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I have a LSI megaraid Controller witha RAID5 array of 4 disks. This has been running for several years.

Yesterday The controller degraded the array and I cannot access the data on it because it thinks one of the disk would be missing (but it is not...).

The controller claimes the drive in Slot5 would be missing but also shows that there is a drive in this slot marked "(Foreigń)" - whatever that means. enter image description here

There are no actions available for the "missing drive".

For the foreign drive I have actions and I can successfully do "Make Unconf Bad" and "Make unconf good". But when I try to "Replace missing PD" I get an unspecific error message: enter image description here

When entering the controllers BIOS it proposes to import a "foreign configuration". enter image description here

In this "foreign configuration" the drive in Question is in State "rebuild" and no drive is missing. This is what I want, but the Import fails. enter image description here

How do I replace the "missing" drive with the "foreign" drive without loosing my data on the RAID?

Timothy Truckle
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1 Answers1

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The designation of 'foreign' simply means he adapter has not seen if before and it may have been used in another raid array. Do not import it. Check the PORT number the disk is on. If this is the NEW disk, then move the disk to "unconfigured good" state. This means the disk can be used. After the completes, you should be able to use it as a replacement disk.

GroverD
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  • Thanks for the quick reply. I can set the PD to "unconfigured good" state but it keeps the "foreign" mark as shown in the pictures. When the PD is in "unconfigured good" state and I select "replace missing PD" I get the error "Failed to start operation on drive" – Timothy Truckle Dec 24 '22 at 22:07
  • Looking at my megaraid storage manager, I have the option to erase the drive. Do you have that option? – GroverD Dec 26 '22 at 16:09
  • no, I can only reconfigure the whole array, and I assume that deletes all my data. – Timothy Truckle Dec 26 '22 at 19:32
  • When you boot the system and the LSI adapter firmware is run, do you see: – GroverD Dec 26 '22 at 21:38
  • The original disk is in the system at the original location. I would offer that the adapter has seen something to fail the disk. When you boot you system and the LSI firmware runs, do you see a message similar to: Foreign configuration(s) found on adapter. Press any key to continue, or ’C’ to load the configuration utility or ’F’ to import foreign configuration(s) and continue. If this is all the original stuff, the IMPORT the configuration. Run a health check on the array when the system boots. Review the adapter log to see if you can tell what happened. – GroverD Dec 26 '22 at 21:55
  • Yes, I do. But pressing "F" does not solve the problem. – Timothy Truckle Dec 28 '22 at 20:43