How to force HP Smart Array RAID controller to re-recognize drives

hphp-prolianthp-smart-arrayraid

I have an HP ProLiant DL180 G5 server with a Smart Array E200 RAID controller. The RAID controller is refusing to recognize inserted drives as an array. The story so far…

This server (our file server) needed an upgrade. It started with 8 x 250GB drives:

  • 2 in RAID1 for the OS
  • 5 in RAID5 for data
  • 1 as a hot spare.

The plan was to replace the RAID5 array and hot spare with a RAID10 array composed of much larger disks. The old drives would be untouched in case any recovery was needed. The following process was used:

  1. Shut down server
  2. Remove drives used in data array and hot spare, and label with their positions.
  3. Boot up the server and acknowledge errors about failed drives
  4. Insert new drives and create new RAID10 array
  5. Format new array and restore data from tape backup.

This procedure worked as expected. But some data was missed in the last backup, so I need to recover data from the drives in the original array. Here's what I've done:

  1. Shut down server
  2. Remove drives used in new RAID10 array
  3. Insert old drives according to position labels.
  4. Boot up the server

At this point, I get the following error:

1785-Slot 0 Drive Array Not Configured
     Drive positions appear to have changed.
     Run Array Diagnostics Utility (ADU) if previous positions are unknown.
     Then turn system power OFF and move drives to their original positions.

I had assumed that the RAID metadata stored on the disks would be sufficient to bring the old RAID array back online, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I can hardly believe that the drives would be rendered inaccessible as soon as they are removed from the original RAID controller. Is there anything I can do to access the data on the old drives? If not, which RAID controllers support this, so I know what to buy in the future?

I have already contacted HP support, and they were unable to help. Their recommendation was to recreate the RAID array and restore the data, but that doesn't really help my situation.

Best Answer

The removed drives still have the RAID metadata on them. When you went to step #3 in the first drive replacement process; Boot up the server and acknowledge errors about failed drives, did you DELETE the removed array/logical drive or just mark it as failed? That's probably the source of the problem here.

When you brought up the system with your old drives, you should have again deleted the new data logical drive either in the BIOS raid utility or with the Smartstart/DL180 Setup Array Configuration utility and let the controller detect the array/logical drive.

Try this. Boot up with the new drives removed. Go into the BIOS or DL180 setup disk Array Config and delete the RAID 1+0 array. Then boot with your old drives and see if they're detected. Get the data you need. Remove the old drives. Delete the array. Insert your new drives. Let the controller discover the new array. Restore your data...

Keep this HP Smart Array controller users guide handy. http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=c01608507

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