Scsi Raid 5 Problems

[Acidian]

Im running a server with a scsi raid 5 configuration. Problem was that earlier today when I came to work 2 of the disks suddenly didnt work anymore. After fooling around with the slots I got 2 of them to work on slot 0 and 1, but 2 didnt want to cooperate leaving me to put a disk in slot 3. The problem here is that its imperrative I dont loose any data from the disks, as they contain alot of important sales information. So this leaves me with 3 questions.

1. Can I change around the disks on an array without it mattering for the total data. So that I can f.eks start up the computer after swaping disks 0 and 1 with each other and the system will go unchanged.

2. Can I leave slot #2 open and move right to slot #3, rebuild the array and it will work?

3. If yes on 2, when I rebuild the array will I loose any of the information I have on the disks? As I understand it as long as 2 of the disks works I should be able to retrieve all the data even if disk 3 in slot 2 didnt work.

Im unsure of what raid controller I am using as Im not the one that set up the system, but the bios Im running is Megaraid WebBIOS 1.38 (couldnt find any manuals or anything on this bios by google, appart from basic specs and info). This is a difficult problem, but any extra info that might help me out would be appreciated.

 

[folken]

If 2 drives failed in a raid5 you are probably srewed as far as trying to recover data yourself. Time to get a quote from a data extraction place

Its always the one day you forget to swap tapes...

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[Acidian]

Yeah, well I think all the disks are fine, the problem seems to be in the raid board, problem is that a new raid board costs alot of cash I would rather save myself from using especially if something is wrong with the raid info on the disks so that i have to build a new array from scratch on a new board which aggain might make me loose the data depending on the board and what options it leaves me.

 

[folken]

If you think the disks are still good one possibility you might try (if possible) is taking those disks out and putting them in the exact same order in a different but identicle server. Though most places dont really have to many spare servers laying around Moving around the drive order is probably not a good thing to do.
How many drives are in this array?

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[Acidian]

Right, what I will probably have to do is get a new controller card, I was being careful of keeping the drives in the same order but am unsure if they still are since they are all identical on the outside and at one point I took them all out went away for a bit and when I came back my impaired memory had forgotten in which order I had removed the drives, sigh, but I think I got it right.

As for the controller card Im going to try ghosting and creating an img of the disks before I start fooling around with a new raid configuration, and also I am trying to get the same controller card thats allready in the computer, a AMI MegaRAID Express 500 Serie 475 1 Channel Ultra 160. Problem is that I think AMI is now LSI, which again is a part of Acer. So I think I have found the right card but the maker name is now LSI Logic MegaRAID. If anyone knows anything about that it would be helpful.