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October 10th, 2023 17:16

Foreign Configuration Rollback

Hi,

I have a Dell 340 Tower with 2 300 Gs disks which are RAID 1, one of them is corrupted and the other one is still online but fails to bootup windows server. I bought a new 300 Gs disk to replace the corrupted one but i accidently imported the foreign configuration, so now i can't get these disks online and mirroring.

How can i rollback?

DELL-Young E

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June 2nd, 2025 01:54

Hello, if you don't need to back up, foreign clear can be a way to go.

 

 

"To clear a foreign configuration on a Dell PERC RAID controller, navigate to the Physical Disk Management section, identify the disks with foreign configurations, and then use the "Manage Foreign Configuration" option to preview and clear them. This process permanently removes all virtual disk information from the specified physical disks. "

 

For further assitance you can also send us your service tag by DM https://www.dell.com/community/en/direct-messaging

 

Respectfully,

 

 

 

DELL-Young E

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5.4K Posts

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October 11th, 2023 05:27

Hello, thanks for choosing Dell.
'I bought a new 300 Gs disk to replace the corrupted one" ->Because the disk was foreign imported it needs to be taken out.
Respectfully,

Print20

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October 11th, 2023 06:23

@DELL-Young E​ so I have to remove the new one to bring the old one back online? Also both of the disks are showing “Foreign” as their status

(edited)

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October 11th, 2023 09:52

This is situation also bear in mind that all hard drives have data that we want to keep so.. is there any solution? 

(edited)

DELL-Marco B

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11-10-2023 11:44 AM

I see a RAID5 but can you confirm that you only have 2 hdds and the RAID5 is a foreign config present in the new hard drive?

if so i suggest to do the following.

shutdown the server

remove all hdds except the new one

restart the server, remove virtual disk RAID 5

shutdown the server, insert only the hard drive 0:1 

import foreign config

insert the new hard disk and rebuild should start

Thanks

 

DELL- Marco B

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Dell Technologies | Enterprise Support Services

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October 11th, 2023 12:00

@DELL-Marco B​ 

ok this was built as 5 disks 

2 300 gigs raid 1 to carry os 

3 1 tb raid 5 to carry data

the raid 1 disks is the ones I’m having an issue with so, if I do the steps you provided should it restore my access to os?

DELL-Marco B

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11-10-2023 12:29 PM

no so in this case don't do what i suggested.

It is not clear your configuration for me, I see that also RAID5 is degraded.

Which are 3 hard drives that are part of the RAID5? I see hard disk 2, 3 and which is the third one?

Thanks

DELL- Marco B

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DELL-Marco B

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11-10-2023 12:30 PM

And more important thing, do you access to data? If so please make a full backup as first step

DELL- Marco B

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October 11th, 2023 12:53

This is the one i'm having an issue with.. the Raid 5 virtual disk had 3 disks 2 of them is still in good condition and i'm replacing the third corrupted one and rebuilding..
but the virtual disk 0 is the one i'm having an issue with because of the foregin configuration i imported earlier and sadly i can't access the data in it to take a backup 

DELL-Marco B

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11-10-2023 13:07 PM

Sorry but can you write exactly what was the original configuration of the hard drives?

like:

RAID 1: hdds slot 1:0, 1:1

RAID 5: hdds 1:2, 1:3, etc

 

and what are exactly the hard drive that you replaced (one or two hard drives?)

For me RAID1 data is lost, but i can make the possible to see if we can recover.

Thanks

 

 

DELL- Marco B

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Dell Technologies | Enterprise Support Services

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October 11th, 2023 13:35

Sorry for the confusion:

The original setup was:

 

Raid1: Slot 1.0 - 1.1 OS

Raid5: Slot 1.2 - 1.3 - 1.4 Data

Issues occurred in:

Raid1: Slot 1.0 (Still online but i made the mistake of importing foregin configuration and can't access OS) - 1.1 (Hardware failure)

Raid5: Slot 1.2 (Error) - 1.3 (Online and still working) - 1.4 (Hardware failure)

What i've done is:

Raid5: Slot 1.2 (Replaced and currently rebuiling) - 1.3 (Working fine) - 1.4 (Replaced and rebuilt successfully)

What i want to do is:

Raid1: Slot 1.0 (Bring back online) - 1.1 (Replace and mirror from 1.0 to bring the OS back online)

 

(edited)

DELL-Marco B

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12-10-2023 00:14 AM

I don't think that at this time it is possible to restore RAID1.

What i would do is to clear foreign configuration.

But try also to call technical support to have a second advice.

Thanks

DELL- Marco B

Social Media and Communities Professional

Dell Technologies | Enterprise Support Services

#IWork4Dell

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Jeevanpranav

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May 31st, 2025 09:20

hi i have  issue with foreign state

i have 2 disk with raid 1 config 

how to recover or change to online , don't need backup

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