raid 6 can't foreign & undetected disk fail

Question

I have a PERC H710 Mini with RAID 6 virtual drive configuration that is offline. The virtual drive has a configuration of 8 disks, but there is 1 disk that is damaged and cannot be detected, and 2 disks have a foreign status. I cannot "import foreign" because the virtual drive is offline, and I cannot "replace member" the damaged disk.

Is there any advice for the situation described above?

DELL-Joey C · Accepted Answer

Hi @MangBret,

I must emphasize that to retag/rebuild may cause total data lost. If you do not have data backup, as Chris mentioned, it is advisable to reachout to 3rd part data recovery options.

To retag the virtual disk, you will need to delete the existing virtual disk. Then recreate RAID configuration. While creating the virtual disk, in Advanced Settings, there will be a checkbox for Initialize. Make sure it is unchecked. Do take note about what Chris mentioned before, while and after creating the virtual disk.

So in your case what you would want to do is note everything about the virtual disk configuration, then delete the virtual disk, recreate it as was before (WITHOUT Initializing) using a replacement disk for the failed one, then before you exit the controller BIOS you MUST remove the replacement drive.

Attached user guide for H710: https://dell.to/44aqhQL

MangBret · Accepted Answer

Thanks for the advise, i'm lucky that i have backup of it.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

MangBret,

The first thing I would consider is if there is a complete backup of the data, as anything we do will put it at risk, so if there isn't one present I would suggest looking at 3rd party data recovery options. If you do have a backup then I would suggest that you Retag the Virtual Disk. A retag is the process of deleting the Virtual Disk and then recreating it exactly as it was before (drive locations, drive count, stripe size, raid level, etc) but without Initializing it. The reason being is the process of initializing the virtual disks deletes the contents of the drives. So in your case what you would want to do is note everything about the virtual disk configuration, then delete the virtual disk, recreate it as was before (WITHOUT Initializing) using a replacement disk for the failed one, then before you exit the controller BIOS you MUST remove the replacement drive. The reason for that is there is no data on it and will corrupt the Virtual Disk if left in. Once you boot the server and everything looks fine, then you can reinsert the replacement drive for it to rebuild to the Virtual Disk.

Let me know if this helps or if you need any clarification on anything.

MangBret · Answer

How do i rebuild the raid configuration without initializing it?

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

raid 6 can't foreign & undetected disk fail

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