Data loss when converting Windows Basic Disk(s) to Windows Dynamic Disk(s) - IBM ServeRAID-8i, 8k, 8k-l, 8s

Resolving The Problem

Source

RETAIN tip: H196202

Symptom

This communication is to alert users to a high risk potential of data loss when converting Windows Basic Disk(s) to Windows Dynamic disks. IBM "strongly recommends" that users of the ServeRAID 8 series (8k, 8k-l, and 8S) apply the ServeRAID firmware version 15432 (or later) update to avoid the potential data loss that can occur during the conversion process.

The following Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) levels are affected:

• RAID-1
• RAID-10
• RAID volume (Mirror Subset)

When converted to the following configuration:

• A ServeRAID-8s, ServeRAID-8k, or ServeRAID-8k-l at firmware level 15427.
• Device driver version 12913 (Windows 2003).
• System x3650, Type 7979 server.
• RAID-1 and RAID-10 configurations.

Since firmware miscalculates the sector number, the data is fetched from some other location, and on reboot, the drive will be marked OFFLINE.

1. Create RAID-1 (usingCtrl-A) and install Windows 2003.
2. Create RAID-10 (using Ctrl-A).
3. Create a partition called Volume on RAID-10 (D:).
4. Convert D: to dynamic disk.
5. Create Software Mirror RAID using C: and D:.
6. Reboot the system and see that the D: drive is offline.

Affected configurations

The system is configured with one or more of the following IBM Options:

• ServeRAID-8i Controller, Option part number 13N2227
• ServeRAID-8k SAS Controller, Option part number 25R8064
• ServeRAID-8k-l SAS Controller, Option part number 39R8729
• ServeRAID-8s SAS PCIe Controller, Option part number 39R8765

This tip is not hardware specific.

This tip is not software specific.

The version 15427 firmware for the ServeRAID adapters is affected.

Solution

This behavior is corrected in firmware version 15432 and later.

It was revised to include the correction for the miscalculation of sector numbers.

The referenced file will be available from the "Servers - ServeRAID Software Matrix" at the following URL:

• http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1SERV-RAID

Additional information

Customers who utilize Microsoft Windows 2003 or Microsoft Windows 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit) in addition to an IBM ServeRAID 8S, 8k, 8k-l, or 8i product along with Microsoft's disk manager service to convert basic disk volumes to dynamic disks can experience the loss of data on these disk associations. A message that the Console Manager encountered an error and had to shut down will be displayed.

After selection, the disk will show as dynamic offline and nothing will be shown in the upper window. When logging in to Windows, the user does not get the console manager error. There is no volume under Explorer. Disk manager will show no volume in the upper window, and disk-1 will be offline as Dynamic disk. In all cases, once disk manager shows disk-1 offline, the data that was on it previously is gone as would be expected.