Re: SBS 2003 + SATA + failing software mirror

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

IF the MBR boot sector is created properly before the RAID is established it's a simple matter of removing the failed drive and booting off the mirror, else you end up where you're at.

There used to be a KB on it. Can't be bothered looking for it. (actually, there's a couple, dealing with both the creation of the boot sector and why you can't boot from your alternate with a functional 'master')

"Jim" <jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:gktjk3$2a0d$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Wow SuperGumby, many thanks for that..I'd kind of nearly got there...but it's now getting late, so I'm going to put it to sleep for tonight and have another go following your instructions tomorrow.

One thing...one of ourengineers went to site and thought he was going to shut down the server and replace the ailing drive boot back up and everything would be hunky dory..

...it's not quite as simple as that is it..at least not if it's the primary...

Many thanks again.

I'm probably gonna start the experiment from scratch again tomorrow...to many wrong turns might start clouding the issue.



"SuperGumby [SBS MVP]" <not@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:%23db2leOeJHA.5648@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Just reassign the drive letters now.

I will take issue with Charlie though. PLEASE Charlie, _never_ tell someone to break their mirror set in these circumstances, doing so reassigns the drive letters associated with the partitions on the partner (as we now see).

The basic problem was that the array was not created properly in the 1st place. The 2nd drive did not have proper boot sector info. (Actually, it's more like the drive wasn't prep'd properly before the array was created)

Get the system up with your original drive1 on the drive0 connector. Manually reassign the drive letters. Restart a couple of times to make sure everything is OK. You will _most likely_ have to use the floppy to do this, with your original boot.ini.

Create a standard MBR boot sector on the 2nd drive. (your replacement drive)
I normally do this while the drive is in 'basic' format, only changing to 'dynamic' after. It's simple, just create a primary partition of any size, you can even 'quick format' it. I don't do this enough (preferring hardware RAID which does not require these steps) and cannot remember whether you will then also be able to make the partition 'active', if you can, do so.

Then restart and delete the partition. Though the partition is removed the MBR boot sector is now created and remains on the drive. You can now convert the drive to dynamic type and establish your mirror.

WAIT for the mirrors to sync.

You then remove your drive0 (originally drive1) and attempt to boot off the new drive which is currently sitting at drive1. NO adjustment of the RAID configuration nor boot.ini and you should be able to boot without using the floppy.

We now have to fix your original drive.

Shutdown again and put the new drive into drive0 position, leave your original drive disconnected. The system should boot normally. Now (while the partner is disconnected) is the time to remove the RAID relationship, then shutdown and reconnect your original drive in its original position (drive1).

When you start the system you need to check that partitions are correctly assigned to the right drives (at this point all your working partitions should be on the new drive which is currently in drive0 position).

Assuming this is the case we need to delete the partitions on your original drive1 and give it an MBR boot sector so that things work properly in future and we avoid all this mess, then recreate your mirror.

Last thoughts.
Software RAID does not belong on a primary server.
I _SO_ wish MS would fix this 'boot' process thing which has existed since the introduction of software RAID to NT4.
The Windows popup at the time of creation of a software RAID1 set concerning creation of a 2nd boot.ini entry is a load of rubbish. You cannot boot off the alternate partner if the original drive is in place and functional and if drive0 is faulty simply disconnecting it will allow the system to boot using the original boot.ini entry (if your boot sector has been properly created).

"Jim" <jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:gkt4lv$1gc9$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Charlie...have you actually tried this with SATA drives ?

On my SCSI test rig everything works as you would expect..with SATA I'm getting conflicting issues.

OK, I'm booted back to the boot floppy.

2nd SATA in port 2 now showing as disk 0 parts C:\, E:\, F:\

1st (primary/failed/disconnected) SATA showing as missing - failed redundancy.

Remove mirroring, am just left with 2nd SATA three healthy simple volumes.

Shut down.

2nd SATA in port 2 is the drive that the boot floppy has started ( the mirror shadow)

1st (new) SATA drive is now connected in port 1

Edit the boot.ini on the floppy to now point to multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)

System booted up

1st SATA drive is now disk 0 unallocated space

2nd SATA drive, three healthy simple volumes, is now disk 1 ( as it was originally) though the drive letters appear to have changed to C:\, H:\ and I ?

What next ?

Do I need to convert the 1st SATA to dynamic ? or create partitions and mark as active first ?




"Charlie Russel - MVP" <charlie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:eHgr2LMeJHA.5540@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
If this is a software RAID, that is normal behaviour. If you look at boot.ini, you'll see something like:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server" /noexecute=optout /fastdetect

If you have a boot floppy, it would point to a different rdisk or rdisk, reflecting the other half of the mirror.

You need to break the mirror, edit the boot.ini on the good drive to point to the same as the boot.ini on the boot floppy. Then, when you add the new disk, you can recreate the mirror. Once it's rebuilt, you have the option of changing back to have the original be the new primary, or leave it as is. If you leave it, make sure you change your boot floppy to point to the original primary.

--
Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/blogs/xperts64
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/charlie.russel

"Jim" <jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:gkt011$18gi$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
OK, seeing as there doesn't appear to be much activity in the other forums I wonder if there are any hardware guru's over here..

SBS 2003 in a small five user network.

Installed onto a small HP server with two 250GB SATA drives software RAID 1 mirrored.

The primary SATA drive is failing and needs replacing.

If I shut the system down and remove the primary SATA drive the system will not boot to the secondary mirror shadow drive.
System just goes into a boot loop, doesn't even show the startup menu.

If I plug the primary back in all is fine and it will boot up...but it needs changing...

If I get a USB floppy drive and connect to the system and use a boot floppy I can get the startup menu and can get the secondary shadow to boot on it's own.

I thought that I should be able to get the secondary SATA drive to boot without the primary being there without having to resort to a boot floppy ?

OK, after a little experiment I discover that this may just be a SATA peculiarity as if I knock together a SCSI based system with the same config I find that I can indeed just remove the primary drive and the system still starts up seamlessly with only the secondary shadow SCSI attached. I thought so..

Why am I getting different results on SCSI compared to SATA ?

Is this a SATA issue ?

Any takers ?






.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: XP Pro wont boot, safemode wont help, recovery console doesnt h
    ... Win XP Pro installed on a 300GB SATA drive, ... When trying to boot it gets to the standard Windows logo and after ... new install, which AFAIK would wipe the drive). ... the SATA HDD listed in Device Manager in the "Disk drives" section? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: XP Pro wont boot, safemode wont help, recovery console doesnt h
    ... Win XP Pro installed on a 300GB SATA drive, ... When trying to boot it gets to the standard Windows logo and after ... new install, which AFAIK would wipe the drive). ... drives" section? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: M2N-SLI Deluxe Raid setup questions
    ... If you have a functioning win hd that was previously connected to the sata ... If you cloned an ide boot drive to your sata, you would in any case need to ... Sata controlers are by design hotswapable, but you cannot hot swap / stop ... drives started clicking and then they died. ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)
  • Re: New SATA HDD wont show in My Computer
    ... so won't allow any of my other drives to show (Pioneer DVR a106, ... plugged the new HD into the SATA on the Mobo and plugged in the power ... In fact now the PC wouldn't boot. ... only worked once during OS install and now wont show the DVD's) ...
    (alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt)
  • Re: New SATA HDD wont show in My Computer
    ... so won't allow any of my other drives to show (Pioneer DVR a106, ... plugged the new HD into the SATA on the Mobo and plugged in the power ... In fact now the PC wouldn't boot. ... only worked once during OS install and now wont show the DVD's) ...
    (alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt)