Gigabyte EX58-UDP4 RAID recovery...

[homercles337]

I built this machine 7 years ago and decided on RAID 10 with 4 1TB drives. A couple weeks back something terrible happened, the machine will not POST anymore. I have narrowed the problem down to mobo. So i need a replacement or can i use some other socket 1366 mobo to recover my RAID data? IIRC this mobo came with two RAID chipsets, Intel and nVidia. I am pretty sure the RAID is controlled by the Intel AHCI chipset. Hopefully there are other solutions, otherwise im going to have to send the drives off to a data recovery company.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

Never had to do something like this myself, but there should be tools to recover the data, think one was called testdisk or something.

 

[master_shake_]

The Intel raid will migrate over to a new board as long as your data controller to s set to raid.

 

[homercles337]

> The Intel raid will migrate over to a new board as long as your data controller to s set to raid.

Got any links for the various compatabilities for the intel chipset? No clue what is on this gigabyte board, but im not about to get involved in a new non-1366 mobo at this point. But a little convincing could change that...so long as i can get my array back.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Got any links for the various compatabilities for the intel chipset? No clue what is on this gigabyte board, but im not about to get involved in a new non-1366 mobo at this point. But a little convincing could change that...so long as i can get my array back.

Intel RAID is backwards compatible, so it pretty much plug-and-play with any newer board. Get a new Skylake board (with RAID support), set the onboard Intel controller to RAID mode, and it should work right of the bat.

 

[homercles337]

Im not crazy about the "should work" comments. If i buy a new mobo, i want it to be 1366 and most importantly it has to work with the gigabyte intel RAID.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Im not crazy about the "should work" comments.

Then let me rephrase. It will work, I've migrated a RAID5 setup from an LGA-1366 system, to, first, an LGA-2011 system, then to a newer LGA-2011v3 system*. All without touching anything on the disks. With no hitches.

I just can't give guarantees, because things -could- always go wrong. But you should have a backup for such eventualities, right...?

Oh, and Intel "FakeRAID" is identical across manufactures, so you don't have to use a Gigabyte board, unless you want to.

*At which point the data on them was immediately copied onto something a bit newer. Those disks had a fair amount of mileage on them.

 

[homercles337]

I appreciate the feedback. Thanks much.

 

[VirtualLarry]

There is or was a tool called "RAID2RAID", that allowed read-only RAID recovery from a number of different major FakeRAID vendor's chipsets. As long as the metadata was intact on the drives, then generally, it could read it.
I've never used it personally, but I've seen it recommended in the past. (Like a few years ago, haven't heard much about it recently.)

 

[homercles337]

Im not sure what "FakeRAID" is. Can you explain? Its not software RAID, its a RAID specific chipset.

 

[master_shake_]

fake raid is software raid.

i personally wouldn't use it for anything that doesn't have a backup.

i would get myself a dedicated raid card.

i have 3 lsi 9260-4i's just in case one goes down.

 

[homercles337]

Im not running software RAID. Its hardware which is why i am concerned about transfer if i have to get a new mobo. I would rather not and want to stick with a socket 1366, finding a 1366 mobo these days is rather challenging.

 

[Burpo]

Manufacturer refurbs.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151586313094?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-DX58S...882028?hash=item51c1ecf1ac:g:Y0MAAOSweW5VFsZq

 

[Shmee]

X58 boards use the Intel ICH10R chipset. As long as you are on the Intel RAID, which at this point was the 6 SATAII ports, you should be fine.

 

[mv2devnull]

Im not running software RAID. Its hardware ...

Yes and no.

Pure software RAID is all in the software driver, with the (SATA) controller having no clue about its existence. CPU does all the RAID operations.

Pure hardware RAID is all in the hardware, with the OS at most having a driver for the controller. The controller has its own "CPU". The OS does not see the actual drives.

"Fake" RAID is what you have. The motherboard (Intel chipset and/or NVidia chip) has has next to nothing in it. Just enough to load the OS. The OS does all the RAID operations in CPU (with a software driver).

You should know the model of your motherboard (reads on PCB). You should find its manual. You should see the SATA ports that the drives are connected to and thus know whether they are connected to the Intel ports or to add-on ports.

VirtualLarry mentioned "RAID2RAID". I have not heard of it, but I once moved an (RAID1) array from one fake to another (NVidia and SiL) and the Linux fakeRAID driver did continue to use the metadata of the former. If the fakeRAID were based on actual hardware, that would not have been possible.

Doh! I recently moved a RAID1 from Intel P68 to Intel Z170. No issues.

Intel chipset generations more than a decade ago were less backward compatible on their RAID implementations, but still not impossible.