IBM x3655

[cb46]

We have an IBM x3655 server running and it's decided to rebuild the array. It's been going for about 36hrs and is only at 52%. It's killing the server that is running on it. Just want to know if I can pull the drive and copy it to another server or if there's any proprietary software on it that will stop it from being readable by another type of machine.

 

[rclarke250]

Umm, you can't pull the drive from the array, and read it, unless it is raid 1, and only a 2 disk system. What kind of array? was there a hot spare, rebuilding because of a failed drive? What does it indicate in Servraid manager? What kind and size drives? I know seagate 500GB sata drives have an issue that need a firmware update.

 

[goombawaho]

Yeah, don't do ANYTHING like pulling drives unless you understand 100% what's going on. From your post, it seems like you don't have the knowledge to be messing with the server. I can't emphasize enough how much you need to understand RAID, arrays and logical drives to manage this situation. Likely you have a failed drive and the server is rebuilding the array onto the new drive (hot spare).

You need to let it finish rebuilding regardless of performance hit. Then identify the failed drive and set it to OFFLINE unless it already is and then remove it. If you had a hot spare in the server, you'll need to insert a new drive and designate it as a new hot spare.

If you have a problem with the performance of the server during a rebuild, you need to investigate a different version of RAID which might not take such a performance hit. But right now, don't do anything rash - your data might be at risk.

Just want to know if I can pull the drive and copy it to another server or if there's any proprietary software on it that will stop it from being readable by another type of machine.

If you pulled a drive in a RAID 5 and put it in another server, you would see NOTHING (no data) because all three drives are needed for the array to function.