storage device, changing the device configuration also deletes the WD software and all of the support files, utilities, and user manual files.

If you ever need to remove and reinstall the WD software on your computer, or move the device to another computer and install the software there, you will need to restore the WD software and disk image on your device. To do this, after you have reconfigured the device, see Knowledge Base Answer ID 7 at http://support.wd.com.