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liaminnes

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2 x DL380 G3 Servers - Swap Hard Drives

Current scenario.

1 x DL380 G3 Server With SBS 2003 Premium Raid 5 configured on a 6400 Controller.
1 x DL380 G3 Server (Identical Hardware) With Server 2003 Standard

SBS server is failing to get past the POST stage. We have contacted HP and a technician will be calling midday on Monday of next week.

My question is, our SBS server is more critical and would it be possible to simply switch the drives between the failing SBS server and the 2003 Standard server to allow our users to start work first thing on Monday morning? Are there any considerations? MAC address of Network Cards etc.

Regards
Liam
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itcoza
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Hi liaminnes,

If your array is set up as hardware raid, yes you can.  Connect to the Raid controller management console and backup your configuration to disk.  Once you have done this, you can transfer the configuration to the other server, Please note that the raid controler does identify the disks that it uses.  

Once the config has been move, you should be able to safely move your hard disks to the other server.

Regards,
M

---BACKUP BABY, BACKUP---
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Netman66
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I agree, mark the disks and boot the disks in the other server.  You will be presented with an F1/F2 prompt after the array controller post.  Select between disabling the array or accepting the config on the disks.  If you select the wrong one, reboot and pick the other choice.  If you don't have a 6400 controller in the target server, you might want to move the controller as well.  This way you don't end up with driver issues, and it will have the right array config already.

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bilbus

Backup the drives if you can, ghost or what not.

i have moved drives between dell 2600's with no problem. I would not think HP would be diff .. but you never know

a good rule is .. if both servers have the same bios, raid card (and firmware), hardware your fairly safe