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On a windows 2008 R2, which was on a mirrored software raid, Disk 0 has failed.

After I replaced it with an alternate drive (can not find the same capacity and model) - the server isn't booting. (it's an Intel SE7320VP2)

  • If I push the bad drive in, I get the following options to boot:

    • Windows Server 2008 R2
    • Windows Server 2008 R2 Secondary Plex

enter image description here

  • Theoretically, can the server boot with only 1 of the drives? (the good one that didn't fail)?
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  • 2
    I don't know the exact answer, so I'll leave this in a comment. Windows software RAID isn't transparent like hardware RAID or something like mdadm. In 2003, you used to have to put a boot floppy in and set boot.ini to boot from the second disk. In 2008 R2, I wouldn't be surprised if you had to fiddle with bcdedit or at least press f8 during boot and select the other disk if it is available. – MDMarra Oct 16 '12 at 13:21
  • Are you sure it was a mirrored pair and not striped or a span? – MDMarra Oct 16 '12 at 13:26
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Is this is the same server as in this previous question?

In that question you posted this screenshot (Now slightly edited). Screenshot fo diskm management with failed stuff highlighted

Notice three things:

  1. You are not mirroring drives but only a partition (C:)
  2. Windows boots from a drive.
  3. The drive with the system reserved partition (and bootcode) is the failed drive.
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  • yes, it's the same server. Now added info on Plex to the question. – Saariko Oct 16 '12 at 13:38
  • So to sum it up, the computer booted off Disk 0, the replacement has no System partition and Disk 1 has no System partition. This is what happens when a true disk mirror is not in place. You have to figure out how to take Disk 1 offline so you don't damage it, create a system partition on the replacement so it's bootable and then mount Disk 1 so you can back it up before reestablishing mirroring and for real disaster recovery, mirror the drives, not just the partitions. – Fiasco Labs Oct 16 '12 at 15:25
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    I never used mirrored volumes on boot disks, so take all of this with a grain of salt. I see a few ways to solve this. 1) Add a third drive. Mirror the system reserved to it. Mirror C: to it. Replace failed drive 0 with the new drive. (Possibly add some BCDedit magic somewhere). 2) After checking that your backups work move the C: mirror from the second partition to the right. Then add a mirror of the System reserved. Test if booting works from drive 1. If it works swap drive 0 and boot (BIOS, hotkey F12?) from drive 1. Restore to the new empty drive 0. – Hennes Oct 16 '12 at 15:25
  • [end of comment char limit] Option 3) remove both drive. Add new drives as drive 0. Install windows including boot stuff. Insert drive 1. Somehow mirror from drive 1 to drive 0. – Hennes Oct 16 '12 at 15:27
  • A bit late, but I just discovered how your system probably got into the C-volume only mirred state: See joseph_morris answer on superuser.com/questions/357051/… – Hennes Sep 12 '13 at 22:04
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Eventually what I did:

  • Use a bare metal restore to a new drive
  • Add a 2nd new drive, and create mirror's of both system and data disk.

LOVE SYSTEM BACKUPS !!

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