MidniteArrow
May 24th, 2005, 11:30 AM
Well, my investment just provided a return, although could anything else go wrong? This is just a thread to vent...
About a week ago, I rebooted my server on my lunch break. When it was starting up, it started making a very pocket-emptying noise. On boot-up, my RAID card told me my RAID array had issues. It is a RAID 5 with 4 200 GB Maxtor SATA drives. RAID 5 will allow 1 drive to die without data loss.
So the debugging begins. I identified that one of the drives in the array had gone belly up. I pulled it and submitted a RMA to maxtor.
Not wanting to wait for the drive, I went out and bought a new 200 GB Maxtor SATA drive at Best Buy - I felt so dirty, but I wanted my data back ASAP. I plugged it in and booted up. Now, at this point, the RAID array should have noticed that it could rebuild itself and start re-building. But I didn't get that option, I only had the option to ignore the error (and not have access to the drive) or delete the array.
I really, really, really did not want to delete the array, so I called up Highpoint, the manufacturers of my RAID card. Together we identified that one of the other 3 drives, that still appeared to be working, had an issue. They sent me a hacking tool they use internally. I was able to trace the issue to the RAID header on the drive. It was suppsoed to be drive #2 in the array, but the header showed it as drive #1. No biggie - their tool will re-write the headers. This is when I became a Highpoint tester. While their card, and thereby the software that they wrote running on their card, recognizes the new drive I bought on boot-up, their hacking tool did not. So I've now got a useless 200 GB drive sitting on my desk.
I then remembered that I've got a 200 GB WD drive sitting in the corner gathering dust. I mean, come on, parallel ATA - who uses those? but I've got a converter unit. I hooked it up, and what do I get for my trouble? Nothing. nada. No recognition at all. My guess is that the ATA->SATA convertor doesn't work for UDMA drives. So, again, at a standstill.
Eventually, the replacement drive from Maxtor arrives. I hook it up and wahoo. We're off. Well, not so much. First I have to re-write the RAID headers. So I boot up their hacking tool. It recognizes all the drives. I start the RAID header re-build and it fails, of course. It seems there's something wrong with drive #3 now. After some phone time with Highpoint, and some with Maxtor, I download a Maxtor tool called Powermax. It finds a problem with the data on that drive and fixes it. The Highpoint tool finally works.
So now it's time to re-build the array. That starts up as expected, but slow is an understatement. About 4% an hour. I let it run overnight. This morning I get up and it hit a data error at 48%. WinXP checks the filesystem and finds 4 or 5 errors, but for the most part, it worked (drive was about 48% full). I haven't found what was lost yet, so a pseudo happy ending...
What is it with me? Do I emit some sort of anit-technology aura?
About a week ago, I rebooted my server on my lunch break. When it was starting up, it started making a very pocket-emptying noise. On boot-up, my RAID card told me my RAID array had issues. It is a RAID 5 with 4 200 GB Maxtor SATA drives. RAID 5 will allow 1 drive to die without data loss.
So the debugging begins. I identified that one of the drives in the array had gone belly up. I pulled it and submitted a RMA to maxtor.
Not wanting to wait for the drive, I went out and bought a new 200 GB Maxtor SATA drive at Best Buy - I felt so dirty, but I wanted my data back ASAP. I plugged it in and booted up. Now, at this point, the RAID array should have noticed that it could rebuild itself and start re-building. But I didn't get that option, I only had the option to ignore the error (and not have access to the drive) or delete the array.
I really, really, really did not want to delete the array, so I called up Highpoint, the manufacturers of my RAID card. Together we identified that one of the other 3 drives, that still appeared to be working, had an issue. They sent me a hacking tool they use internally. I was able to trace the issue to the RAID header on the drive. It was suppsoed to be drive #2 in the array, but the header showed it as drive #1. No biggie - their tool will re-write the headers. This is when I became a Highpoint tester. While their card, and thereby the software that they wrote running on their card, recognizes the new drive I bought on boot-up, their hacking tool did not. So I've now got a useless 200 GB drive sitting on my desk.
I then remembered that I've got a 200 GB WD drive sitting in the corner gathering dust. I mean, come on, parallel ATA - who uses those? but I've got a converter unit. I hooked it up, and what do I get for my trouble? Nothing. nada. No recognition at all. My guess is that the ATA->SATA convertor doesn't work for UDMA drives. So, again, at a standstill.
Eventually, the replacement drive from Maxtor arrives. I hook it up and wahoo. We're off. Well, not so much. First I have to re-write the RAID headers. So I boot up their hacking tool. It recognizes all the drives. I start the RAID header re-build and it fails, of course. It seems there's something wrong with drive #3 now. After some phone time with Highpoint, and some with Maxtor, I download a Maxtor tool called Powermax. It finds a problem with the data on that drive and fixes it. The Highpoint tool finally works.
So now it's time to re-build the array. That starts up as expected, but slow is an understatement. About 4% an hour. I let it run overnight. This morning I get up and it hit a data error at 48%. WinXP checks the filesystem and finds 4 or 5 errors, but for the most part, it worked (drive was about 48% full). I haven't found what was lost yet, so a pseudo happy ending...
What is it with me? Do I emit some sort of anit-technology aura?