RAID configuration

[Jabo]

I've just got in from a not entirely satisfactory night trying to assist Hamilhoff with his PC. Here's the prob...The machine will not load windows, in fact I don't think it's completing the POST. I want to back up his data before doing a little surgery, but his PC is configured with two SATA HDDs in RAID 0 (Striping) and I can't view the data on either disk (when plugged into a spare SATA header on my PC). I know a bit about RAID, but how the dickens do I get his data off these drives?

Any assistance will be gratefully received.

~S~ Jabo

[Shayd]

Jabo,

You have to have a system with the basically the same Raid chip, and you have to let the system know on bootup that the two drives are a Raid 0. This is generally done by enabling Raid in your bios, telling the system what drives to use as the raid drives, and what type of Raid you are using (0-5 etc.)

Its not an easy answer to type out here as there are so many factors involved.

You also need to make sure that you have the drives in the right order when you plug them in, or when you setup the controller to access the drives to place them in the right order.

I don't know if I have helped or confused you more.

[Jabo]

Thanks Shayd, you're basically confirming my worry in as much as this machine is now 3 years old, and I think I'm going to have problems finding a working mobo with the right kind of RAID chip. I really fail to see the point of RAID in a standard desktop home PC apart from to make things more difficult

[GreyKnight]

I agree with this Jabo. I recently got a new PC with 2x 400GB disks setup with RAID mirroring. So my OS (Vista out of the box) sees only 1x 400GB disk.

So the first thing I did when I booted it up for the first time, was to remove the RAID and re-install with XP. So now I have a 400GB C:\ partition which has NOTHING on it but the OS. Then a 400GB D:\ partition with every piece of software and game on it.

We use mirrored RAID drives at my work, because what's on our software developer's PCs are important. But nearly every week we get problems with the RAID drives getting out of synch. A real pain in the ass they are.

As for Hamilhoff's problem...? Is this an old PC that has just stopped working all of a sudden? You have to be careful, as you can easily destroy what's on either disk if you bugger about with the RAID configuration.

Often what we used to do with the older RAID drives, was disconnect one disk and boot up. Then repeat procedure with the other disk. Then you can find out what disk can boot up and the one that doesn't.

[gec]

i don't think that stripped raid is repairable. i know mirrored is (that's the point of mirroring) stripping makes drives working theoretically two times faster but if u change the raid chip set or one disk dies u r in trouble.

gec

[Jabo]

i don't think that stripped raid is repairable. i know mirrored is (that's the point of mirroring) stripping makes drives working theoretically two times faster but if u change the raid chip set or one disk dies u r in trouble.

gec

Yep, would appear to be the case - Partition table on both disks is screwed, probably due to the heads writing when the power went off (Oops, forgot to mention that this problem surfaced after a power cut and the PC was in use when the lights went out). Can 'see' the data on both disks, but no way to get at it. If I ever get my hands on the idiot that thought this was a good way to build a home PC...I'll slap his wrists.

Now trying to do a bitwise copy and then attempt to interleave the data - could b a long haul.

~S~ Jabo

P.S. Thanks GK, but after the 109 and pitch incident, I don't bugger about with anything I don't understand - I've got a pal working on this for me and he knows what he's doing.