sas hdd stuck ofline poweredge 1950

Hi Sean @ccr-admin,

Do you have a screenshot of the error? Might need more detail about the server. What RAID controller is in the server? What Windows version are you trying to install?

You probably need the SMTD tool to install OS, as it contains the system's drivers for OS installation: https://dell.to/3MMGd4a

I have a dell sas 6 it is a poweredge 1950 gen 3  and I tried to install windows server 2008 I couldn't get a screenshot of the error message the windows install said that it was offline due to policys set by an admin but I could only get windows server to install with sata drives not with sas and it was the 80gb hdd wd

the hdds are seagate constellation 2tb hdds es sas

the raid controller says they can't be raided it doesn't even give me an option it works fine with sata drives just not sas drives I know that I can only put 2tb each on he raid controller should I just buy a perc 5/i right now I have a sas 6/i controller

Hello, thanks for choosing Dell. This is quite a dated model so I don't think it will be more than 2tb like someone else already pointed previously before.

ccr-admin,

The issue may be due to the controller limitation, as it is limited to 2TB, both at the physical and virtual side. Meaning it is limited to 2 tb physical drives, and any configured virtual disks can't exceed 2 TB either. Now if you are just not even seeing the individual drive, under Physical  Disks in the controller BIOS, then it likely isn't a supported drive.

Let me know if this helps.

2TB per a drive which means I could hold up to 4TB all together or is it just 2TB as in 1TB per a drive cage

Login into the Controller and check if the controller is allowing you to configure the Raid or not, if no then the controller has limitations and it will not happen, rest you can update us here so we can help more on that.

my drives aren't being allowed to be raided not sure what drives are compatible. but I need them to to be  2TB each so that I can have more storage for Zentyal 7.0 I have since erased windows server 2008 and put Zentyal Server 7 Community edition. I  put in two 1tb SATA Western digital enterprise drives in but I would like to put two 2tb SAS HDDS because I use a lot of space for storing ISOs and for Active directory services I have 5 accounts in my server currently and each one can only store about 340GB on there home folder I was hoping to be able to get more storage using 2tb drives in each drive cage in a stipe array or raid 0

if I can't put more than 2tb of storage total then what server would you recommend me to buy that supports 2Tb 3.5" HDDS  and is under $250 refurbished or better I don't need a brand new one

Hello ccr-admin,

In our PowerEdge 1950 database I did not find a SAS drive over 600GB that is still listed:

M530M - HD,600G,SAS,15K,3.5,HIT,VIPC

K054N - HD,600G,SAS,10K,3.5,SGT,EAG-RP

J762N - HD,600G,SAS,15K,3.5,SGT,EAG

I do see SATA 2TB drives that are validated. There are none listed over 2TB in the parts database:

9CF6R - HD,2T,ES,7.2K,3.5,H-JK,E/C

6C10R - HD,2T,ES,7.2K,3.5,H-JK,E/C

0H6GP - HD,2T,ES,7.2K,3.5,H-JK,E/C

Take note of the size capability of Boot VD and non-boot VD

SAS6/iR user gugide

https://dell.to/3kofHUT

NOTE: The maximum size of the virtual disk that contains the bootable operating system is 2 Terabytes. This is due to operating system restrictions. The maximum array size (non-bootable) is 16 Terabytes.

So you may keep your two 1TB SATA RAID1 drives as your boot volume. Then add as many 2TB SATA drives for RAID0  you can for storage. You do know if a drive fails in a RAID0 then the array is failed and data is lost.

For recommendation on other server to purchase you may check the Hardware Compatibility List for Zentyal 7.0, if there is one.

Dell has not validated Zentyal 7.0 on the PE1950

Your PowerEdge 1950 supports these operating systems:

https://dell.to/3EAVeDi

there's only one problem with that it only has two drive cages I was planning on adding two 2tb  SAS hdds as a boot drive and using it in raid one array is that possible I don't want to lose my data luckily I have not added any important data on the drives yet. another question I was wondering is that if I put a perc 5/I would it even recognize my two terabyte hdds if I bought an enterprise grade storage drive like say a western digital sas drive. sorry I am just using it for learning how to configure and manage servers might consider buying a dell poweredge R320 that supports 10 cores

Hello please back up everything before you try anything.