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RAID 5 array keeps trying to rebuild itself

Joined
Nov 26, 2006
Messages
620
Ok so we have a server with six 500gb HDD's in a RAID 5 array. Its an intel raid controller and uses the "Intel Rapid Storage Technology" software. Unfortunately we just ran into a slight snag with this server, for some reason the Intel software keeps trying to rebuild the array, its like it's stuck in an endless loop (even after reboots). It will reach 100%, says its complete, and not 10 seconds later it starts all over again at 0%... its been doing this for days. The funny thing is the intel software says that the array is healthy and the system is functioning normally?? If the array is healthy why does it keep trying to rebuild it??

Anyway, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Is it an array off an ICH (motherboard ports) or an Intel PCI/PCIe controller? If so, which one? Before you do anything, I would make a full backup of the array (You can get an external 3TB drive for less than $150, do it tomorrow if you don't have a full backup in place yet)
 
The RAID controller is onboard, its an Intel ESB2 sata raid controller. We do have backups, we do a full backup every night with Acronis. Keep in mind that I am working on this remotely, I've never actually been in front of this server. I don't even know where to start on troubleshooting this issue, I've never seen anything like it.
 
The RAID controller is onboard, its an Intel ESB2 sata raid controller. We do have backups, we do a full backup every night with Acronis. Keep in mind that I am working on this remotely, I've never actually been in front of this server. I don't even know where to start on troubleshooting this issue, I've never seen anything like it.

Ok, you have a couple of problems. Since you do a full backup every night via acronis, Depending on which acronis product you use and if you do full or incremental/differential backups that means if you have drive corruption you are going to have a complete backup of corrupted data. Since you have never been in front of this box, send over a 3TB drive and have someone connect it so you can make a 1-off complete backup that isn't getting overwritten every night. This way you have at least a full backup you can go back to that isn't being overwritten every night. The ESB2 is just the Xeon version of the ICH for regular intel chipsets and is not all that reliable when "weird" things like this happen. Why did the initial rebuild occur? What do your logs say about the initial failure? Do you see anything in event viewer?

What OS are you running, and what patch level. What version of the RST are you running? What motherboard? BIOS? Intel Chipset Driver Version? Is this array the only drives on the ICH? What are you backing up to, and where is it connected?
 
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