Dell Poweredge T320

[Jeff Gaines]

I bough this on eBay, arrived this morning, has 8 x spinning disks,
courier nearly ruptured himself!

It's quite ancient and I'm struggling to break the RAID down to JBOD,
wonder if it's even possible?

Also struggling to get the BIOS to recognise an SSD I put in slot 1, I
thought I had set it up as a physical drive under BIOS control but
apparently not.

Any guidance appreciated, I wonder if I've bought a door-stop...

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

Post by Jeff Gaines
I bough this on eBay, arrived this morning, has 8 x spinning disks,
courier nearly ruptured himself!
It's quite ancient and I'm struggling to break the RAID down to JBOD,
wonder if it's even possible?
Also struggling to get the BIOS to recognise an SSD I put in slot 1, I
thought I had set it up as a physical drive under BIOS control but
apparently not.
Any guidance appreciated, I wonder if I've bought a door-stop...

Is it using the Dell RAID card? It does raids 0,1,5 iirc. You'll have to
flash that to "IT mode" in order to get single disk control, which is
fairly easy. Start here for info:

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/6o3f6a/dell_hba_mode_vs_it_mode_what_is_the_difference/

The closest you can get otherwise is to go into the RAID firmware and
set each disk up as a 'raid0' of one disk. Which is kinda ugly.

Cheers - Jaimie

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

On 9 Aug 2024 at 15:12:35 BST, "Jaimie Vandenbergh"

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
Is it using the Dell RAID card? It does raids 0,1,5 iirc. You'll have to
flash that to "IT mode" in order to get single disk control, which is

For the actual doings: https://fohdeesha.com/docs/perc.html

Cheers - Jaimie

[Theo]

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
Is it using the Dell RAID card? It does raids 0,1,5 iirc. You'll have to
flash that to "IT mode" in order to get single disk control, which is
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/6o3f6a/dell_hba_mode_vs_it_mode_what_is_the_difference/

I think that's for cards using LSI chips. Some of the older ones may be
using custom silicon which isn't LSI.

(can't remember if mine is a Dell or an HP now, I have a feeling it's an HP
job. Their newer ones are LSI but the older ones aren't)

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
The closest you can get otherwise is to go into the RAID firmware and
set each disk up as a 'raid0' of one disk. Which is kinda ugly.

I had to do that. If they're in hotswap bays, one way to do it is to pull
all the disks except one. Then boot into the setup tool, initialise the
raid with the single disc, and shutdown. Pull the first disk, insert the
second, repeat. That way it's never tempted to try to make multi-disc
arrays.

Theo

[Jeff Gaines]

Post by Theo
I think that's for cards using LSI chips. Some of the older ones may be
using custom silicon which isn't LSI.
(can't remember if mine is a Dell or an HP now, I have a feeling it's an HP
job. Their newer ones are LSI but the older ones aren't)

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
The closest you can get otherwise is to go into the RAID firmware and
set each disk up as a 'raid0' of one disk. Which is kinda ugly.

I had to do that. If they're in hotswap bays, one way to do it is to pull
all the disks except one. Then boot into the setup tool, initialise the
raid with the single disc, and shutdown. Pull the first disk, insert the
second, repeat. That way it's never tempted to try to make multi-disc
arrays.

I am concerned about bricking the machine if I follow Jaimie's suggestion,
although perhaps I would qualify for a nerd badge if it works!

I have all the drives (8 x 512 GB !!!) pulled at the moment I will try the
one at a time trick.

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

Post by Jeff Gaines

Post by Theo
I think that's for cards using LSI chips. Some of the older ones may be
using custom silicon which isn't LSI.
(can't remember if mine is a Dell or an HP now, I have a feeling it's an HP
job. Their newer ones are LSI but the older ones aren't)

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
The closest you can get otherwise is to go into the RAID firmware and
set each disk up as a 'raid0' of one disk. Which is kinda ugly.

I had to do that. If they're in hotswap bays, one way to do it is to pull
all the disks except one. Then boot into the setup tool, initialise the
raid with the single disc, and shutdown. Pull the first disk, insert the
second, repeat. That way it's never tempted to try to make multi-disc
arrays.

I am concerned about bricking the machine if I follow Jaimie's suggestion,
although perhaps I would qualify for a nerd badge if it works!

Flashing the specific PERC cards mentioned in my 2nd link is very easy
and barely even risks the PERC card itself - which cost peanuts,
although you'd be as well off replacing it with an 8x SAS card anyway if
it did pop. The PERCs aren't very good.

Cheers - Jaimie

[Jeff Gaines]

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jeff Gaines

Post by Theo
I think that's for cards using LSI chips. Some of the older ones may be
using custom silicon which isn't LSI.
(can't remember if mine is a Dell or an HP now, I have a feeling it's an HP
job. Their newer ones are LSI but the older ones aren't)

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
The closest you can get otherwise is to go into the RAID firmware and
set each disk up as a 'raid0' of one disk. Which is kinda ugly.

I had to do that. If they're in hotswap bays, one way to do it is to pull
all the disks except one. Then boot into the setup tool, initialise the
raid with the single disc, and shutdown. Pull the first disk, insert the
second, repeat. That way it's never tempted to try to make multi-disc
arrays.

I am concerned about bricking the machine if I follow Jaimie's suggestion,
although perhaps I would qualify for a nerd badge if it works!

Flashing the specific PERC cards mentioned in my 2nd link is very easy
and barely even risks the PERC card itself - which cost peanuts,
although you'd be as well off replacing it with an 8x SAS card anyway if
it did pop. The PERCs aren't very good.

Do you think there is likely to be a drop-in replacement available? I
remember a Lenovo where the WiFi broke and it refused to recognise the
replacement card because of some sort of internal security.

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

Post by Jeff Gaines

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jeff Gaines

Post by Theo
I think that's for cards using LSI chips. Some of the older ones may be
using custom silicon which isn't LSI.
(can't remember if mine is a Dell or an HP now, I have a feeling it's an HP
job. Their newer ones are LSI but the older ones aren't)

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
The closest you can get otherwise is to go into the RAID firmware and
set each disk up as a 'raid0' of one disk. Which is kinda ugly.

I had to do that. If they're in hotswap bays, one way to do it is to pull
all the disks except one. Then boot into the setup tool, initialise the
raid with the single disc, and shutdown. Pull the first disk, insert the
second, repeat. That way it's never tempted to try to make multi-disc
arrays.

I am concerned about bricking the machine if I follow Jaimie's suggestion,
although perhaps I would qualify for a nerd badge if it works!

Flashing the specific PERC cards mentioned in my 2nd link is very easy
and barely even risks the PERC card itself - which cost peanuts,
although you'd be as well off replacing it with an 8x SAS card anyway if
it did pop. The PERCs aren't very good.

Do you think there is likely to be a drop-in replacement available? I
remember a Lenovo where the WiFi broke and it refused to recognise the
replacement card because of some sort of internal security.

I don't know the T320 but I'm verrrry familiar with the R320 (rackmount
version). Those have a dedicated PERC socket which only takes PERCs. But
tossing it (if it's not flashable) and banging in a PCIe LSI SAS
controller is a It Just Works thing; only issue may be the SAS cables to
the drive chassis need replacing with appropriately longer ones.

Cheers - Jaimie

[Jeff Gaines]

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jeff Gaines

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jeff Gaines

Post by Theo
I think that's for cards using LSI chips. Some of the older ones may be
using custom silicon which isn't LSI.
(can't remember if mine is a Dell or an HP now, I have a feeling it's
an
HP
job. Their newer ones are LSI but the older ones aren't)

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
The closest you can get otherwise is to go into the RAID firmware and
set each disk up as a 'raid0' of one disk. Which is kinda ugly.

I had to do that. If they're in hotswap bays, one way to do it is to pull
all the disks except one. Then boot into the setup tool, initialise the
raid with the single disc, and shutdown. Pull the first disk, insert the
second, repeat. That way it's never tempted to try to make multi-disc
arrays.

I am concerned about bricking the machine if I follow Jaimie's suggestion,
although perhaps I would qualify for a nerd badge if it works!

Flashing the specific PERC cards mentioned in my 2nd link is very easy
and barely even risks the PERC card itself - which cost peanuts,
although you'd be as well off replacing it with an 8x SAS card anyway if
it did pop. The PERCs aren't very good.

Do you think there is likely to be a drop-in replacement available? I
remember a Lenovo where the WiFi broke and it refused to recognise the
replacement card because of some sort of internal security.

I don't know the T320 but I'm verrrry familiar with the R320 (rackmount
version). Those have a dedicated PERC socket which only takes PERCs. But
tossing it (if it's not flashable) and banging in a PCIe LSI SAS
controller is a It Just Works thing; only issue may be the SAS cables to
the drive chassis need replacing with appropriately longer ones.
Cheers - Jaimie

OK, thanks! Presumably I need one that can support 8 drives (excuse my
ignorance)? Any good/bad makes?

According to the manual the rackmount version is a tower version with the
feet removed and laid on its side!

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

Post by Jeff Gaines

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jeff Gaines

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jeff Gaines

Post by Theo
I think that's for cards using LSI chips. Some of the older ones may be
using custom silicon which isn't LSI.
(can't remember if mine is a Dell or an HP now, I have a feeling it's
an
HP
job. Their newer ones are LSI but the older ones aren't)

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
The closest you can get otherwise is to go into the RAID firmware and
set each disk up as a 'raid0' of one disk. Which is kinda ugly.

I had to do that. If they're in hotswap bays, one way to do it is to pull
all the disks except one. Then boot into the setup tool, initialise the
raid with the single disc, and shutdown. Pull the first disk, insert the
second, repeat. That way it's never tempted to try to make multi-disc
arrays.

I am concerned about bricking the machine if I follow Jaimie's suggestion,
although perhaps I would qualify for a nerd badge if it works!

Flashing the specific PERC cards mentioned in my 2nd link is very easy
and barely even risks the PERC card itself - which cost peanuts,
although you'd be as well off replacing it with an 8x SAS card anyway if
it did pop. The PERCs aren't very good.

Do you think there is likely to be a drop-in replacement available? I
remember a Lenovo where the WiFi broke and it refused to recognise the
replacement card because of some sort of internal security.

I don't know the T320 but I'm verrrry familiar with the R320 (rackmount
version). Those have a dedicated PERC socket which only takes PERCs. But
tossing it (if it's not flashable) and banging in a PCIe LSI SAS
controller is a It Just Works thing; only issue may be the SAS cables to
the drive chassis need replacing with appropriately longer ones.
Cheers - Jaimie

OK, thanks! Presumably I need one that can support 8 drives (excuse my
ignorance)? Any good/bad makes?

First check your PERC to see if it's fixable at the firmware level to IT
mode, it'll tell you what model it is on the BIOS RAID config screen you
can get to at bootup if nowhere else.

For my ZFS-based NAS (ZFS much prefers to work with native drives
without any translation from a RAID controller) I use the LSI 9211-8i
(eight internal) cards, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326088190913 - check
that its sockets are the same as your PERC card has, they're 6gbit SAS
cables. Wide and flat ends.

The alternative is 12gbit, like this 9300-8i card has:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326088246371 - square ends.

Post by Jeff Gaines
According to the manual the rackmount version is a tower version with the
feet removed and laid on its side!

Ah, the R320 is a 1U server so not a direct 'turn it sideways' rack
conversion.

Cheers - Jaimie

[Jeff Gaines]

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jeff Gaines
According to the manual the rackmount version is a tower version with the
feet removed and laid on its side!

Ah, the R320 is a 1U server so not a direct 'turn it sideways' rack
conversion.

Thanks for all the input, I will continue to play :-)

I am trying to decide if the fan noise when I turn it on is more like
Concorde taking off or a flight of Avro Vulcans that flew over my hotel
when I was in Malta on holiday 50 years ago!

[Jeff Gaines]

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
First check your PERC to see if it's fixable at the firmware level to IT
mode, it'll tell you what model it is on the BIOS RAID config screen you
can get to at bootup if nowhere else.

I did it, I'm a nerd like Jaimie!

Booted to FreeDOS and did first bit then to Linux to do second. Only one
mistake in that I installed the UEFI boot BIOS, I will go back and put the
BIOS one on.

Massive bonus is that Windows has decided the SSD I fitted to replace the
DVD is bootable now so I installed Windows on it For some reason it is in
ATA mode so I need to look at that.

With the SAS drives (what a mix 250 GB to 1 TB, the seller must have
decided postage was cheaper than recycling) I now just have to pop then in
and set them up and I'm in business.

Thanks for the guidance and encouragement, it gave me the confidence I
needed :-)

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

Post by Jeff Gaines

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
First check your PERC to see if it's fixable at the firmware level to IT
mode, it'll tell you what model it is on the BIOS RAID config screen you
can get to at bootup if nowhere else.

I did it, I'm a nerd like Jaimie!

I'm very sorry.

Post by Jeff Gaines
Thanks for the guidance and encouragement, it gave me the confidence I
needed :-)

Hurray! Yeah, much less fuss than getting new card+cabling in.

You should be able to fix the fan speeds in the bios/firmware settings;
try pushing the machine from performance mode to efficiency mode in
there. They'll always spin up to full at boot time but should drop to
sane after.

Cheers - Jaimie

[Vir Campestris]

Post by Jeff Gaines
I did it, I'm a nerd like Jaimie!

Keep us posted. My son is a pro nerd. He's a field engineer. A couple of
days ago he sent me photos of a DEC Alpha system he was fixing, so this
should be no problem!

Post by Jeff Gaines
Booted to FreeDOS and did first bit then to Linux to do second. Only one
mistake in that I installed the UEFI boot BIOS, I will go back and put
the BIOS one on.
Massive bonus is that Windows has decided the SSD I fitted to replace
the DVD is bootable now so I installed Windows on it For some reason it
is in ATA mode so I need to look at that.
With the SAS drives (what a mix 250 GB to 1 TB, the seller must have
decided postage was cheaper than recycling) I now just have to pop then
in and set them up and I'm in business.
Thanks for the guidance and encouragement, it gave me the confidence I
needed 🙂

That explains the mystery I had which was why not run them as RAID5. You
don't lose much.

If they are the same size...

Andy

[Vir Campestris]

Post by Vir Campestris
Keep us posted. My son is a pro nerd. He's a field engineer. A couple of
days ago he sent me photos of a DEC Alpha system he was fixing, so this
should be no problem!

... and he immediately reminded me that if you go to Dell's web site and
enter the service tag it will allow you to download all the relevant
manuals.

Andy

[Jeff Gaines]

Post by Vir Campestris

Post by Vir Campestris
Keep us posted. My son is a pro nerd. He's a field engineer. A couple of
days ago he sent me photos of a DEC Alpha system he was fixing, so this
should be no problem!

... and he immediately reminded me that if you go to Dell's web site and
enter the service tag it will allow you to download all the relevant
manuals.
Andy

That is a fantastic concept and on my T320 there is a slide out card with
the service tag on it :-)

[Jeff Gaines]

Post by Vir Campestris

Post by Jeff Gaines
Thanks for the guidance and encouragement, it gave me the confidence I
needed 🙂

That explains the mystery I had which was why not run them as RAID5. You
don't lose much.
If they are the same size...

I'm not a great fan of RAID. If I have a real problem I want a disk that I
can carry out of the house and that can be read on its own rather than one
that needs several companion disks and perhaps a h/w controller.

[Daniel James]

I remember a Lenovo where the WiFi broke and it refused to recognise the
replacement card because of some sort of internal security.

In the case of WiFi it was likely to have been because the US Federal
Communications Commission require WiFi subsystems to be certified as a
whole, and replacing components willy-nilly will likely lead to
unapproved combinations, and the BIOS stops these from working.

I had the same thing with a Lenovo machine and a mini-PCIe card from a
*different* Lenovo, which wouldn't work (though that was a cellular
modem rather than WiFi).

[Andy Burns]

Post by Jeff Gaines
It's quite ancient and I'm struggling to break the RAID down to JBOD,
wonder if it's even possible?

In the past the PERC cards didn't support JBOD, not sure whether that's
changed?

[Jeff Gaines]

Post by Andy Burns

Post by Jeff Gaines
It's quite ancient and I'm struggling to break the RAID down to JBOD,
wonder if it's even possible?

In the past the PERC cards didn't support JBOD, not sure whether that's
changed?

Unfortunately I think I have that model - newer ones do, mine doesn't.
Wonder if it will take a newer card?

[Jeff Gaines]

Post by Andy Burns

Post by Jeff Gaines
It's quite ancient and I'm struggling to break the RAID down to JBOD,
wonder if it's even possible?

In the past the PERC cards didn't support JBOD, not sure whether that's
changed?

If you want to give it a go the links Jaimie provided do work - all I did
was to just follow the instructions and my PERC 710 D full size is now
JBOD - RAID optional :-)

[Andy Burns]

Post by Jeff Gaines
If you want to give it a go the links Jaimie provided do work - all I
did was to just follow the instructions and my PERC 710 D full size is
now JBOD - RAID optional

For H/W RAID I'm more of a Smart Array guy, but glad it works ...