Re-create a virtual disk (RAID 1) from two existing disks

Thank you for your reply. 

The controller is a s300 Perc . 

This morning I tried a recreation of Raid1 disc ( without initialization) as proposed. The disc was created successfully, however, Windows will not start. The server can not find a boot device.
Is there an operation to follow that?

Mmasse77,

Depending on the controller, you should be able to "Retag" the virtual disk. That is essentially recreating the Virtual Disk, but without initializing, as that will delete the data on the drives. So let me know the specific controller installed and we can look into if it supported. 

Do you think it is possible to recover data (image) of one of two discs ?

Unfortunately the S300, nor any of the software controllers, support retagging of the virtual disk. That was why I was asking for clarification of the controller before we proceeded. The S300 doesn't have a way of bypassing the initialization of the virtual disk, so when you recreated the virtual disk it initialized the drives. 

Thank you very much for the information .

I'm going to completely reinstall the server.

Hello @DELL-Chris H ,

I have a similar issue with my R720XD (iDRAC7 Express, PERC H710):

• OS was installed on Virtual Disk 0, made of two 300GB SAS Drives in RAID 1.
• Storage is installed on Virtual Disk 1, made of two 3TB NL-SAS Drives in RAID 1.

Few Days back, the Server was not able to boot (cannot find bootable media) and upon checking found out that one of the SAS drives (VD0) is blinking Orange and the Virtual Disk 0 does not exist in the IDRAC configuration. The available disks shows only One of the two SAS drives.

Is there a way to re-create the VD (either using One Disk or using a RAID with a the second disk replaced with a new one) and making the Server boot without re-installing OS? 

Thank you.

@DELL-Chris H,

I have had a similar issue on my R720xd (IDRAC7 Express, PERC H710):

• Virtual Disk 0 (VD0): Two 300GB SAS in RAID1 (Slot 0 and 1)
• Virtual Disk 1 (VD1): Two 3TB NL-SAS in RAID1 (Slot 2 and 3)

One of the Physical Disk (Slot 1) of VD0 seems to have gone bad (Orange Light), VD0 does no longer show in IDRAC. the other Physical Disk  (Slot 0) show in available physical disks under Create new VD menu.

Server does not boot (Bootable Media was not found)

is there a way to re-create VD0 using a single disk (or by rebuilding the RAID with a newly purchased Disk) without re-installing the OS?

Regards,

Chadi.

Hello Chadi N.,

I am sorry to see your boot volume VD0 has failed. If PD0 is failed and PD01 is in a Ready state, then the array seems to be gone.

You may try shut down, remove PD00 and 01, POST up with the drives removed.
Then shut down and insert both PD00 and 01, POST up and see if the controller can auto import or if you get a foreign config import that.

You may be able to try a Retag : https://dell.to/2YpFNZo
Be very careful. If you want to be sure you don't impact VD1 3TB, you can remove both of those drives. When you reinstall them the controller will pick up the configuration and import it.

Please let me know how it goes.

@DELL-Chris H,

I just wanted to let you know that I managed to restore VD0 and boot the OS by importing the Foreign Configuration as per your steps described. It was very easy and smooth and worked from the very first attempt. I thank you a million time as this saved all my data and services.

Regards,

Chadi.

Hi Chris,

I have the same issue with my PE T110ii (PERC S100). Any advice on how can I get my server up and running or my data back?

Another screenshot.

Hi @danyael21,

I checked that you have posted a few replies on other separate titles to obtain more advices. I'll probably reply you here to avoid any confusion of different support advices. 

I've check in the S100 user guide, and have not find any way to retag the failed disk without initialization. Therefore retag steps will or may clear your data. 

Could provide us more details about how many drives are installed in the server, what RAID configuration was done. Try to check under "View Physical Disk details" and "View Virtual Disk details", what are shown in that section. 

Hi Joey,

Thanks for the reply.

Please find below screenshot. I have 2 Physical disks installed on the failed VD.

Hi @danyael21,

It seems there is no way to retrieve the data. Did you replace both drives, or the 2 drives that is in the screenshot was the drives that are original from the configuration?

My suggestion would be if data is important, you may need to seek 3rd party data recover vendor at your area to retrieve the data. If you have 100% data backup, then probably good to check hardware diagnostics via F10, to confirm if it's a drive issue.