MB failed, how do I recover RAID 0 drives?

[Pooned]

Hi guys,

My motherboard has failed and I had 2 drives in RAID0... How do I go about recovering the data. Can I just simply RAID them in another computer and my data is all there?

Thanks for any advice.

pooned

 

[corkyg]

Probably you have to rebuild the array on the same type of mobo - but generally speaking - those who use RAID 0 are simply screwed any time anything goes wrong.

 

[redbeard1]

Depends on the raid chipset. On some raids the drive settings are retained in the raid bios, while others keep the drive setup on the drives themselves. If your raid was the type that kept the setup on the drives, then you could find the same raid chipset on some other card or mobo and probably get things back with no fooling around. If the critical settings are stored in the raid bios, then the chances of transfering the drives some place else and having them show your data is not good.

I've used this program to recover data, and it claims to recover data from raids.

File Scavenger

 

[Pooned]

doesn't sound good... sounds like my wife is going to kill me... Thanks for the advice.

 

[RebateMonger]

Give her a USB external backup hard drive for Christmas.

If the drives are unharmed, then the safest thing to do would be to get an identical replacment motherboard and attach the array to that. Don't get the cables mixed up...if you reverse them, all your data will be gone.

Edit: See my comment two posts down.

 

[btcomm1]

What? if you plug them in wrong that is it? The data will automatically be wiped out?

 

[RebateMonger]

I seldom post things that I haven't personally experienced. But I have NOT criss-crossed RAID 0 cables.

I'm pretty sure I've read of this happening, but I have no references. I stated it as a reminder to pay attention to the cabling when you move the array to a new motherboard. If I'm incorrect, then I apologize. But I think that "better safe than sorry" is a good idea in this case.

 

[btcomm1]

Thats true, just kinda scary to think that doing something like that would erase all your data.

 

[Laputa]

Reconstruction is possible, but not for typical IT guys...YHPM.

 

[junge84]

man i'm freaking out here as i came to my computer to do some surfing before going to work. i'm using another computer right now obviously. i got on and i got a BSOD (i'm running vista ultimate 64 bit) so i figured... eh, happens. i restarted it and i got a flashing red line of text saying FAILURE - RAID 0. i slung every swear word i could think of in three languages... i checked the utility and it appears that out of the 4 hard drives i've set up, it was the first port that was giving me trouble. i tried switching it around to see if the converter module i'm using went bad but it just appears to be the same port on my mobo as the utility detects the other drives. i don't know what to do here. i got a hurricane heading my way and no computer to get me through the stress!!!

how do i run disk checks when i cant even get into windows??

by the way i have 4 500 gig hard drives running a stripped (raid 0) array. the drives are IDE but i have SATA converters on them so they plug in to the sata ports on my mobo. my mobo is a ASUS P5N-E board and i'm running vista 64 bit on that.

any chance i can come away with any information i've lost? i got stuff on there from years ago including travel videos and photos.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: junge84
man i'm freaking out here.....

how do i run disk checks when i cant even get into windows??

......any chance i can come away with any information i've lost? i got stuff on there from years ago including travel videos and photos.

Assuming that the odds of a drive failure are about 7% each year (according to the recently released Google study), the odds of a failure in your four-drive RAID 0 array are somewhere around 25% per year. That's really playing with fire. :frown:

High-end RAID controllers have disk diagnostics built in. If you don't have this, then carefully document all your drive connections, then attach one drive to a non-RAID controller. Boot to the drive manufacturer's diagnostics tool on CD and test the drive. You should find the failing drive.

If the information on the failed drive can't be reproduced, then your data's likely all gone. In any event, you'll have a VERY complicated data recovery situation.