Trying to recover data from failed Wide Ultra 320 SCSI Hard Drive

[Ali]

your responses are very fast :) by the time I compose my message your response is already in... I appreciate that.

YOur response...
Currently I have the server setting on a bios screen. The drive in tray 0 is still blinking all 3 leds...

Tray 1 is solid green but with a sporadically blinking arrow green arrow light.

Tray 2 is doing the same. It look as if that arrow is to signify activity or if the drives are writing.

But I'm not sure why Tray 0 is blinking all 3 led's..."

this is absolutely normal...
when you open the array configuratiion all the hard drive LEDs blinks.
and green arrow LED represents rebuilding status... so I guess it has started rebuilding the drives.. however you may track the progress from ACU...

thanks again

[Ali]

Hi,

Thanks for being so patient!

We need to monitor the rebuilding process. hope your server is running on UPS and have enough backup.

Rebuilding generally takes 10-15 mins per GB. so depending on the no of hard drives, raid levels and other controller settings, it will decide as how much is required to rebuild.

Once rebuild process is completed and Raid status turns OK, We need to check the other problem.

Steps to troubleshoot the other issue " Not booting to Operating system"

1. check the boot controller order in system bios or in Controller bios (ORCA) and make your smart array controller is selected as a first boot controller.

2. Also check the boot order, make sure no floppy or CD disk inside.

3. still no luck... boot the system from the original operating system disk (the one which was used to install operating system previously on this server)

4. Run the windows setup and choose REPAIR option... this will not erase anything rather will reinstall and repair all the corrupted/damaged OS files including mbr without formatting the partition.

5. disconnect all other devices like tape drive, external extorage box etc... while performing these steps.

6. once everything is setup and you are back in windows, verify your data and back it up to ensure proper backup.

7. now you may plan to update the server with the latest driver and firmware.

I may not be around for sometime... but please be patient and follow the steps to fix the issue....

I will respond to your post the moment I am available

Thanks.
Aftab

[droctogon]

Thank you very much for all of your help. Although I don't see a progress bar or anything like that, I will leave the server on, and on the array controller screen until tomorrow. I'll be sure to post if it is a success or if I run into any more issues.

Thanks again.

[Michael A. McKenney]

If RAID 5, set the new drive as a global spare. See if RAID 5 rebuilds. If it does not, do the firmware as last resort. It could cause issues upgrading firmware on a downed RAID array. Ontrack does recover RAID arrays. Mark the drive order for them if possible. They are not cheap but they can recover your data.

[Ali]

Hi there,

Hope we have some progress..!

thanks
Aftab

[droctogon]

Good news.

So yesterday when I left the office, I left the 2 drives and failed drive in Interim Recovery Mode both the Spare Drive and Remaining Good Drive's led lights were blinking.

I come back in this morning, and both drives LED's had stopped blinking and we're showing steady green. Which I assume means the process has stopped.

So i reboot, and the array config says that tray 2 has failed and needs replacement.

I shutdown again, take out tray 2 and replace the bad drive with the replacement.

Insert into the server, reboot, and the array now asks F1 to continue with recovery F2 to continue without recovery. I hit F1, and then go to the array options screen to check the logical drive status, and it shows tray 0, tray 1 and tray 2 as ok, and that the logical drive status is "Recovering", all three drives have LED blinking, so I assume it is recovering with the new replacement drive.

[Ali]

Yes... that is correct

let it complete the recovery (rebuilding) Process..

we shall monitor the progress.... hope it should rebuild (recover) and logical status will be OK.

then we shall work on the issue by following up the steps I have mentioned inthe previous post.

thanks
Aftab

[Michael A. McKenney]

How many drives failed in RAID 5, you can have one drive fail and recover only. If two drives failed, you lost the array. This is why you always want at least one spare drive configured per array for instant fail over and recovery.

[droctogon]

1 drive failed. But the spare and the other drive were still intact. At first the status of the logical drive showed "Failure" now we are in a recovery mode.

By the way I have never been able to get to the Array configuration utility, i have been using something called "Option Rom Configuration for Array" to do all of this.

[Michael A. McKenney]

If the drives show green light, You should be able to get into the OS and check the drives.

You can't get into ACU? Once the array is fully rebuilt and working, on 36.4GB it should be 1-2 hours to rebuild. Verify your array is working in the OS. Backup your data before doing anything else. Upgrade firmware, Option ROMs and drivers for drives, controllers, and system board. Get Smart Start and reinstall all the HP management tools. Then try ACU.