ServerRAID Manager - Want to add drive with data and not loose it

[Peter]

My server's mirrored disk drives are corrupted. I want to replace
them with a mirrored drive from a different computer without loosing
the data.

I am running ServeRAID version 6.00.31 with an IBM ServeRAID 5i
Controller. So far I have tried the following -

Deleting the array that contained the removed drives and recreating
the array with the new data drive. ALL DATA WAS LOST

Removing the two drives and inserting the new data drive. Old drives
say defuncted and bringing the new data drive online deletes the data.

Removing the two drives and inserting the new data drive and
performing a 'Scan for new ready drives' DOESN'T FIND THE NEWLY
INSTALLED DATA DRIVE

I know that I am not the only person to perform this type of action.
Can someone please assist me? Thanks PW

 

[Johnson_dk]

My server's mirrored disk drives are corrupted. I want to replace
them with a mirrored drive from a different computer without loosing
the data.

I am running ServeRAID version 6.00.31 with an IBM ServeRAID 5i
Controller. So far I have tried the following -

Deleting the array that contained the removed drives and recreating
the array with the new data drive. ALL DATA WAS LOST

If you use Raid 1 this is possible, but remenber remove the check mark
"initialise new logical drives"

Removing the two drives and inserting the new data drive. Old drives
say defuncted and bringing the new data drive online deletes the data.

This is also possible if you use Raid 1, "failt" both "old" drives, replace
one of the drives with the "new" drive, set this drive "Online", and rebuild
the onther drive on another disk.

Removing the two drives and inserting the new data drive and
performing a 'Scan for new ready drives' DOESN'T FIND THE NEWLY
INSTALLED DATA DRIVE

Nope. because you have "falied" drives in thse lokation if oyu mount the
drives in other "unsed" slot the drives drives wil show up.

I know that I am not the only person to perform this type of action.
Can someone please assist me? Thanks PW

Under normal curcumstances i would just power the server down, mount the
"new" disks, and when the controller during boot indicates drive/controller
configuration mismatch, import the configuration from the drives and every
thing works, as if you just replaced a failed raid controller.

(before doing any of these thiese things, make sure that the firmware and
driver on both system are at same level ... !!!!!, there is at problem
moving drives from new ServeRaid firmware to older ones ...!!!)



Best regards


Johnny

 

[pw]

Johnny,

I don't know if you monitor this group regularly, but I will give it a
try. I have an IBM server running Windows Server 2003 Web Edition with
and IBM ServeRAID 5i Controller. I am using ServeRAID Manager version
6.00.31 and need to setup two mirrored pairs. The server failed and I
have recreated two master drives. How do I setup these drives as
masters? The server currently has no drives defined. I need to use
the bootup RAID software to define the drives then I can use ServeRAID
Manager to setup the arrays.
How do I define the initial masters so that the server boots up?

 

[Johnny]

Use the ServeRaid Manger on the bootable CD or the one the IBM Server guide,
that way you do not need a running OS to configure the raid controller..


Best regards

Johnny

 

[Curious George]

My server's mirrored disk drives are corrupted. I want to replace
them with a mirrored drive from a different computer without loosing
the data.

if the disks are from another Serveraid clear the config on the
controller, insert the new disks and then import the config from the
disks.

I am running ServeRAID version 6.00.31 with an IBM ServeRAID 5i
Controller. So far I have tried the following -

Deleting the array that contained the removed drives and recreating
the array with the new data drive. ALL DATA WAS LOST

If I understand correctly the problem was that you borked & over wrote
the existing config on the drives rather than salvaging what is there.

Removing the two drives and inserting the new data drive. Old drives
say defuncted and bringing the new data drive online deletes the data.

I'm a little confused as the new drives are already borked. Once you
have made a drive defunct the serveraid is not happy about marking it
online again (even in a different position). You have to be careful
how you introduce a drive that already has data on it.

Removing the two drives and inserting the new data drive and
performing a 'Scan for new ready drives' DOESN'T FIND THE NEWLY
INSTALLED DATA DRIVE

I'm still confused. How were you working with the new drives in the
previous steps if they couldn't be recognized?

I know that I am not the only person to perform this type of action.
Can someone please assist me? Thanks PW

At this point, now that it sounds like everything is nice and screwed
up, you could retry my original suggestion but it might just be easier
to clear the controller config, erase the drives, reconfigure the raid
and restore the data from a backup.