Failed array not seeing replaced disks

Question

Had a device I inherited give a RAID failure after someone left. No one seems to know much about it, but I was told they thought the array was set up to accept up to 2 HDD failures. Well 2 drives failed a few days apart and it appears the up to 2 failures was incorrect. Tried replacing the failed drives with the same size and speed HDD as well as same model, but the drives only show a state of Ready, but the other drives show a State of Online. No option to add the drives as HotSpares to the array itself that they are needed in, but did see a suggestion if the drives are added as Global HotSpares that might help the system 'see' them and begin incorporating them into the array, so the array will be back online and working again, but no change. When viewing the list of physical disks, the replaced drives are show as Missing and the RAID state showing with a state of Offline. In another view, the disks show as Unconfigured Physical Disks Showing Ready. Is there a way to get the RAID working again, so at least the server can see the drive? No information on how it was originally set up nor how to delete and re-create the RAID from scratch properly as a last resort, so hoping to get the existing array fixed and seeing the disks and working again.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

DellBeginner,

What I would suggest to start with is running a TSR on the server, that should give us an idea as to the configuration, and the errors when the drives came offline. You can read about how to run and export the TSR here. Now the software for the TSR (SupportAssist) will be found under the specific servers Diagnostic field in https://dell.to/3tRATCc. After you have completed then upload the TSR at https://dell.to/3njOIqK and then Private Message me the svc tag to retrieve it for you.

Let me know how it goes.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Thank you, I retrieved the TSR. The Virtual Disk in question is a Raid 5, which can only allow for a single drive failure, not two. If you have a backup there are things we can try, but may cause data loss, if they fail. If you don't have a backup you may want to look into data recovery companies.

Let me know.

dellbeginner · Answer

I uploaded that file and private messaged you. Thank you Chris.

dellbeginner · Answer

Thank you Chris. Was able to rebuild the array, using 'How to initialize and create a virtual disk with a Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) | Dell US' you recommended as a guide and the OS was able to see the repaired array.

PowerVault

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