Data Recovery Weekly

Q: There are 6 SATA disks in the server. Based on SMART data, one of them (in fourth bay) is going to fail. Someone knows how bays are numbered? Identification by “blinking the bay's LED” does not work. A: Write down the serial number of the offending disk in the controller configuration tool, turn off the server, pull all the disks out in turn, and find the disk based on the serial number. Then assemble everything back and turn on the server. If everything is OK, turn off the server once again and replace the disk.

Q: A motherboard in a server burned out. There was RAD5 of 5 disks with LSI MegaRAID controller. There is a reason to assume that the controller and the array were in working order. If I transfer the controller and drives to another server (different model/motherboard), the array would work? A: A hardware controller with disks is a self-contained unit, so if you install drivers as required on another system, the array will work. Just in case, do not swap the drives on controller ports, because in some cases it is significant.