Snap 4100 & Dell 705N compatibility

[Chris White]

Dear All,

I have a Dell 705N that has the system light flashing continuously after a power down, site move and power up. Dell want £2k to sort out the problem. I am lead to believe that the Snap 4100 is the same as the 705N apart from the Bios.

My first question is simple. Is it possible to take the 4 drives out of the 705N and put them into a working 4100 and make it work without loosing the data on the drives. RAID5 over the 4 drives, all working when the 705N was powered down.

If not then if I put the 4 drives into a different 705N will they power up correctly and work?

Any help would be appreciated. Nothing like having a failsafe system that fails.

Yours truly,

Chris White. IN UK!

[re3dyb0y]

Im pretty sure the 705N is the same as one Snap Unit...


Just can't remember for the life in me which. David will know - And David, we need to get that on the wiki - Email me them please

Its the 4100 or 4000



You would be able to take the drives and jack them in in the same positions to get your data back

What size hard drives are they?

[Chris White]

I am sure from the Dell site forum that it is the 4100. The drives are 60GB. I need to know if this is the only way that I am going to get the data back!
I don't really want to pay Dell £2k!

[jkstrsn]

powervault 705's are selling on eBay for around 325-375, I'd suggest getting another one and putting your drives into it.

[blue68f100]

The PV705N is the same as the Snap 4100. We have swapped drive between same models, but not between Dell and Snap. The only concern is the OS. With the OS stored on flashram, It may want to update if they are not the same.

Can you connect to the server?
You said the system light is flahing continusly?
Is the disk light solid?
If so it may be doing a raid file check. If this is the case, it may clearup in 24 - 36 hr. Leave it on and see what happens.

There are recovery companies that can recover cheaper than 2k, most start at $900 for raid5. With drives being good and not damage they may do it for less.

You can use dd from the knoppix CD and make a copy of your HD's to files. Thay way you will have a backup if something goes wrong.

IT is CRITICAL that you know the drive order for the set. So If you were running a 3 disk array, with spare and it rolled in due to a failure. You may have a odd order. So Mark your drives, so they don't get out of order.

[Chris White]

Unfortunately I am unable to connect to the server. The system light is flashing very rapidly, but not quite continuously. The Link light is on and when there is network activity the Net light flashes. The Disk light is OFF. It only came on when the initial checks are being made and each disk starts up. I thought that it might be a raid check initially but am certain that this is not the case. Dell support suggested that this indicates an "OS Panic" situation. I left it on for 24hrs before calling them.

I have all 4 drives configured as RAID5 No spare. I do know the drive order for the set.

Are you suggesting that I could put a drive into a spare PC as a slave and would be able to copy off all the data in a recognisable format?

Regards,

Chris.

[blue68f100]

PC'c can not acutally mount a XFS drive structure. But we can read the drive on a sector copy and make a backup. We use the procedure in reverse to restore OS's (image File) to new drives during replacement. You can backup but can not read. I suggest this as a backup. So if you transfer the drives into a 4100 and something goes wrong, you have a way to restore. It is not a fast process, but it works. The only problem is the file size will be larger the fat32 can handle. I don not know how to mount a NTSF volume from Knoppix. This will need to be done. Or copy to new drives.

In the wiki section the procedure is posted.

Please note, panic modes are not good as far as getting units back in operation. Have you tried a factory reset? It will not change the drive configuration. So it is safe. I think the 4100 stores actual drive ID info.

There is a factory procedure for reseting panic modes. It goies like this.
1. Do a factory reset.
2. Soon as the unit goes in panic power down, either by holding the reset button down or by pulling the power cable.
3. Restart again.
4. Use Assist to try to find the Snap.

The 4100 will boot with out any drives. You may try that too.