MegaRAID Ctrl-R: RAID, JBOD, Spares and Recovery Examples
Legacy MegaRAID Ctrl-R examples for the OEM-listed 3008 IMR, 9361 and 9364 controllers. The pictures include different card models, firmware screens, disk sets and capacities; available RAID/JBOD features depend on the actual controller and OEM firmware. Most original interface text is already English. Six edited bitmap assets replace the Chinese annotations at seven positions, with numeric values and selections checked against the originals.
Use the relevant section for the intended task. Configuration deletion, initialization, JBOD conversion and foreign-configuration changes can remove data or metadata; the source’s confirmation dialogs are retained. New-array creation examples must not be treated as recovery instructions for an existing array. The multiple-disk section is a historical recovery case with explicit limits.
I. Check RAID Status
1. When the following interface is displayed, press Ctrl+R to enter the RAID configuration interface.
2. After entering the RAID configuration interface, you may find existing RAID configuration information.
The marked example shows a 558.406 GB RAID 1 virtual drive in Optimal state. The article includes several different arrays/controllers and capacities; later figures are not all one continuous operation. A healthy status is not an independent data-integrity test.
3. In the case of clearing the configuration or when there is no RAID information, the disk should be in the following state:
II. Delete RAID Array
1. Deleting an array must be done with caution. When there are two or more RAID groups and only one RAID group needs to be deleted (e.g., delete RAID1), select the RAID group to be deleted and press the F2 key.
2. To delete the intended drive group, select that group and use F2 → Delete Drive Group. This removes all virtual drives within that drive group, not merely whichever one VD is visible. Check the actual group and every affected VD before confirmation.
3. Read the warning that all virtual drives in the selected drive group will be deleted. The source illustrates confirmation with Yes; confirm only for the intended, backed-up removal. The screenshots do not establish which group is safe to remove in another environment.
4. If you want to directly delete all configurations, go to the first row and press the F2 key,
Select Clear Configuration.
5. Subsequently, an alert box will appear indicating that all array information will be cleared.
6. After deletion is complete, all hard drives will change to the Ready state.
III. RAID Configuration Recommendations for Large Storage
The OS VD and later data VD share the same drive group and physical failure domain; separating them is not a backup or independent fault isolation. Follow the actual OS and controller boot requirements.
1. For its legacy Windows boot example, the source separates a smaller OS VD from a later data VD. This is a layout option, not a rule that every Windows installation over 2 TB requires two VDs. Windows large-disk support depends on the applicable OS, controller/firmware, sector size and partition scheme; GPT and supported UEFI boot are the relevant considerations for large boot disks.
After the operating system installation is completed, configure another larger virtual drive (VD).
Create RAID5: Select "Create Virtual Drive", then the following interface will pop up.
2. Select the RAID type as RAID 5, then press the Space bar to select the disks to join the RAID array. After selection, the status before the disk will display as "×".
At the same time, the Size field below displays the maximum space of this RAID. It is recommended to select the configured disks. If considering hot spare, leave the last disk empty.
Enter the intended VD size and name. The source prose suggests 150–250 GB, while the illustrated OS VD is 99.999 GB. These are historical sizing examples, not a current minimum or recommendation. A RAID VD is an OS-visible block device; it is not itself a C: filesystem partition. Size the intended OS and data layout explicitly.
English annotation: historical 99.999 GB OS VD, name os, RAID 5 with four selected drives; this is a VD-sizing example, not a Windows partition.
3. Select OK. Then the RAID 5 creation is complete.
Original English confirmation asks whether to SKIP initialization; read the complete question before choosing OK or Cancel. It is not the later destructive-initialization confirmation.
4. The RAID5 status is "Optimal", indicating that the RAID 5 array has been created successfully.
5. Proceed with the operating system installation. After installation is complete, proceed with the configuration of the remaining space:
After entering the RAID configuration interface, move the cursor to "Drive Group..", press the F2 key, and then select "Add New VD".
6. At this point, the remaining space of the entire DG will be displayed. After confirmation, select OK.
7. As shown below, there are 2 VDs.
8. Restart and enter the operating system to format, partition, and use the newly added disk devices.
IV. RAID0 Configuration
1. When the following interface is displayed, press Ctrl+R to enter the RAID configuration interface.
2. In the case of clearing the configuration or when there is no RAID information, the disk should be in the following state.
3. At this time, select the first or second row of the page, press the F2 key, and the operations menu will pop up,
4. Create RAID0: Select "Create Virtual Drive", then the following interface will pop up.
English member-selection annotation: current RAID dropdown is RAID 0 and both 558.406 GB disks are still unchecked. The repeated image in the RAID 1 section is the shared starting screen before selecting RAID 1.
5. Select the RAID type as RAID 0.
English annotation: RAID 0 highlighted in the dropdown; member disks remain unselected.
6. Press the Space bar to select the disks to join the RAID array. After selection, the status before the disk will display as "×". At the same time, the Size field below displays the maximum space of this RAID.
7. Enter the RAID array size and RAID name (the default is also acceptable), then select "Advanced" for advanced configuration.
8. Enter the advanced options and set the following parameters sequentially; others can remain default;
Strip Size: Stripe value, based on business requirements; if none, keep the default;
Write Policy: Write policy used to set whether write caching is enabled for the currently configured VD. There are 1-3 options, among which:
1) Write Through: The controller acknowledges the write after the drive subsystem receives the transaction. Its performance depends on the workload and devices; it is not universally slower in every case.
2) Write Back: The controller acknowledges the write after its cache receives the transaction. Protection of unwritten data depends on the controller’s supported, healthy battery/flash-backed cache mechanism. In Broadcom’s documented policy example, absent battery protection causes ordinary Write Back to fall back to Write Through. Check the effective policy and protection status for the actual card.
3) Always Write Back: Forces Write Back even when battery protection is absent in the documented example. This can leave acknowledged cached writes unprotected on power loss; it is not a default recommendation. The source’s screenshots showing Battery Status Missing and Always Write Back must not be treated as evidence of protected cache.
9. Initialize is a destructive operation. Select it only for the intended new/disposable VD after checking the target and required backups. Leaving Initialize unchecked does not by itself preserve or recover existing data: clearing/recreating an array or choosing different geometry can still make it inaccessible. Recovery requires the verified original configuration and a matching recovery plan.
10. After selecting initialization, a warning window will appear indicating that data will be destroyed. Select "OK".
11. Select OK on the Advanced Configuration screen, then select OK on the following configuration screen as well. RAID 0 creation is complete.
12. Inspect the actual initialization state and progress. Although the source prose says Init / xx%, its adjacent screenshot already says Initialization complete on VD 0 and shows Optimal. Do not infer a current percentage or a full media-surface check from that archived completion dialog.
Original RAID 0 example already shows Initialization complete and Optimal; it does not show the Init / xx% state claimed by the source prose.
13. Press Ctrl+N to enter the "PD Mgmt" interface to check disk status. The status of all disks within the array should now be "Online".
V. RAID 1 Configuration
1. When you see the following screen, press Ctrl+R to enter the RAID configuration interface.
2. After clearing configuration or if no RAID information exists, the disks should show the following status.
3. Select the first or second row on the page, then press the F2 key to open the operations menu.
4. Create RAID 1: Select "Create Virtual Drive" to display the following screen.
Repeated English starting-screen annotation in the RAID 1 section: RAID 0 is still displayed here; the next screen selects RAID 1.
5. Select RAID type as RAID 1.
English annotation: RAID 1 highlighted in the dropdown; no member has been selected yet.
6. Press the Spacebar to select disks to add to the RAID array. Once selected, the status before the disk changes to "×". Meanwhile, the Size field below displays the maximum space for this RAID. You can manually input the RAID array size and RAID name (the default is also acceptable), then select "Advanced" for advanced configuration.
7. Enter the advanced options and set the following parameters sequentially; leave others as default.
Strip Size: Stripe value. Set according to business requirements; otherwise, keep the default.
Write Policy: Write policy used to determine whether the currently configured VD has write caching enabled. There are 1-3 options, as follows:
1) Write Through: The controller acknowledges the write after the drive subsystem receives the transaction. Its performance depends on the workload and devices; it is not universally slower in every case.
2) Write Back: The controller acknowledges the write after its cache receives the transaction. Protection of unwritten data depends on the controller’s supported, healthy battery/flash-backed cache mechanism. In Broadcom’s documented policy example, absent battery protection causes ordinary Write Back to fall back to Write Through. Check the effective policy and protection status for the actual card.
3) Always Write Back: Forces Write Back even when battery protection is absent in the documented example. This can leave acknowledged cached writes unprotected on power loss; it is not a default recommendation. The source’s screenshots showing Battery Status Missing and Always Write Back must not be treated as evidence of protected cache.
8. Initialize is a destructive operation. Select it only for the intended new/disposable VD after checking the target and required backups. Leaving Initialize unchecked does not by itself preserve or recover existing data: clearing/recreating an array or choosing different geometry can still make it inaccessible. Recovery requires the verified original configuration and a matching recovery plan.
9. After selecting initialization, a warning window will appear indicating that data will be destroyed. Select "OK".
10. Select OK on the Advanced Configuration screen, then select OK on the following configuration screen as well. RAID 1 creation is complete.
11. The source shows an Initialization complete dialog and an Optimal RAID 1 example. Actual duration depends on the operation and configuration; this is not a fixed few-second guarantee. The final example shows a different capacity from the earlier selection screenshots, so do not treat them as a verified capacity-change sequence.
Original final RAID 1 example has a different VD capacity from the preceding creation screens; the source combines separate examples.
VI. RAID 5 Configuration
1. When you see the following screen, press Ctrl+R to enter the RAID configuration interface.
2. After clearing configuration or if no RAID information exists, the disks should show the following status.
3. Select the first or second row on the page, then press the F2 key to open the operations menu.
4. Select RAID type as RAID 5. Press the Spacebar to select disks to add to the RAID array. Once selected, the status before the disk changes to "×". Meanwhile, the Size field below displays the maximum space for this RAID. You can manually input the RAID array size and RAID name (the default is also acceptable), then select "Advanced" for advanced configuration.
English RAID 5 annotation: first three 278.875 GB drives selected, fourth left out, 557.750 GB VD, name IEI.
5. Enter the advanced options and set the following parameters sequentially; leave others as default.
Strip Size: Stripe value. Set according to business requirements; otherwise, keep the default.
Write Policy: Write policy used to determine whether the currently configured VD has write caching enabled. There are 1-3 options, as follows:
1) Write Through: The controller acknowledges the write after the drive subsystem receives the transaction. Its performance depends on the workload and devices; it is not universally slower in every case.
2) Write Back: The controller acknowledges the write after its cache receives the transaction. Protection of unwritten data depends on the controller’s supported, healthy battery/flash-backed cache mechanism. In Broadcom’s documented policy example, absent battery protection causes ordinary Write Back to fall back to Write Through. Check the effective policy and protection status for the actual card.
3) Always Write Back: Forces Write Back even when battery protection is absent in the documented example. This can leave acknowledged cached writes unprotected on power loss; it is not a default recommendation. The source’s screenshots showing Battery Status Missing and Always Write Back must not be treated as evidence of protected cache.
6. Initialize is a destructive operation. Select it only for the intended new/disposable VD after checking the target and required backups. Leaving Initialize unchecked does not by itself preserve or recover existing data: clearing/recreating an array or choosing different geometry can still make it inaccessible. Recovery requires the verified original configuration and a matching recovery plan.
7. After selecting initialization, a warning window will appear indicating that data will be destroyed. Select "OK".
8. Select OK on the Advanced Configuration screen, then select OK on the following configuration screen as well. RAID 5 creation is complete.
VII. RAID 10 Configuration
1. When you see the following screen, press Ctrl+R to enter the RAID configuration interface.
2. Under the condition of clearing configuration or when there is no RAID information, the disks should be in the following state
3. At this time, select the first or second row on the page, press the F2 key to pop up the operations menu
4. Select the RAID type as RAID 10, press the space bar to select the disks to join the RAID array. After selection, the status displayed before the disk becomes '×'. Meanwhile, under Size below, the maximum space of this RAID is displayed. You can manually input the RAID size and RAID name (the default is also acceptable), then select 'Advanced' for advanced configuration
English RAID 10 annotation: four 278.875 GB drives selected across two spans (two drives per span), 557.750 GB VD, name IEI.
5. Enter the advanced options and set the following parameters sequentially; other settings remain default:
Strip Size: Stripe value. Based on business requirements, keep the default if not specified;
Write Policy: Write strategy used to configure whether the current configured VD has write caching enabled. There are 1-3 options, among which:
1) Write Through: The controller acknowledges the write after the drive subsystem receives the transaction. Its performance depends on the workload and devices; it is not universally slower in every case.
2) Write Back: The controller acknowledges the write after its cache receives the transaction. Protection of unwritten data depends on the controller’s supported, healthy battery/flash-backed cache mechanism. In Broadcom’s documented policy example, absent battery protection causes ordinary Write Back to fall back to Write Through. Check the effective policy and protection status for the actual card.
3) Always Write Back: Forces Write Back even when battery protection is absent in the documented example. This can leave acknowledged cached writes unprotected on power loss; it is not a default recommendation. The source’s screenshots showing Battery Status Missing and Always Write Back must not be treated as evidence of protected cache.
6. Initialize is a destructive operation. Select it only for the intended new/disposable VD after checking the target and required backups. Leaving Initialize unchecked does not by itself preserve or recover existing data: clearing/recreating an array or choosing different geometry can still make it inaccessible. Recovery requires the verified original configuration and a matching recovery plan.
7. After selecting initialization, a warning window pops up informing that data will be destroyed. Select 'OK'.
8. Select OK on the advanced configuration interface, then also select OK on the following configuration interface. RAID 10 creation is completed.
VIII. RAID 50 Configuration
RAID 50 uses striping across RAID 5 spans, not mirrored pairs. The source only says to reuse the RAID 10 creation flow and choose RAID 50; it supplies no RAID 50-specific screenshot or span plan. Use the card-supported RAID 50 layout with at least two RAID 5 spans (at least three drives in each, at least six total), checking span membership and limits in the matching controller guide. Do not copy the four-drive RAID 10 membership as a RAID 50 layout.
IX. JBOD Configuration
1. Under the Ctrl+R interface, under the condition of clearing configuration or when there is no RAID information, the disks should be in the following state
2. Check in the Ctrl Mgmt interface whether the JBOD function can be used. In the bottom right corner, Enable JBOD. If there is an 'X', JBOD configuration is possible. If there is no 'X', select it, press Enter, mark an 'X', then select APPLY and press Enter to save and take effect.
3. Create JBOD by going to the PD mgmt interface.
4. Select the intended unconfigured drive, use F2 → Make JBOD, and read its conversion warning. The source’s confirmation explicitly says conversion deletes existing disk data; this is not a non-destructive way to expose an existing RAID member. Confirm only for the planned conversion.
Original English JBOD conversion warning states that existing disk data is deleted; confirmation is not a recovery action.
5. At this time, the disk status changes to 'JBOD' mode
X. Hot Spare Configuration
1. View the RAID 5 status in the VD MGMT directory. It is normal, with one remaining disk in ready status.
2. Press Ctrl+N to go to PD MGMT to configure a global hot spare disk, and select the remaining disk with UG status.
3. Press the 'F2' key, select 'Make Global HS'.
Original English Make Global HS menu: the selected eligible UG drive is the intended candidate; verify actual drive identity.
4. Verify that the disk status has changed to hotspare status.
XI. Single Disk Failure and Handling Steps
Case distinction: these steps refer to an approved replacement while a redundant array is rebuilding to a spare. They are separate from recovering original members after multiple disks disappear. A Foreign state can require import or clear depending on the intended data; the state label alone is insufficient.
1. When Slot01 goes offline, check via the PD Mgmt interface whether the hard drive is present, then press F5 to refresh.
2. In this specific archived example Slot01 is absent, Slot03 is rebuilding and Slot05 remains a global hot spare. Identify the actual enclosure/slot and approved replacement drive. After insertion the source’s replacement at Slot01 appears Failed, which is a case-specific state to investigate rather than the expected state of every new drive.
3. The source’s case then selects Slot01 and uses F2 → Make unconfigured good (Make UG). This changes the controller’s treatment of that drive; do not apply it to an unidentified failing original member or assume it repairs physical media.
4. Press F5 to refresh. Slot01 status changes from Failed to Foreign;
5. In the source’s replacement-drive case, the drive then shows Foreign. The example uses VD Mgmt → controller → F2 → Foreign Config → Clear. Clearing removes foreign metadata and differs from Import, which adopts a configuration. Preserve any metadata needed for recovery and verify the complete foreign preview before choosing an action; do not clear original members merely because Foreign is displayed.
6. A prompt asks for confirmation to clear. Select 'YES';
7. Enter the PD M interface, press F5 to refresh, and verify that Slot01 disk status changes to UG;
8. The source expects copyback from the rebuilt Slot03 spare to the replacement at Slot01, followed by Slot03 returning to spare service. Actual automatic-copyback behavior depends on controller settings and drive eligibility; verify the real rebuild/copyback tasks and final membership rather than assuming this sequence always occurs.
Check Rebuild progress: Move the cursor to the Slot03 currently rebuilding, press Tab, then Enter to enter PAGE-2.
XII. Multiple Disk Failure and Handling Steps
Interpret the menu examples only after the actual RAID layout, complete member set, failure order and recoverability have been established. An import or a rebuild can change the only remaining recovery evidence.
This archived example has a five-drive RAID 5 with two missing/failed members and an Offline VD. RAID 5 cannot tolerate two permanently lost members; the presence of recoverable metadata after temporary removal is a different case from permanent data loss. The source itself advises professional recovery first and does not guarantee success. Preserve the identified members, slots, configuration and failure chronology before any recovery decision; the following screens describe the historical case, not a general repair sequence.
1. Check RAID status. It is in Offline status.
2. Check disk status. At this time, the disks in positions 00 and 01 have failed.
3. Historical case action: the source uses Make unconfigured good on one failed/missing-member candidate. Whether a member is safe and valid to reintroduce must be established from the actual incident. This menu action does not prove the disk’s data is current or its media are healthy.
4. Historical observation: the drive appears Foreign, and the source repeats the treatment for the second candidate. Foreign metadata alone does not establish that both disks should be imported or that the array can recover.
5. Historical case action: the source opens Foreign View and selects Import. In an actual recovery, use the matching foreign-configuration preview and verified incident plan; Import may start writes/rebuilds. It is distinct from the Clear operation shown in the separate replacement-drive example.
Original foreign-configuration Import example belongs to the historical multi-disk case; it differs from Clear in the replacement-drive case.
6. The next source screen shows one of these members Online and the other Rebuild. The source claims that the controller selected newer data, but the screenshot alone cannot establish data freshness, correct failure chronology or application consistency. Do not assume automatic recency selection makes arbitrary multi-disk recovery safe.
7. The final historical screenshot shows the VD Optimal after rebuild. Verify actual application data and recovery results independently; Optimal does not prove the reconstructed contents are correct.
XIII. Introduction to Common Control Management Interfaces
1. After entering the RAID configuration interface, press "Ctrl+N" to access the "Ctrl Mgmt" interface:
Alarm Control: Configure the buzzer status
Option meanings: Enable enables audible fault alarms; Disable disables them; Silence silences the current alarm. The source says the alarm can recur after reboot. These controls change alarm behavior, not the underlying fault condition.
BIOS Mode: Controls how the controller BIOS handles boot/error conditions; use the matching controller help for the offered modes. It is not the server-wide UEFI/legacy boot selector.
Boot Device: Boot device options. When multiple arrays exist, you can select which array to boot from.
Enable JBOD: Enables the feature for eligible drives when supported; the checkbox alone does not convert a selected disk or guarantee support for every named adapter.
Emergency Spare: Selection of hot spare disks for emergency situations
1) None: Do not commission emergency spare drives under this policy.
2) UG: Permit eligible Unconfigured Good drives as emergency-spare candidates; this is a candidate policy, not a claim that every UG drive immediately becomes a spare.
3) GHS: Permit eligible Global Hot Spare drives as emergency-spare candidates.
4) UG & GHS: Permit eligible candidates from both categories. Check size, interface and controller policy for the actual array.
Personality Mode: RAID card mode
RAID-mode supports both RAID functions and JBOD
JBOD-mode only supports JBOD and cannot support RAID
2. After entering the RAID configuration interface, press "Ctrl+N" to access the "Properties" interface:
Page:01:
Product Name: RAID card model
Controller Status: RAID card status
ROC Temperature: RAID card temperature
FW Version: Firmware version
Battery Status: BBU status
"Next" for next page, Page: 02:
Memory Size: RAID card cache
English references and checks
- Original manufacturer Ctrl-R procedure (Chinese)
- Broadcom 12Gb/s MegaRAID SAS Software User Guide, 2017: Ctrl-R, cache policies, initialization, foreign configuration and spare behavior
- Broadcom recovery case guidance: identical original configuration and no initialization required; not a universal reconstruction recipe
- Microsoft large-disk support: GPT, supported firmware/OS and boot requirements