[SOLVED] restoring itserver os drive

bwaldorf · 10-30-2008, 06:28 AM

I have a server that holds all it data for drivers, and other important things. It crashed and needs restored. we had it set up with one drive holding the os and the other 2 mirrored holding the data.
I have a new hard drive and am wondering if putting it in and restoring the os, will the raid still be there? I do not want to lose the data.

Thanks for your help,
Bryan

**XtabbedoutX** · 10-30-2008, 07:37 AM

If I am understanding you correctly you have the following setup.

3 Physical Drives ( 1 for the OS, 2 in a RAID configuration for file server)

If you have all three drives in a RAID set then all you should have to do is replace the faulty drive and you should be set.

If your OS drive was a stand alone drive not apart of the raid set. It needs to be replaced, and Reloaded with the OS software.

let me know which setup you have exactly.

bwaldorf · 10-30-2008, 07:58 AM

OS drive was a stand alone drive not apart of the raid set. I put in a new drive but didn't want to go any further. What will replacing the drive and adding the new os do to the mirror raid I have for the others. We were just talking about that and was wondering if we have to set the mirror raid back up, and if so, which I assume is yes, then will the mirror require the drives to be formatted? That would be bad.

Thanks XtappedoutX

**XtabbedoutX** · 10-30-2008, 03:19 PM

If the drive is stand alone it should not affect the RAID set in any way. You will need to set the new drive up in your disk management tool so it can be a replacement for your old drive.

What are your system specs so I can try to be more specific in how to replace the drive.

bwaldorf · 10-31-2008, 11:37 AM

You'll find this interesting.
I put the original drive back in and tried booting from a system disk and did a repair and the system booted fine, all data secure and safe. I noticed that updates were installed that rebooted the server. I uninstalled them and rebooted with the cd in and it came back up no problems. However; I took out the system disk and it would not boot! The server is booting to a PXE configuration from the 3com nic. For some reason, it would run through the config, give me a pxe:316 media error, check cable error.

I then hit enter, it reran the same thing and I got the error again, then would get a disk boot failure: enter a system disk and press enter. I did NOT put the system disk in and hit enter, it gave me the pxe boot error about 3 more times and then booted into the system fine.

I went into the BIOS and disabled the LAN as a boot device and was still getting the PXE boot!! Even when I disabled it and made the HD the first in the boot list! I was using an IBM ThinkCenter running 2003 server so when I hit enter to inturrupt the boot sequence I had 3 options, IBM rescue and recovery, BIOS and temp boot device. I selected the temp boot device and selected the supposed bad drive and it boots fine.

Sorry about the rambling but I wanted to try to explain how it all went down and hopefully help someone else. I have narrowed it to something with the NIC but have not gotten it resolved yet. I turned off autoupdates and got the server back up and running successfully!

I appreciate all your help XtabbedoutX!

Bryan

10-30-2008, 06:28 AM	#1 (permalink)
bwaldorf Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Oakdale, PA Posts: 16 OS: xp sp3	[SOLVED] restoring itserver os drive I have a server that holds all it data for drivers, and other important things. It crashed and needs restored. we had it set up with one drive holding the os and the other 2 mirrored holding the data. I have a new hard drive and am wondering if putting it in and restoring the os, will the raid still be there? I do not want to lose the data. Thanks for your help, Bryan

10-30-2008, 07:37 AM	#2 (permalink)
XtabbedoutX TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Oklahoma City Posts: 1,189 OS: Server 2K3 R2 SP 2, Server 2K SP4, XP PRO SP 3, Mac OS X 10.5, iPhone My System	Re: restoring itserver os drive If I am understanding you correctly you have the following setup. 3 Physical Drives ( 1 for the OS, 2 in a RAID configuration for file server) If you have all three drives in a RAID set then all you should have to do is replace the faulty drive and you should be set. If your OS drive was a stand alone drive not apart of the raid set. It needs to be replaced, and Reloaded with the OS software. let me know which setup you have exactly.

10-30-2008, 07:58 AM	#3 (permalink)
bwaldorf Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Oakdale, PA Posts: 16 OS: xp sp3	Re: restoring itserver os drive OS drive was a stand alone drive not apart of the raid set. I put in a new drive but didn't want to go any further. What will replacing the drive and adding the new os do to the mirror raid I have for the others. We were just talking about that and was wondering if we have to set the mirror raid back up, and if so, which I assume is yes, then will the mirror require the drives to be formatted? That would be bad. Thanks XtappedoutX

10-30-2008, 03:19 PM	#4 (permalink)
XtabbedoutX TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Oklahoma City Posts: 1,189 OS: Server 2K3 R2 SP 2, Server 2K SP4, XP PRO SP 3, Mac OS X 10.5, iPhone My System	Re: restoring itserver os drive If the drive is stand alone it should not affect the RAID set in any way. You will need to set the new drive up in your disk management tool so it can be a replacement for your old drive. What are your system specs so I can try to be more specific in how to replace the drive.

10-31-2008, 11:37 AM	#5 (permalink)
bwaldorf Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Oakdale, PA Posts: 16 OS: xp sp3	Re: restoring itserver os drive You'll find this interesting. I put the original drive back in and tried booting from a system disk and did a repair and the system booted fine, all data secure and safe. I noticed that updates were installed that rebooted the server. I uninstalled them and rebooted with the cd in and it came back up no problems. However; I took out the system disk and it would not boot! The server is booting to a PXE configuration from the 3com nic. For some reason, it would run through the config, give me a pxe:316 media error, check cable error. I then hit enter, it reran the same thing and I got the error again, then would get a disk boot failure: enter a system disk and press enter. I did NOT put the system disk in and hit enter, it gave me the pxe boot error about 3 more times and then booted into the system fine. I went into the BIOS and disabled the LAN as a boot device and was still getting the PXE boot!! Even when I disabled it and made the HD the first in the boot list! I was using an IBM ThinkCenter running 2003 server so when I hit enter to inturrupt the boot sequence I had 3 options, IBM rescue and recovery, BIOS and temp boot device. I selected the temp boot device and selected the supposed bad drive and it boots fine. Sorry about the rambling but I wanted to try to explain how it all went down and hopefully help someone else. I have narrowed it to something with the NIC but have not gotten it resolved yet. I turned off autoupdates and got the server back up and running successfully! I appreciate all your help XtabbedoutX! Bryan