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I have sata hard disk extracted from Dell server with perc 5i. I need to save data on another linux box, without hardware raid.

Is it possible? How?

I know there are two partitions on this disk, but when I connect it, "cfdisk" show me only one, and alot of free space. 

                                              Disk Drive: /dev/sdd
                                       Size: 250059350016 bytes, 250.0 GB
                              Heads: 95   Sectors per Track: 5   Cylinders: 1028204

     Name             Flags           Part Type      FS Type                 [Label]              Size (MB)
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       Pri/Log       Free Space                                        1,05     *
     sdd1                              Primary       ext2                                            207,62     *
                                       Pri/Log       Free Space                                   249850,69     *

megaraid module loaded.

lsmod | grep megaraid megaraid 34971 0 scsi_mod
158517 5 sg,usb_storage,libata,sd_mod,megaraid

Korjavin Ivan
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  • You'll need a compatible controller to read the disk. One of the major drawbacks of hardware RAID. The `megaraid` module is a driver, only used to talk to the controller, it has no capability to read the disks without the actual controller. – Sven Aug 02 '13 at 08:41
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    Hardly a major drawback since the hardware is completely standard and widely available. If needs be you can pick up a Perc5 from ebay for next to nothing, they don't require a Dell machine to run and you can continue on that or simply use it to transfer the data off. – JamesRyan Aug 02 '13 at 10:07
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    @JamesRyan: Having to need special hardware to read a disk is always a major drawback in my book and not everything is as common and easy to replace as a Perc controller. That said, HW RAID has it's advantages and that's why most of my arrays use HW controllers - you just have to be aware about what you are getting into. – Sven Aug 02 '13 at 10:39
  • I would tend to apply that logic to backups rather than working data though. – JamesRyan Aug 02 '13 at 10:45
  • @JamesRyan Definitely for backups. But if you ever foresee the need of having to migrate disk-storage it is a concern for disks/raid too. I have been in this situation a couple of times: Server motherboard fried en controller damaged. No proper backup (or backups failed for weeks and nobody noticed). Luckily we were always able to buy, borrow or rent replacement controllers. – Tonny Aug 02 '13 at 13:29
  • Btw, http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk helps me – Korjavin Ivan Aug 03 '13 at 07:07

1 Answers1

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Without a real controller this won't work.
The MegaRaid module is just the driver for the controller and has nothing to do with the content of the disk.
The partition-info you see with cfdisk is bogus anyway. Don't touch that partition table. And don't even try to attempt to mount anything from this disk in read-write mode. Chances are that you damage the data beyond recovery that way.

I hope for you that the raid-set in the original system was just a 2-disk mirror or just that single individual disk in JBOD mode.
If it was any other form of raid the disk is useless anyway without the rest of the raid-set.

Get a second hand MegaRaid controller of eBay or a shop that sells refurbished stuff. They cost next to nothing.

Tonny
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