Help with failed RAID (5) disk...

[Nude_Lewd_Man]

Hi,

As some of you may know, I have a Windows 2003 SBS at home. This has a hardware RAID configuration, which has six disks used in three arrays, and also some software RAID too - two hardware RAIDed disks in one array with some of another disk from another hardware RAID array. (see attached image for a visual explanation, if required) This is from the original settings when I acquired the machine.

Basically, I have noticed (thanks to the red light on the front of the drive bay) that one of the OS disks (RAID5 HW) has/is failing. I've heard that basically I would just need to get another disk of the same size and type and it should then be able to sort itself out, but I don't know where I can get another disk of the same size. Also, as I haven't removed the disk, I don't yet know what type of connection is at the back of the slot, although the label on the slot reads "ULTRA 320 SCSI".

This has made me wonder what would happen if I just replaced it with a larger capacity drive (other than that I would 'lose' the remainder of the drive space), would I need to fiddle with the HW RAID array settings to import/add the disk, would the HW RAID just pick up that there's a new disk and merge it into the existing array without any OS issues....???



As always, your advice is gladly welcomed....



(All data is backed up, including the System State - just in case there are any questions about that...)

[GroundZero3]

Ah yes the HP drives, Anytime I have a bad drive light pop up (on our HP server) I always pop it out and pop it back in and 99% the drive syncs back up fine. If you pull the drive out, there should be a spare # on the drive that is used to get a replacement

[Nude_Lewd_Man]

Well, whaddyaknow... Back to normal again..

I did at least take a few seconds to clear all the dust off the vents while I was at it - I've had it for about 8 months, and it was originally built as a W2k SBS, so I'm sure it has been a long while since it was last cleared up...

I think I'll give all the disks a dose of that treatment when I next shut it down - I'm sure it would help keep them slightly cooler....

Thanks GZ...!

[GroundZero3]

Yeah its a normal thing, and when you call up HP they will ask you to do the same thing before they send you a replacement drive. Normally those drives are fine, but I would watch it to make sure if it crops up again. At least you know S.M.A.R.T isnt just sitting around twiddling its fingers

[Nude_Lewd_Man]

Just out of curiosity, for now at least, but what should I do if I decided to increase the size of the second RAID array - for example make it much bigger than it currently is, changing the current HW/SW RAID combo (RAID 0 HW, RAID 1 SW) to HW RAID 1...? If I was to do this, I would also change the final (HW RAID 0) array to be a single partition in the OS - which is simple enough for me to understand......

As far as the OS sees it, my main data (files and Exchange) is on that drive, and obviously I wouldn't want to FUBAR that up (like I did with the WSUS install on a separate thread). Would I need to break the existing HW array, create the new one, wait for the OS to synchronise the data, then remove the SW RAID 1 setup, then re-size (or whatever) would is there something I haven't thought about...??

[GroundZero3]

To increase the size of the Raid you will need to move the data off, break the old array, create the new one then move the data back over. Its a PITA

[Nude_Lewd_Man]

Shame, but I kinda thought it would be like that...

This is the first RAID setup I've used (myself) in anger, and (especially with the HW/SW combo) it was somewhat confusing....

All of my data (that is of any importance) is backed up. On my servers I use BackupExec (12.5) and on workstations/laptops I use DriveImage (7.0) - which is backed up over the network onto the server anyway...

Thanks for the help...!