RAID 5 fail

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Anyone recognize this? Adaptec piece of ****e

Basically the server won't boot, the array won't rebuild, i think the controller's naffed - and there's 3tb worth of data on there i've got a horrible feeling i'm going to be restoring from backups...

Anyone offer any advice on how i may be able to get around this without losing data?

Error pic attached

 

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Does it tell you how many drives are fooked when you check the array status?

 

Is the system beeping at all, consistently? What do you see in the Config Utility?

 

I've gone back to Berlin, and this server had been transferred since i left.

Accepting the config change does nothing, it tries to boot but gets stuck on the splash screen.

Going into the config tells me that it's "Degraded" but doesn't specify which disk is wrong, identifying the faulty one does nothing - i'm back in tomorrow so will double check all over what you've said

BB88 - it's beeping constantly when i boot it up, accepting configuration changes makes no difference and it reboots and does the same thing

 

if none of that works you could always try updating the firmware as well

Adaptec - Bios Updates and Other Downloads

I'm also a little surprised that it won't show you which disks are degraded or the status of the disks

 

Try pulling the disks one by one and using compressed air to blow the slots free of dust. You'll be surprised just how many times that works. If you had monitoring set up for the array and received no warnings about impending disk failure prior to the FUBAR, then it may well be the raid controller (you're not likely to get two simultaneous disk failures, and that's the only other thing that would prevent a RAID5 array from booting under normal circumstances). The good news in that situation is most RAID controllers nowadays don't have the array info stored on the controller, so provided it's not as old as the hills you should be able to get a replacement controller, slot it in there and fire it up.

Also, as that's a 31205 (quite a common card) I've come across it before - I'm pretty sure the FW on it that's listed is at least three years old, so update that as well - lots of RAID cards have little bugs in firmware that only rear their heads after a set number of seconds uptime, or when a specific failure event occurs (and if you're getting to see the Windows splash screen, then there's a distinct possibility that either only one or even none of the disks themselves are failed - only the array card thinks that they are)

Seriously though - try the compressed air trick first.

PS: I hate looking at servers that have the O/S installed on a RAID 5 array along with everything else. It makes me physically itch. Building a server with the O/S not on it's own RAID controller with a mirrored pair is one of the worst sins imaginable as far as I'm concerned. I have rebuilt entire server infrastructures because of this.

 

Thanks Thomas and Zeb,

I've just got into the office now in Berlin (It's a bank holiday over here, and no word of a lie, it's called "Man Day" every other bastard is out on the piss except me sat in this office on my own cos of a stupid cheap server!!)

Zeb i agree with you about a seperate controller - they bought this 2 years ago on the cheap, around 3k (euro's) and it's failed already, shows that you get what you pay for

Just unracked the thing and moving it to my desk, will update shortly!

 

Making progress!

Updated the firmware and bios on the server after just about managing to get it to boot, finally identified the failed disk (Have to wait until tomorrow now to get a new one to replace it, in fact even maybe on monday it'll arrive)

I can access all the data with the other drive removed, and performance is 10x better than what it was with the failed drive in. I'm currently copying it all across to another server, which'll take around 10-12 hours i think, so i'll leave it running tonight and shift all local backups onto another server whilst i get this one repaired.

Think i'll also replace the controller in it aswell, whilst it's still working, at the moment - i'm not confident it'll continue working in the future.

Thanks for all your replies and help guys

 

That's weird - either the drive has failed or it hasn't - if it has, then performance will be poor, but it shouldn't make any difference to performance whether the drive is still in the server or not, as the card has already detected it as faulty and will have removed it from the array. Did the FW upgrade make a difference? I went and checked after my last post - the FW you were running originally was four years old, so I bet there were oodles of bugs in it.

Glad you're getting it sorted - nothing like resurrecting a seemingly dead server!

 

That's what i thought,

It's running on 4 drives at the moment (Frantically awaiting the 1tb spare to arrive, why the hell they didn't have a spare on site i've got no idea, i gave them a bollocking for that) but the performance increased ten fold after removing it, so not quite sure.

The FW upgrade did make a huge difference, it was taking ages to boot the controller on initial boot up, it's now within a few seconds

Either way i'm happy to at least have the data intact, and not having to pull off 2.6tb of backup data over the WAN!

I'm going to get the controller replaced anyway, this whole adaptec lark over the last week has me worried about it, everyone i've said to that it's an adaptec have been like "wtf, replace that crap!" lol

Any recommendations on a replacement one?

 

Nowt wrong with adaptec we use Adaptec Raid 5805 which I find to be great on performance

 

It's more the reliability of it i'm worried about, the performance was fine when it was working ok - but just worried it's gonna play up again in the future - it basically couldn't decide whether the disk had failed or not, it was like a kid deciding between a sherbert straw and a cola cube! "That one, no that one, i don't like it, i want that one, no it's not, that one"

 

LOL! I see what you mean but you would probably get good use out of that card now your FW is updated, if your looking for an easy upgrade then stick to adaptec and just migrate the array to the new card.

p.s RAID 5 still sucks

 

I know it does, try telling a German that! lol! back to England friday, so my workload will be cut by 75% yaaaaayy, plus i'm going to Ascot races on tuesday to spend the leftover expenses i have

 

You're going to spend 20p on the gee gees?

 

lol, maybe 40p!! nah i got a couple hundred quid spare, so there's about 50 of us going from my local back home - tis always a good day out, but their 4 cans of beer limit aint so good - so i've now resorted to vodka and coke, in a 2 litre bottle

 

Glad to hear you've got to the bottom of this problem, however I would still replace the faulty disk as soon as possible. All the best and thanks for sharing

 

Still waiting, it hasn't arrived yet.. i'm getting nervous!

 

Do they have a PC world in Berlin?