Raid break

[nvsravank]

I set up a new computer ASUS p8z77-v mobo. I setup hardware raid 1 using two seagate 2TB drives.
I also setup intel srt with a ssd.

I upgraded my bios and suddenly the drive mode in bios changed to AHCI mode. I didn't notice it and now the two drives are not the same.

How do I break the raid and rebuild the raid without data loss? Anybody who can give step by step instructions for it?

Also before i try it, I wanted to make a clone of the existing drive so as to not lose any data or settings. How to do that? I ordered one more drive of the same type to help.

 

[Smoblikat]

Just set the setting bck to RAID. If that doesnt work then there is nothing to do but rebuild it. Everything should be OK as long as you didnt touch the drives after they were set to AHCI.

 

[tweakboy]

It should be on AHCI in most cases like yours. Soo thank your computer for setting it for you. You will get speed gains possibly and no issues. You updated your mobo BIOS right ? Other then that, and installing RST ; Windows should see the drives. gl

 

[bigsnyder]

ditto smoblikat's suggestion. The same thing happened to me. Setting bios back to RAID did the trick. Don't try to to do anything to the drives while it is set in AHCI mode or you will most likely lose your data.

@tweakboy

No, AHCI will cause the array to fail. Bios set to RAID also features all the benefits of AHCI mode. Nothing to gain.

 

[nvsravank]

Unfortunately by the time I realized that raid was not running I guess it was month of data/photographs and work done. I have a back up, actually 2 backups. So not too worried about data loss, but don't want to go to the trouble of reinstalling everything.

I want raid as I am paranoid of losing data.

 

[mv2devnull]

First, the recommended BIOS update procedure is to reset BIOS config to defaults after update and then restore site-local settings, like RAID. The idea behind reset to default is that new BIOS might use different parameters than the the old and reset gives you fresh new config. Restoration of your customizations then come on top of the new, just like they were on top of the old.

Didn't the Windows show additional drive? Well, each drive had filesystems with identical UUID, so Windows might have hidden things.


The main question is, whether device enumeration has been consistent after the BIOS update. If it was, all writes since update have gone to the same disk. If it wasn't, each disk might have received some data. That would be inconvenient.

Making backups is obviously the primary task. Then I would detach the second disk and reactivate the RAID-mode. That leaves a RAID-1 with only one disk. Adding a blank disk should make the RAID to rebuild from the old data.

The detached second disk I would study as read-only with a Linux rescue distro CD/USB to find whether it has any recent files on it. After those have been recovered, this disk could be used as backup/spare.

Clonezilla is one of the Linux on CD/USB distro's, whose main application is for cloning disks.

 

[_Rick_]

Pro-tip: Use Windows volume manager to set up your RAID.
It does tend to do surprise resyncs every now and then (ie. after loss of power), but otherwise management is much easier, and you don't rely on some controller magic.

 

[nvsravank]

Mv2 thanks. Windows is hiding the second drive due to uuid conflicts.
I checked and all data is on the same drive.
If I remove the drive that is not in use now, then will it work?

After a bios update, do I need to redo my oc settings as well? If the system is stable, do I need to keep doing the bios updates?