Re: URGENT: Need help rebuilding iir RAID5 array with failed drive

----- "Derek Ragona" <derek_at_computinginnovations.com> wrote:

> At 08:49 AM 6/26/2008, Garrett Cooper wrote:
> >Hello,
> >       First off sorry for the cross-post. I typically don't do this
> >but this is an important question, so please bear with me. I'm just
> >trying to get more eyes on the subject so I can (maybe) get a reply
> >quicker...
> >       I'm running 8-CURRENT on my machine and it appears that one
> of
> >the disks in my RAID5 array has taken a nose dive (BIOS recognizes
> >that it exists, but Intel Matrix Manager claims that the disk is an
> >"Offline Member"). After doing some reading it appears that it's
> >kaput, so I need to get a replacement disk to fix this one...
> >       That aside, I need to determine how to rebuild the array in a
> >Unix environment because Intel only provides instructions for how to
> >use their Windows matrix manager. If anyone can point me to some
> links
> >or provide me with some pointers on how to correct this issue, I'd
> owe
> >you a lot; in fact the next time you come by Santa Cruz, CA I'll
> >gladly treat you to some beers or something else you might want
> :)...
> >Linux solutions (if there isn't a proper one for FreeBSD) are valid,
> >as long as the core data remains uncorrupted and I can do what I
> need
> >to from a LiveCD. I'm just scared to boot up OS and have it do some
> >irrevocable operation like fsck -y and assume parity errors are ok
> or
> >something along those lines  (I don't remember if I set rc.conf to
> >fsck -y and I know I can change that from single-user mode, but I
> want
> >to play things conservatively if at all possible) :\...
> >       Filesystem is UFS2 with softupdates of course.
> >       Point proven that I need to backup my data more often :(...
> >TIA,
> >-Garrett
> >
> >PS If replying on the questions_at_ list, please CC me as I'm not
> >subscribed to that list.
> 
> 
> Most of the intel RAID functions can be accessed through the BIOS
> console 
> too.  It isn't as pretty as the GUI versions but has the same
> functions.
> 
> The drives are labeled so the RAID controller will know a drive was 
> replaced.  You just need to tell the controller to add it to the array
> and 
> rebuild the array.

I haven't seen an Intel card in a while, but if you see an "initialize" 
option, DON'T USE IT. On other cards it exists, and destroys the volume.

Casey