PowerEdge T110 II Updating BIOS

This system is running S100/S300 RAID 5 with 3 HDs which is showing DEGRADED.

I have disconnected the one drive showing READY and have added a new HD which is now showing READY.  

I need to get the new HD into action without losing the data.
The system does boot and I need it to stay that way!

This is Win Server 2008 R2 Foundation.
I have tried to install OMSA from:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=28KFC

But when I run it, it fails to install.

Presumably I need to run *something* from within Windows Server.  I'd be happy to use a command prompt or PowerShell.  

Also, in the S100 (reach by CTRL+R) at boot, I see "initialize" but find no instructions or guide as to what this means.  I'm not going to use it until I understand as I *must* preserve this disk!  Where are those instructions??

I see that this is marked as "removed".  What does that mean?  Why?  How?

Eventually, I was able to install OMSA using C:\OpenManage\\Windows\SYSMGMTX64\SysMgmtx64.  I had to disregard the warning about prerequisites but it worked!

This system is running S100/S300 RAID 5 with 3 HDs which is showing DEGRADED. I have disconnected the one drive showing READY and have added a new HD which is now showing READY.

When you have a RAID array in a degraded state with a hard drive in a READY state, it means that there was a drive that was replaced and the replacement drive was not able to rebuild automatically and join the RAID array. Normally, the rebuild process is supposed to be triggered manually.

I need to get the new HD into action without losing the data. The system does boot and I need it to stay that way!

To put the HD in READY state into action is to manually initiate the rebuild process. This can be done by assigning the HD as a Global Hot Spare using either OMSA or the controller BIOS, Ctrl+R

Also, in the S100 (reach by CTRL+R) at boot, I see "initialize" but find no instructions or guide as to what this means.  I'm not going to use it until I understand as I *must* preserve this disk!  Where are those instructions??

Initialization is the process of refreshing the physical disk's metadata. Initialization will erase existing data and file system. It is normally used for newly created RAID arrays and newly installed drive.

Hello.

It's using PERC S100/S300 RAID 5 with 3 HDDs. I'm needing to replace one of the HDDs but the replacement is seen as an SSD and isn't deemed compatible as a replacement.

Dell RAID controllers do not support mixing SSD with HDD in the same RAID array. They can however, reside on the same controller on different RAID arrays.

I need the HDD to be seen as an HDD.  One suggestion is to update the BIOS.  But, in reading the available BIOS versions available, it appears the installer won't work until the system is upgraded to at leas 1.3.4.

The view of the HDD by the controller does not depend on the BIOS version.

I see that the new / replacement hard drive is being recognized NOT as an HDD BUT as an SSD!  That's not compatible with integration into the RAID array.

So why is this happening and how to fix without losing the software OS installation?

You can not mix SAS, SATA, SSD in the same array. Consider using HDD similar in specification like the other 3 in your RAID 5 array.

Provide the P/N of the new drive so that I look up its compatibility information.