Fast Initialization - HP MR Gen10 Plus User Manual

Fast initialization

Fast initialization
During fast initialization, the firmware quickly overwrites the first and last 8 MB regions of the new logical drive, clearing any boot
records or partition information, and then completes the initialization in the background. Monitor the progress of the initialization
process using the progress indicator.
RAID levels that use parity (RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 50, and RAID 60) require that the parity blocks be initialized to valid values. Valid
parity data is required to enable enhanced data protection through background controller surface scan analysis and higher write
performance (backed out write). After parity initialization is complete, writes to a RAID 5 or RAID 6 logical drive are typically faster
because the controller does not read the entire stripe (regenerative write) to update the parity data. This feature initializes parity
blocks in the background while the logical drive is available for access by the operating system. Parity initialization takes several hours
to complete. The time it takes depends on the size of the logical drive and the load on the controller. While the controller initializes the
parity data in the background, the logical drive has full fault tolerance.
This method has the benefit of allowing you to start writing data to the logical drive immediately.
Access the background initialization (BGI) rate by selecting Set Adjustable Task Rate under the More Actions menu than locating it
under the Priority Percentage column. Enter a number from 1 to 100. The higher the number, the faster the initialization will occur (and
the system I/O rate might be slower as a result).
If you use RAID 5, you must have a minimum of five drives for a background initialization to start. If you use RAID 6, you must have at
least seven drives for a background initialization to start.
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