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PERC 6/i Raid 5 - Foreign Config
Hi,
I have a machine with a PERC 6/i controller, 3 physical drives, configured as a single RAID 5 array.
This has worked fine for many years, but today has 'failed'
When I try to boot, it warns me there is a foreign config, and one or more of my drives is missing or inaccessible.
I entered the controller config utility, and took photos of the various pages, because to be honest, I don't know how to go about recovering this, so I'm looking for advice on what I should do.
1) How do I know which of my 3 drives is the failed actual unit ?
2) If I get a replacement and fit it, will the array rebuild itself ?
3) Can I (or should I ) boot with one drive down, and then backup all the data on the array ?
I really could do with not having to loose this array, as although I think we have most of it backed up, I'm not sure we will have everything covered.
Many Thanks
Adelphi2024
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April 25th, 2024 00:26
OK - So I did a 'Import Foreign Config' and the controller then did a Rebuild on the drive which had been missing. This took about an hour, and then it completed and the VD State became 'Optimal'
At this point - I thought 'great - it's fixed' but I was wrong, something else is still giving me issues.
When I did a reboot, the OS is taking forever to load. It's been over 30mins so far, and it's still not got off the splash screen. I must have an issue somewhere. It's like it's taking forever to read from the array.
Does anyone have any suggestions ?
Thanks
Adelphi2024
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April 25th, 2024 01:20
After over an hour, I've got into the OS, but I seem to have lost 2 of my 4 partitions.
I have no idea what to do at this point. 1 of those partitions has my data on it, and I can not believe it has been lost. There must be some way I can recover this surely....
DELL-Joey C
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April 25th, 2024 05:47
Hi,
The partitions are configured via the RAID controller or through OS? If it is configured by RAID controller, try checking in the RAID configuration if there are any issues that need attention. If no issues, check in the OS if the partition is listed in disk management. Ultimately, if OS is accessible, I suggest doing backup on all salvageable data. We are unsure the foreign config is led by a drive failure. If data is important, I would strongly suggest obtaining assistance from data restoration company.
Adelphi2024
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April 25th, 2024 06:16
@DELL-Joey C Thanks for your comment.
I think the partitions must be configured through the OS, as I can't see any method in the controller config that would allow you to control partitions etc.
When I have rebooted again, and gone back into the F12 config - I know have a drive showing as FAILED in red. This is the PD02 drive which had been marked as having foreign config.
So I think my next action is to add another drive into the vacant slot I have, then make that a Hot standby ? And then will the controller rebuild the failed drive onto standby one ?
Or do I power down, swap out the Failed drive, and then power back up ? Will the raid controller then rebuild from that ?
Thanks all.
DELL-Erman O
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April 25th, 2024 07:09
Hello,
Unfortunately, as Marco said, this model was written in the wrong forum section. If this model supports hot swap, if you assign the new disk as a Global Hot Spare as you said, we will wait for the RAID card to start the rebuild. However, since this is not a Poweredge model, we do not know the differences, so if there is no hot swap feature, then you may need to set a downtime and then change the disk.