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Re: Replacing Failed Smart Array 5i - Preserving Data

 
Martyn Howarth
Occasional Advisor

Replacing Failed Smart Array 5i - Preserving Data

The Smart Array 5i in my ageing ML370 G2 appears to have failed (not appearing in POST and just a "RAID Mass Storage Controller" showing in BIOS). Also, LED is permanently lit on just one of my 6 hard drives.

From other posts I'm pretty confident that the 5i is the problem and not the SCSI backplane - I attached the onboad (non-RAID) SCSI controller to the backplane and all drives were detected.

Have sourced a replacement 5i which I hope will resolve things, but want to be sure that I can preserve my data (in particular from the 4 x 144GB disks in RAID 5). I do have backups (although a little out of date due to recently getting married!) but it will obviously be much easier if the replacement can be done preserving the data and configuration that is currently there...

Are there any particular steps I need to take to ensure that the data is not lost, or do I just have to take the hit on that and rebuild the system from scratch?

Any advice gratefully received!
4 REPLIES 4
James ~ Happy Dude
Honored Contributor

Re: Replacing Failed Smart Array 5i - Preserving Data

Hello Martyn,

First of all, Congratulations on getting married !! Wish you both the Best of what life can offer.

I don't think there would be any issues replacing the Controller. You should be able to get all your data back. Unless there are other hardware issues.

Regards,
Martyn Howarth
Occasional Advisor

Re: Replacing Failed Smart Array 5i - Preserving Data

Thanks James! Whatever may happen with the data, I'm glad to say that I have about half a dozen backups of my wedding and honeymoon photos!

Just to clarify - should it simply be a case of popping in the new 5i and powering up? Am I right in thinking that the RAID configuration is stored on the hard disks themselves, so it will be picked up by the card automatically? Or will I need to reconfigure the new card with the array settings (i.e. 2x36 in RAID1, 4x144 in RAID5)?

I'm a bit rusty on the old HP kit now as my current employer uses something else! ;-)
James ~ Happy Dude
Honored Contributor

Re: Replacing Failed Smart Array 5i - Preserving Data

Absolutely correct Martyn. RIS are on the HDD>
You wud need to configure the RAID structure on the new card.
Good Luck !

Regards,
Martyn Howarth
Occasional Advisor

Re: Replacing Failed Smart Array 5i - Preserving Data

Cheers James! I received the new 5i this morning, popped it in the server and all is now restored! (I think the old card I had was actually the DL380 model, not the ML370 one, so I'm not really sure how it had been working beforehand!)

Many thanks for your advice and reassurance! First on my list of jobs now is a full backup of all of my data to DVD!

Martyn