Why does my server lose it's RAID drive on reboot?
I have a Dell T320 server that we just restored from an image backup. It had two (of three) RAID drives in predicted fail, when we removed one to replace it the RAID died immediately. Rebuild of RAID with new drives and then restore from backup went smooth. Now I'm having some trouble.
I'm also confused about how it's getting to the advanced boot menu to prompt me to enter system recovery without a Windows volume.
- On boot, it tries to enter system recovery.
- If I tell it to boot normally, it tries to load Windows then restarts.
- If I go into system recovery, it can't find the Windows installation and asks for drivers or an image to restore. If I load RAID drivers, it finds a Windows install on the RAID volume, which is mapped to the next available drive letter. (Not C:)
- Then I can run startup repair and it will prompt for a reboot and boot Windows properly. (With the right volume mapped to C:)
- The system runs mostly fine. I have a .NET issue I'm working on but I THINK it's unrelated.
- If I reboot the system it goes back to the beginning.
I'm also confused about how it's getting to the advanced boot menu to prompt me to enter system recovery without a Windows volume.
Adam Brown
How did you perform the restore?
ASKER
We rebuilt the RAID volume and booted with a Dell Windows disk, then used system restore to restore the image backup.
http://www.wbadmin.info/articles/howto-bare-metal-restores-windows-server-2008-backup.html This is the procedure you need to follow when doing a full system restore after a failed RAID issue. If you don't have a bare-metal restore image to use (only a backup specifically meant as a bare metal restore backup will work), you'll have to install windows fresh, re-install the applications, and then restore the data from your image backup for things to work correctly. Otherwise, you'll end up with a corrupted reimage of the system that is looking for specific drive data and HAL information which no longer exists because you're using different drives than you had before.
Do yourself a favor and get a real 3rd party backup program.
The built in has just too many shortcomings.
Acronis and Storage Craft are excellent programs just to name a few.
The built in has just too many shortcomings.
Acronis and Storage Craft are excellent programs just to name a few.
ASKER
I would expect that the volume living on the RAID would show up on boot if I had an improper restore. The mystery I'm trying to solve is why I have to load drivers for the RAID every time I reboot the server. Windows itself seems to function the way it's supposed to, but the server can't find Windows when I reboot.
The built in restore does not back up non ntfs partitions,you may have a Dell partition that was not restored properly causing issues.
As I stated,not a very good backup program.
As I stated,not a very good backup program.
Make sure your array is in a healthy and fully functional state if you haven't already.
Have you performed an integrity check on the array before doing the restore, si the array and are all your drives now healthy?
Your backup may also have an issue where a key file used at Boot by the OS is, backed up in a corrupt state. I will assume you have multiple backups (eg Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays...) so try going to an older backup and do a full restore to see if that clears your issue. I have used WIndows Server Backup to restore to many of this model (i have about 30 odd T300's, 310'. 320's 330's) across client sites, and only had to do one restore
Have you performed an integrity check on the array before doing the restore, si the array and are all your drives now healthy?
Your backup may also have an issue where a key file used at Boot by the OS is, backed up in a corrupt state. I will assume you have multiple backups (eg Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays...) so try going to an older backup and do a full restore to see if that clears your issue. I have used WIndows Server Backup to restore to many of this model (i have about 30 odd T300's, 310'. 320's 330's) across client sites, and only had to do one restore
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
Worked with Dell to find this solution and it worked.