Dell R740 raid storage dissapeared

TyreeIT,

Do you have a backup of the data, you may want to as anything we do can lose data. Also did you see anything referencing a Foreign Config? You can try doing a retag of the virtual disk, what you would do is essentially go back to create new vd and configure it the same as before, but this time you will NOT initialize the Virtual Disk. Instead you will need to remove one of the drives prior to booting the server, now if you are able to access the data on the VD then you can start a rebuild on the removed drive. 

Let me know

Hi, There is no data as this was the initial setup. No the disks are not listed as foreign in the idrac, just ready as opposed to online, do you know what that means? I need to somehow get them to online. I tried to go back in a recreate but there are no disks to select and no disks available. I seem to need a way to delete the raid somehow so I can get back the disks. I tried to remove one of the disks and reboot the server and if I got back into the RAID config, I still can't see the disks to select and recreate the raid. I can only see the disks that are part of the RAID 10 that is OK. The RAID-1 disks do no appear to recreate. Is there anyway to wipe the RAID-1 config from the disks so I can try and recreate them?

I finally found the solution, I was going into the life cycle controller to configure the RAID setting, when I went into the BIOS and other controllers I was able to configure the raid controller and delete the existing config (There was no delete in the life cycle controller) Thanks

@DELL-Chris H​ 

Hi Chris , 

facing similar situation where suddenly my VD disappears which was RAID1 and has two disk as member's , they are in ready state and not online , 

is recreating the VD with same configuration without initialization will prevent data lose ?

I saw you mentioned to re-create VD and then to remove one of it's disk before reboot ?  why we need to do this step ?

what will happen if I re-create  the VD and didn't remove the disk ?

Thanks .

 

Hi,

Recreating the Virtual Disk (VD) in RAID 1When your RAID 1 Virtual Disk (VD) disappears, and the member disks are in the "ready" state, it is possible to recreate the VD without losing data, provided that the disks are not initialized or formatted.

Recreating the VD without Initialization
Yes, recreating the VD with the same configuration (RAID 1) without initializing the disks should prevent data loss. The process is as follows:
Identify the two disks that were members of the original RAID 1 VD.
In the RAID controller management utility, create a new RAID 1 VD using the same two disks.
The RAID controller should automatically synchronize the data between the two disks, and the VD should be accessible with the original data intact.

Removing One Disk Before Reboot
The recommendation to remove one of the disks before rebooting is a precautionary step to prevent potential data corruption or disk initialization during the reboot process.
If you recreate the VD without removing a disk and then reboot the system, there is a risk that the RAID controller may detect the disks as foreign or uninitialized, leading to potential data loss or corruption.
By removing one disk before rebooting, you ensure that the RAID controller recognizes the remaining disk as the only valid member of the VD, and it will not attempt to initialize or rebuild the VD during the reboot process.

Recreating the VD Without Removing a Disk
If you recreate the VD without removing a disk and proceed to reboot the system, there are two possible scenarios:
Best Case: The RAID controller recognizes the disks as members of the original VD and does not attempt to initialize or rebuild the VD. In this case, the data should remain intact.
Worst Case: The RAID controller fails to recognize the disks as members of the original VD and treats them as foreign or uninitialized disks. In this scenario, the RAID controller may attempt to initialize or rebuild the VD, leading to potential data loss or corruption.
To minimize the risk of data loss, it is generally recommended to follow the precautionary step of removing one disk before rebooting. However, if you have already recreated the VD without removing a disk and the system is functioning correctly, you may proceed with caution, but it is advisable to back up the data as soon as possible.