Dead Server 2k NAS Vigstore

[starscream]

Can anyone suggest some steps I can take to fix this...

 

Basically I have a Viglen Vigstore network attached storage server. It fails to fully boot into windows 2000 server but I could access the shares on it sometimes so it must of had some network functionality. Anyway it had been crashing a lot and I found out it was a fauly CPU fan and replaced it and it was stable again.

 

I had to relocate it so had to power it down and when I fired it back up it didn't connect tot he network, shares were no longer available and it locked up at the same point on the "starting up" server 2000 screen.

 

Anyway my plan was to recover the data from the 4 IDE drives and then format it and install server again. However...

 

I have no idea if it is running raid, it probably is but I don't know which raid.

 

HDD 1 has failed, I can tell this as when I plug the power in to this one only I can hear all sorts going on inside the drive and I think it is a lost cause. Now if this is raid how did I read the raid array to recover the data before I format? Will knoppix or another linux distro live work or will I have to reinstall server 2000? Can I repair server 2000 from CD somehow and remove the broken hard drive and will the array still be available for me to recover?

 

If it is set up in raid striped then does that mean that 1 drive failing is fine and all data is still there? If it is set to mirroring then again all data should still be there. Will raid be set up in the adaptec raid controller card so it does not matter that OS I use it will still see the raid array?

 

Please help, I havn't much experience in this area and I don't think I can simply plug each drive into another PC and recover data that way.

[starscream]

OK the ADAPTEC controller says RAID 5

 

After wikiing this it looks like I need to put in a like for like replacement drive.

 

Will the array automatically be rebuilt? Is there another way to get the data off?

 

Basically I just want the data off the drives ASAP. If another drive dies then I get data loss.

[Geoff]

After wikiing this it looks like I need to put in a like for like replacement drive.

 

Identical preferably, but similar will 'do'.

 

Will the array automatically be rebuilt?

 

Yes.

 

Is there another way to get the data off?

 

If you manually tell the raid controller the failed drive is failed, it'll run on the remaining drives. Minus any fault tolerance of course.

 

Basically I just want the data off the drives ASAP. If another drive dies then I get data loss.

 

Just be aware that if you're unlucky your data might already be lost. If there were undetectable faults on the drive before it's catastrophic failure then data corruption could of been spread to the data on the good drives thanks to the RAID.

 

I'd get those backup tapes out too if I were you. Just in case.

[starscream]

Well I've only just started there and the Veritas backup software looks to have failed since early last month. I wil need to get that fixed and get the thing backed up.

 

The server still seems to work in limbo without fully booting into windows. It seems to be working fine at the moment. I think I will need to get a USB hard drive to copy the data to till I can find time to fix the back up software.

 

I have very limited time there.

[psydii]

This happened to me last year. I sympathise. Get the data off, shut the box down and never turn it on again.

 

Then go an get a proper server.