[GTALUG] Poweredger server question

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: o1bigtenor <o1bigtenor at gmail.com>

| I have 2 drives I got with the machine - - - they were part of a Raid 5
| array.
| Now there are only 2 drives (will never by a raid 5 array by definition)
| and I need some way of formatting them so that I can turn them into a Raid
| 1 array. (Its all hardware raid on this box.)
| 
| Anyone with any idea on how to do that to scsi drives when the controller
| won't let me change their settings and I have no other pox to put them in.
| (Connector is a wee bit different than for SATA!)

So many warning signs.  But I'll ignore them.  

1) why won't the controller let you change the settings?  That seems
   wrong.  Maybe you are missing some admin software.

2) Desperate attempt:
   Can you boot from a live USB stick?  If so, can you "see through"
   the RAID controller to the raw disks?  If so, perhaps you can
   scribble a copy of /dev/zero over the raw disks.  The RAID config
   information is somewhere on that raw disk and if you can obliterate
   it, surely the controller will let you re-configurate.

   If you cannot do it with the contoller you have, buy a SCSI
   controller from the surplus/used source.  They ought to cost 
   a small amount since everyone is ditching SCSI.

   Overwriting a modern high-capacity disk can take perhaps half a
   day.  But I suspect your disks are neither modern nor
   high-capacity.