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Updated BIOS of SATA controller - Storage pool still functioning, but WHS is reporting all drives as missing RRS feed

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    Hi all,

    My WHS has its storage pool running of a PCI card that has 4 SATA ports. I wanted to add a new HD to the storage pool, but the PCI card would not recognised the new HD without a BIOS upgrade made to the card itself. The BIOS upgrade went fine and the new HD was recognised by both the PCI card and WHS.

    When I used the WHS console to add the new HD to the storage pool I noticed that all of the drivers that made up my storage pool are being reported as missing (click here for a screenshot ). However the storage pool is fully functional and I was even able to add the new HD to it. I have also noticed that WHS is reported an error for each of the drives it can't find any more (click here for a screenshot )

    Any ideas how I could fix this?
    http://www.angelosp.com/blog
    Saturday, January 16, 2010 6:44 PM

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    A server reinstall might work but I would shut down the WHS, detach the old drives (the missing ones) from teh SATA card and then restart WHS. Then you remove the missing drive(s) from the pool, using the WHS console, and shutdown again. Reattach the missing drive and start the WHS once more but DO NOT add the drives to the pool. Instead, using the Remote Desktop, add the *files* from one "old drive" to the correct shares manually using Windows Explorer. After the data from each drive is restored to the pool, you can then use the WHS Console to add each old drive back to the pool. Depending on how full the missing drives are, you may be able to restore all of the data at one time and then re-add all of the drive at one time or you may have to do it one drive at a time to get more space in the pool.

    It sounds more complicated than it is but, as you may know, that you can remove drives from a WHS and the data can be read/restored from any computer that can read the NTFS file system so the data on your drives should still be there, you just need to get it back in the pool and then add the drives again. A server reinstall may be the supported way but if you don't want to go through that whole hassle then you can try the method above.

    Make sure you've restored everything before you add the drives to the pool (either one at a time or all at once) because you know that drives added to the pool get formatted.

    I, also, would not leave it as it is...
    "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." -- Thomas Paine
    Saturday, January 16, 2010 8:59 PM
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    Two things: there's a FAQ that walks though this process here (skip down to the last bullet list), and use the shares as accessed through the shortcut "Shared Folders on Server" (if you're working in Remote Desktop there's one on the server desktop, just like your client desktops).
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Sunday, January 17, 2010 12:00 AM
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  • Question
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    Hi all,

    My WHS has its storage pool running of a PCI card that has 4 SATA ports. I wanted to add a new HD to the storage pool, but the PCI card would not recognised the new HD without a BIOS upgrade made to the card itself. The BIOS upgrade went fine and the new HD was recognised by both the PCI card and WHS.

    When I used the WHS console to add the new HD to the storage pool I noticed that all of the drivers that made up my storage pool are being reported as missing (click here for a screenshot ). However the storage pool is fully functional and I was even able to add the new HD to it. I have also noticed that WHS is reported an error for each of the drives it can't find any more (click here for a screenshot )

    Any ideas how I could fix this?
    http://www.angelosp.com/blog
    The only supported way is to do a Server Reinstallation (and what I would recommend).  The unsupported (and potentially dangerous) method would be to see if you can figure out the IDs for those drives in the registry and try to fix it there.
    Saturday, January 16, 2010 7:13 PM
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    Hi all,

    My WHS has its storage pool running of a PCI card that has 4 SATA ports. I wanted to add a new HD to the storage pool, but the PCI card would not recognised the new HD without a BIOS upgrade made to the card itself. The BIOS upgrade went fine and the new HD was recognised by both the PCI card and WHS.

    When I used the WHS console to add the new HD to the storage pool I noticed that all of the drivers that made up my storage pool are being reported as missing (click here for a screenshot ). However the storage pool is fully functional and I was even able to add the new HD to it. I have also noticed that WHS is reported an error for each of the drives it can't find any more (click here for a screenshot )

    Any ideas how I could fix this?
    http://www.angelosp.com/blog
    The only supported way is to do a Server Reinstallation (and what I would recommend).  The unsupported (and potentially dangerous) method would be to see if you can figure out the IDs for those drives in the registry and try to fix it there.
    Saturday, January 16, 2010 7:13 PM
    Moderator
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    Since the storage pool is operational and folder duplication is reported as "On" and the backups are happening as scheduled, would you say it's safe to leave it as it is?
    http://www.angelosp.com/blog
    Saturday, January 16, 2010 7:17 PM
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    Since the storage pool is operational and folder duplication is reported as "On" and the backups are happening as scheduled, would you say it's safe to leave it as it is?
    http://www.angelosp.com/blog
    Good question.  :)

    I'm sure the pie chart in the Server Storage doesn't work now, right?  If not, I would consider the installation to be "broken" at this point and re-install (if only because you'll never know how much free space you truly have on your server without it).

    In any event, to answer your question:  Is it safe to leave as it is?  Probably (although there is no guarantee that some update in the future won't change that).  Would I leave it as it is?  No.
    Saturday, January 16, 2010 7:26 PM
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  • Question
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    A server reinstall might work but I would shut down the WHS, detach the old drives (the missing ones) from teh SATA card and then restart WHS. Then you remove the missing drive(s) from the pool, using the WHS console, and shutdown again. Reattach the missing drive and start the WHS once more but DO NOT add the drives to the pool. Instead, using the Remote Desktop, add the *files* from one "old drive" to the correct shares manually using Windows Explorer. After the data from each drive is restored to the pool, you can then use the WHS Console to add each old drive back to the pool. Depending on how full the missing drives are, you may be able to restore all of the data at one time and then re-add all of the drive at one time or you may have to do it one drive at a time to get more space in the pool.

    It sounds more complicated than it is but, as you may know, that you can remove drives from a WHS and the data can be read/restored from any computer that can read the NTFS file system so the data on your drives should still be there, you just need to get it back in the pool and then add the drives again. A server reinstall may be the supported way but if you don't want to go through that whole hassle then you can try the method above.

    Make sure you've restored everything before you add the drives to the pool (either one at a time or all at once) because you know that drives added to the pool get formatted.

    I, also, would not leave it as it is...
    "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." -- Thomas Paine
    Saturday, January 16, 2010 8:59 PM
  • Question
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    Two things: there's a FAQ that walks though this process here (skip down to the last bullet list), and use the shares as accessed through the shortcut "Shared Folders on Server" (if you're working in Remote Desktop there's one on the server desktop, just like your client desktops).
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Sunday, January 17, 2010 12:00 AM
    Moderator
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    Thank you for all the help. Server re-install it is!
    http://www.angelosp.com/blog
    Monday, January 18, 2010 10:07 AM