August 28, 20178 yr Hello unRAID community. So, here's my problem. I just recently received a dell r710 to replace my makeshift unRAID server out of used parts. I can list the specs if needed for solving. My goal is to migrate the drives out of my old machine and put them on the r710. I have 3 2tb Hitatchi drives, and one 250gb that was left from a past project. My issue is the r710 has a Perc 6/i raid card that does not allow transparent raids, and the old machine has sata ports for connections. on the r710 I tested an unraid install with 4 500gb drives, and made 4 Raid 0 arrays so unRAID can see each individual drive... It worked perfectly. No issues at all, although this is not the ideal way to do it. It worked. In my brilliant mindset, I went ahead and tried to just swap the drives entirely. I moved the 3 2tb and single 250gb drives from the old machine into the r710, took the flash drive and plugged it in, made 4 raid 0 arrays with the drives, and booted into unRAID perfectly! One issue....... Making the raid arrays destroyed the tag for the drive, and i'm assuming it masked its serial number too, so unRAID had no idea what to do with "4 new drives" and assumed I had lost my 4 drives (see pictures attached). I have been looking for days for a solution to this annoying problem, but to no avail. The drives are back in the original server at the moment and is working fine. Does anyone have ideas on a way to go upon switching out these machines without starting over from scratch? Thank you for taking the time to read over my craziness. I'm willing to experiment, and have the resources to do so. I just am worried sick about loosing the information on the drives. A backup has been taken in preparation. Thanks! - Koby Edited August 28, 20178 yr by Tundraboy44
August 28, 20178 yr Author 2 minutes ago, bonienl said: Try the Dynamix SCSI devices plugin and see if names change. I'll give it a shot today! Thank you for the quick reply. Do it with the drives in the R710 I presume? Or do it before the switch? Thanks! - Koby
August 28, 20178 yr Or, take the easy (correct?) way out and swap the PERC6 for a controller that doesn't mangle the ID or require jumping through hoops. Plenty of options available for $50 and up. LSI based controllers are best, don't use Marvell based controllers. Search the forum for LOTS of discussion on good controllers and good deals.
August 28, 20178 yr Author 3 minutes ago, jonathanm said: Or, take the easy (correct?) way out and swap the PERC6 for a controller that doesn't mangle the ID or require jumping through hoops. Plenty of options available for $50 and up. LSI based controllers are best, don't use Marvell based controllers. Search the forum for LOTS of discussion on good controllers and good deals. I'll look around. Haven't done much research on replacing it entirely. Although that is probably the best, and correct solution. I'll check it out, thanks!
August 28, 20178 yr 4 minutes ago, Tundraboy44 said: I'll give it a shot today! Thank you for the quick reply. Do it with the drives in the R710 I presume? Or do it before the switch? Thanks! - Koby Just install the plugin on your new machine. Would also consider the LSI option, this is proven to work.
August 30, 20178 yr I just bought an R710 and went through the same thing. Throw the perc 6i in the garbage and pick up a perc h200. Then you flash the it firmware onto the card and it passes the drives cleanly. You will also need two new 30 inch mini sas cables. I paid 40 bucks for the h200 on ebay and the cables i got from monoprice. Also when you go to flash the firmware you will probably have to do it from a desktop. I wasnt able to flash the it firmware with the card installed on the R710. I still think the r710 is a great choice for an unraid build. For the price the performance cant be touched.
August 30, 20178 yr Author 9 minutes ago, Diode663 said: I just bought an R710 and went through the same thing. Throw the perc 6i in the garbage and pick up a perc h200. Then you flash the it firmware onto the card and it passes the drives cleanly. You will also need two new 30 inch mini sas cables. I paid 40 bucks for the h200 on ebay and the cables i got from monoprice. Also when you go to flash the firmware you will probably have to do it from a desktop. I wasnt able to flash the it firmware with the card installed on the R710. I still think the r710 is a great choice for an unraid build. For the price the performance cant be touched. Diode663, you honestly could not have replied at a better time. I was beginning to loose hope. I came into this project with very minimal research on using this for unraid, but it was my overall goal. I have questions for you!!!! I have been doing a ton of research.... h310, or h200. How is your H200 holding up, and what are your bays looking like? How many disks to do you have, any SSD's? Can you send me link to the 8087 cables you used? Does one end need to have a right angle to connect to the Backplane? THANK YOU!
August 30, 20178 yr I just flashed the card yesterday and got everything running, its server grade stuff so I would imagine it is going to hold up just fine. https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=8189 -These are the cables I got. There is plenty of clearance so no right angle connectors needed. From what I understand the h310 and the h200 differ only by the sas port location. The H200 location more closely matches the stock location. I havent been up and running very long but right now I am using two WD Red 3 tb drives that I took out of my old synology nas. Everything works great. I have a spare 120gb ssd that I intend to use as a cache disk. I just need to pick up one of these: https://www.amazon.com/WALI-Adapter-Bracket-9W8C4-F238F/dp/B00DCBFF8Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504059759&sr=8-1&keywords=wali+adapter+bracket This way I can properly mount the ssd in the drive tray. When you go to flash the h200, do yourself a favor and put it in the desktop and it will work first try. I also recommend updating the idrac and all the firmwares on the r710 while you are waiting for your card to come in. Dell put out an iso file you can put on a flash drive that will automatically update everything for you. DO NOT update the power supply firmware- the chance of ruining it is too high for no gains.
August 30, 20178 yr Author 13 minutes ago, Diode663 said: I just flashed the card yesterday and got everything running, its server grade stuff so I would imagine it is going to hold up just fine. https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=8189 -These are the cables I got. There is plenty of clearance so no right angle connectors needed. From what I understand the h310 and the h200 differ only by the sas port location. The H200 location more closely matches the stock location. I havent been up and running very long but right now I am using two WD Red 3 tb drives that I took out of my old synology nas. Everything works great. I have a spare 120gb ssd that I intend to use as a cache disk. I just need to pick up one of these: https://www.amazon.com/WALI-Adapter-Bracket-9W8C4-F238F/dp/B00DCBFF8Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504059759&sr=8-1&keywords=wali+adapter+bracket This way I can properly mount the ssd in the drive tray. When you go to flash the h200, do yourself a favor and put it in the desktop and it will work first try. I also recommend updating the idrac and all the firmwares on the r710 while you are waiting for your card to come in. Dell put out an iso file you can put on a flash drive that will automatically update everything for you. DO NOT update the power supply firmware- the chance of ruining it is too high for no gains. Thank you so much for all this information! You seriously have no idea how much you just helped me. I ordered this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GMAFCQS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 yesterday as mine didn't come with any trays either. Hopefully that will work ok for the SSD. I also might use the included Mobo SATA port and power from the CD drive if that doesn't work out. We'll see! Just bought those cables, and am currently trying to find a good deal on ebay for the H200. Thanks for the tips. For the raid card, simply just use it in a desktop to flash it? Could you possibly briefly explain how you did it? You rock!
August 30, 20178 yr I actually got mine with all the trays included. And I ended up getting the idrac enterprise because the remote console was worth the extra 16 bucks. Now the only thing going to the r710 is power and ethernet. I can power cycle, view the power consumption and operate it remotely, I highly suggest you check it out. http://www.ebay.com/itm/47MCV-DELL-PERC-H200-PCI-EXPRESS-X8-RAID-CONTROLLER/332338551403?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 this is where i got my H200 from. As for flashing it simply put it in your desktop, boot to the bootable usb flash drive you created, and follow the instructions. It may look daunting but its cake. https://techmattr.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/updated-sas-hba-crossflashing-or-flashing-to-it-mode-dell-perc-h200-and-h310/comment-page-1/ -this is the guide. Disregard the part about covering the pins on the card, that doesnt apply. Once its flashed pull it out of the desktop and throw it into the server and you are ready to rock. edited to add- dont bother with the onboard sata ports, they are only 3Gbps. Edited August 30, 20178 yr by Diode663
August 30, 20178 yr Author 19 minutes ago, Diode663 said: I actually got mine with all the trays included. And I ended up getting the idrac enterprise because the remote console was worth the extra 16 bucks. Now the only thing going to the r710 is power and ethernet. I can power cycle, view the power consumption and operate it remotely, I highly suggest you check it out. http://www.ebay.com/itm/47MCV-DELL-PERC-H200-PCI-EXPRESS-X8-RAID-CONTROLLER/332338551403?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 this is where i got my H200 from. As for flashing it simply put it in your desktop, boot to the bootable usb flash drive you created, and follow the instructions. It may look daunting but its cake. https://techmattr.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/updated-sas-hba-crossflashing-or-flashing-to-it-mode-dell-perc-h200-and-h310/comment-page-1/ -this is the guide. Disregard the part about covering the pins on the card, that doesnt apply. Once its flashed pull it out of the desktop and throw it into the server and you are ready to rock. edited to add- dont bother with the onboard sata ports, they are only 3Gbps. Ordered the card, Idrac, and cables. Lets hope for the best! I'll be reaching out to you when they all get here. In the meantime, I'll work on updating the r710! Thanks again, it's greatly appreciated. Your help gave me hope again
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