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December 29th, 2016 12:00
PowerEdge R815 multiple drive failed and missing drive. OS is not loding up.
Hi all,
I have few issue and not sure where to start.
I have PowerEdge R815, Windows 2012R2 with Raid 5 config. with 6 drive. And Perch H700 controller.
The issues are first, multiple drives has failed and one shows as missing drive. Also virtual disk shows up as offline.
VD Mgmt.
01:00:00 SAS Failed
01:00:01 SAS Missing
01:00:02 SAS Failed
01:00:03 SAS Failed
01:00:04 SAS online
01:00:05 SAS online
PD Mgmt:
01:00:00 Failed
01:00:01 ready
01:00:02 Failed
01:00:03 Failed
01:00:04 online
01:00:05 online
The issue began after a power outage in our building. As we turned on the server after power came back on the server showed drive 00 failed and 01 missing. I am new to the company and the senior system engineer has left the company. But when we contacted him with the issue he suggested that we force online drive 00. So we did and the server came back online. We ordered 3 drive to replace the one that missing and have some as spare. But over the weekend the drive failed again. So I tried to force online the drive but it would not come back online. It goes through the process of booting but get to the page where I have the option to ‘exit and continue to windows server 2012 R2’, ‘reset from previous version’ or ‘turn off pc’. I tried all three option and it keeps coming back to the same place.
My question is where do I start from. Do I first:
- bring the ‘Ready’ state drive online by choosing ‘make global HS’ option. This should rebuild the drive. Correct?
- Then bring the failed drive online by ‘force online’
- Then reboot.
Also can I reboot the server from one of the drive that is still online by going into BIOS and redirecting to the driver that are still online.
Please help me!! What would be the best way to get the server back online. I am aware that I might not recover lot of the data which is ok.
Thank you
Daniel My
10 Elder
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6.2K Posts
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December 29th, 2016 14:00
Hello
That is good, if you are not prepared to lose all of the data on the array then you should contact a data recovery company.
Did this person review any logs from the server before making the recommendation to force drive 00 online? If they did not review logs then they were just guessing.
The array is failed. If you need data from the array then you should contact a data recovery company. The steps you have taken so far to attempt to recover the array appear to have deleted/corrupted some data.
For someone to be able to attempt to recover the array properly they would have to review the controller logs. The controller only retains the last 10,000 lines of information in the log. If you have been restarting the server and swapping drives it is likely that the information required to try to recover the array has been overwritten. If you want to upload a controller log to a site like pastebin and provide a link someone may review it for you. Don't post full logs in the forums.
A rebuild will not initiate if the array is failed. The array must be in a degraded state to initiate a rebuild.
You would need to force a drive online to attempt to bring the array from a failed to a degraded state.
Rebooting is not required for controller operations. Reboot as necessary for whatever you are doing in the operating system.
No, that is not how RAID 5 works.
If you are able to get back into the operating system and recover whatever data you need then you should plan on wiping everything and reinstalling. The data on this array has likely been corrupted. You are likely going to experience issues going forward.
Thanks
rasselhossain
3 Posts
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January 3rd, 2017 12:00
Thank you for your response.
The question I have now is that I am trying to reboot the server and its saying 'There are offline or missing virtual drives with pressered cache'
In Dell Knowledge base it suggest that I have to delete the cache from the VD Mgmt. I tried to delete the cache from manage preserved cache but I can't not delete it. As per knowledge base if their is preserved cache the OS will not load. What step do I need to take.
thank you,
Daniel My
10 Elder
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6.2K Posts
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January 4th, 2017 09:00
You need to delete the preserved cache. Are you getting an error when you try to delete the preserved cache? The preserved cache is stored in volatile memory. If you disconnect the battery the preserved cache will be deleted. You should power down and disconnect power from the server when connecting/disconnecting the PERC battery.
Thanks
rasselhossain
3 Posts
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January 4th, 2017 13:00
Thank you once again for your response. I really appreciate it!!!
After many attempts I was able to delete the preserved cache. I am not sure the step I took was correct. I hot swap few drives one at a time and waited till they rebuilded. Then I tried to delete the preserved cache and after the second try it got deleted.
But now I have another issue!!
The OS is not loading up. it goes through booting process then it takes me to a page where I am given 3 options.
Exit to server 2012 R2
2. Recover
3. Shut of your PC
I went through option 1 few time and it keep bringing be to the same page with the same 3 options. I also selected option two but I don’t have any image backup to restore from.
Any idea what to do next. Thank you