(no subject)

[theweaselking]

I think I'm going to add "network archaeologist" to my business cards.

Seriously, people! I just found a pair of 400GB SATA HDDs, manufacture date in 2007, attached to SATA->SCSI converters, in turn attached to SCSI->SATA converters, with the SATA cables hanging loose inside a machine - not actually plugged into the motherboard. Those disks appear to be a Linux MD software RAID-1 (presumably they mirror each other). The machine was in constant use until a few weeks ago, and those drives have been disconnected since *at least* 2009. Bonus points: The machine was running Debian Woody[1], which is to say *the operating system did not speak SATA*.

I can't decide if I want to try to build a suitable RAID and mount 'em to see what's on them, or if I want to just write them off as Bad News and toss 'em into the "hey, a drive with nothing important on it, let's wipe it and replace a failing desktop drive that's not worth buying a new one for" pile.


[1]: Guess why that machine was being replaced! Go ahead, guess.

Comments

[glaurung-quena.livejournal.com]

"attached to SATA->SCSI converters, in turn attached to SCSI->SATA converters,"

Why would anyone do that? OK, so you had sata drives but needed to plug them into a SCSI thing, fine. But then, when the time comes to retire said SCSI thing, why on earth get a second set of adapters instead of just plugging them directly into SATA? Especially since each such set of adapters is another point of failure waiting to happen?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

NOBODY KNOWS.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

WE CAME UP WITH A REASON YOU MIGHT DO THIS.

Hot-swappable drives were, in 2007, very expensive, and all SCSI.
The drives and the SATA->SCSI converter were in a hot-swap bay. They plugged into the SCSI->SATA converter, which stayed in the case full time.

So by doing this, you take a cheapass COTS hard disk and make it hot-swap.

We're actually pretty sure that's what the guy who set this up was thinking.

[loopback.livejournal.com]

Was the machine being replaced because someone needed that power outlet & net tap?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

No. There are plenty of power outlets and network jacks.

[skiriki.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing it got replaced because of HD failure/worrisome signs and THEN it turns out that there's no backup. (That's how it usually goes.)

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Almost! There's tons of backups but that machine was still pretty important, and it was running out of surviving fans - but the real reason to replace was IT IS RUNNING DEBIAN WOODY. THERE IS IMPORTANT-TO-COMPANY STUFF RUNNING ON A GODDAMN 2002 OS THAT DOESN'T EVEN SPEAK SATA ARRRRRRGH.