Need a RAID Refresher

This has been the month of hell for me at work. Every computer job I try resist persecution. So, towards the end of the day, boss says come see the new print server... WTF? I don't have any idea why we have it, but we do. And it wont boot. Needs CLRD press CTR ALT DEL to reboot. (am sure I am getting that CLRD wrong, just tired.)

This computer in BIOS shows all the brands and sizes of the hard driven in it. So, is it in a stipped array? I thought that showed up as just one big hard drive. Or, does BIOS see the different drives, and the RAID controller takes over?

I have been fighting inconsistant RJ-45 terminations, all kinds of problems, with cross OS giving me hell too. I hate Win 7! Well, I don't hate it, just am not familiar with it.

By the time I get home, I am thinking about beer, and guns. Just too tired to think straight. Any ideas? 5 out of the 6 slots for SATA drives have drives in them. And supposedly the server was shut down and sent to us. Now, it won't boot.

 

5 is an odd number for a SATA array. As I recall, RAID 0 and 1 use two drives, RAID 5 uses 4 drives.

How are the drives connected? If SATA, the boot drive (or bootable RAID array) is usually connected to a SATA port (ports) directly on the motherboard. My experience has been that SATA or IDE drives connected to a controller card (single or RAID) won't always boot properly.

Personally, I'd start at square one by using just one drive with a fresh Windows install (remember, you have 30 days to run whatever testing you need to do without activating it). This will give you a baseline on if the motherboard is working properly.

If this works, I'd rebuild a RAID 5 array. You can either do a RAID 5 (4 HDDs) for the entire thing, or use a single drive for the Windows boot and the other disks in a RAID 5 for data storage.

I'd also make a System Restore on a USB flash drive. Just in case...

Hope this helps.

 

This is a 6 drive bay box. 0-5. They are all connected with SATA cables. We don't want to do a re-install. We may have to, but that won't be pretty.

Does the BIOS see a stripped Raid array as seperate drives or as one? I just can't remember.

 

Fred, I'm with gman on this: start simple, work your way up...

 

Bios won't see the Raid array, but, the raid controller will see the raid array. It is a different option in the boot up process. You just have to wait till it comes up. This may or may not help, but not knowing the brand of the server makes it hard to help checking the array.

If you can get into the array configuration, you should be able to check to see if the array is set as bootable.

Btw, Raid 5 requires at least 3 drives, not 4.

What raid level was this setup as? What OS? Do you have the drivers for the raid adapter? You may just need repair the boot loader, but you will need the drivers if the OS can't detect the array.

 

Did not have much time to mess with the server today. It has 2 150 gig raptor drives, and on 320 drive that I think the RAID is on. OS is supposedly 2003, and the server was sold as a working unit. If we can't repair it, we will send it back.

There is no mention of SATA controller during the boot. I am not possitive it is set up in a RAID, but that is what I am told. I am going to try a live CD to try to see if I can see how the disks are setup.

Don't recall the brand, it is not the normal Dell type, it is built by a smaller company that sells print servers and rippers. Will try to get more info Monday.