RAID5 using DELL PERC4 Controller

[keven]

Im using a DELL PERC4 Raid controller for a Raid5 configuration. I have SBS 2000 installed on it, everything has been working just fine however, I was performing a test of the RAID by physically removing one of the HDD and booting the system. It boot up just fine. Then I removed another HDD (Total of 2)The system would not boot. I placed both HDD back into the server with the same working configuration. They system will still not boot up.

All HDD are recognized by the RAID BIOS at startup. It gives error "No OS Found" Do i have to rebuild the RAID through the RAID utility? Will any data be lossed? Is there a reason why this happened?

 

[jjgraf]

RAID 5 is Parity with Striping. this type of setup requires 3 hard drives. what this setup does is take data break it up into 3 chunks and places it on 3 hard drives with parity checking which allows it to lose 1 harddrive without the lose of data.

that is the reason raid 10 and 50 exist you can lose more than one hardrive

You will have to rebuild the container and you may lose data because of this, Thankfully i have Never lost more than One hard drive in a Raid 5 setup

If you purchase the support Call DELL for help 1-800-759-1270 and if memory servers Perc 4 are hot swappable

just out of curiosity why did you do this?

 

[keven]

Well, i did it because i'm an idiot! Before I place this new server on our network, i wanted to test out the RAID configuration in case a real problem ever occured. Now I know that the system will remain operational if only 1 hard drive dies out. I learned the hard way... Guess i'll restore the system from Tape Backup... Urrrgghhhh!

Keven