Server 2008 SP2 make secondary plex bootable

A

awesomo

Gawd
Joined
Mar 20, 2010
Messages
528
Server 2008 x86 SP2
Two 1TB hdd's in WIndows software raid 1.

Sequence of events:
  • The "Primary Plex" HDD dropped out of the raid and caused the server to freeze.
  • Upon restart, selection of the "Secondary Plex" allowed the server to boot again.
  • When the "Primary Plex" drive is removed, there is nothing left to instruct the bios where to boot. The "Secondary Plex" that windows created when the software raid was setup is MISSING the MBR.

What I have tried:
  • Cloning the faulty primary drive to the new primary drive. I tried a few different cloning utilities and the primary drive is just too damaged, but thankfully not damaged enough that the MBR is still intact.
  • I booted from the Server 2008 DVD and ran bootsect /nt60 c: /force /mbr AND THEN bootrec /rebuildbcd This gave me an error that access was denied to the hard-drive, WHAT?! How else am I supposed to get access?!
  • I tried to use Startup Repair and it couldn't find a solution.
  • I tried to clone the secondary plex to the new hard-drive, rebuild the mirror, and then try to fix the boot on the mirror, it didn't work.

So my question is, does anyone know how to make a Server 2008 "Secondary Plex" into a bootable "Primary Plex?" I've run out of ideas for the time being.
 
I figured it out. Hopefully the poor bastard that runs into this issue will be spared the hours of heartache I endured.

  • Remove the primary plex drive physically from the system.
  • Boot off of the Server 2008 DVD.
  • Repair Your computer.
  • Launch CMD.
  • mkdir c:\boot If it already exists, that's fine.
  • copy d:\boot\* c:\boot\ DO NOT OVERWRITE ANY FILES!
  • c:
  • cd boot
  • bootsect /nt60 c: /force /mbr
  • bcdedit /export c:\bcd.bak
  • attrib c:\boot\bcd -h -r -s
  • ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.bak
  • bootrec /rebuildbcd

Hold your breath and restart.

  • Start>>>Run>>>diskmgmt.msc
  • Break or remove the mirror, then remove the missing/invalid disk (this was the primary plex drive you removed already)
  • Recreate the mirror with the new hard-drive
  • Breathe a sigh of relief that the nightmare is over then man up and tell the client to buy a flipping hardware raid controller.

Look at that, someone that followed up on a thread with detailed steps of what they did to resolve the problem. I wish I could start a trend.
 
Last edited:
Strong bump here

Do these instructions apply to Win 8.1 64bit? Its amazing how hard it still is to get a "mirrored" drive to boot like the drive its mirroring.
 
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