I'm dealing with a RAID 5 setup on a Dell R720Xd with an H710 controller, and I recently faced a serious issue. The RAID array suddenly went offline, but after a reboot, it came back online. Then, I noticed that only one drive had dropped out a couple of times before the failure, which happened to have reallocated sectors. I thought everything was fine until I attempted to replace the bad drive with a hot swap, but the array failed again. When I put the bad drive back, it showed up as foreign, and after clearing that config, now the virtual disk shows as failed and the drive is missing in the PERC BIOS. I can't get the virtual disk back online with any of the options available. Is there anything I can do to salvage my data?
2 Answers
It sounds like you’re in a tough spot. Dell RAID systems can sometimes keep running even when they’re more fragile than you'd like, but once you've got more failures than the setup can handle, things can go sideways fast. If the data is critical and you have no backups, it might be time to consider professional data recovery services. Just a heads up, it’s possible the array was already in trouble before it completely failed. Also, if your drives are old, you might face more issues down the line—something to keep in mind for future maintenance.
Honestly, reinserting a bad drive after a failure isn't the best move. RAID 5 has its limits, and once a drive goes down, the chances of losing another during a rebuild are pretty high. You really want to shut down the array and get a fresh replacement ideally. I’d suggest removing the problematic drives entirely, setting up a new array with new drives, and restoring from whatever backup you have. This ensures you’re starting fresh and reduces the risk of further losses.
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Reply:
**User:** I did some reading online and some of the recommendations said that the only way for the array to come back online was with the original configured drives. My thought process was that it came back up once after a reboot, and it might again if I restore the original drive. It did not lol.
**FixItFrank:** I understand the logic, especially when you’re hopeful for a quick fix. But unfortunately, it often leads to more issues. Just wish you the best in recovery!
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