Set up RAID-1 , but won't work in XP

[Slick5150]

I had a 300gb hard drive running fine in XP, but for backup purposes I added another 300gb drive, and setup a RAID-1 using the Silicon Image PCI controller card (I don't have SATA on my motherboard).

So, it mirrors the drives fine, boots up WinXP, and that drive is no longer listed in explorer.

In device manager, it's listed there as SiI RAID 1 Set 0 SCSI Disk Device.

If I goto Disk Management, it shows my Disk 0 fine (my main 160gb drive), but for the Disk 1 it lists it as "Dynamic" (rather than "basic" like my main drive) and says it's unreadable.

What am I doing wrong here?

This is the first time I've set up RAID, so appologies if this is a really stupid question.

 

[Slick5150]

bump for help?

 

[NautikaL 8]

Did you reinstall windows after adding the array?

 

[Slick5150]

No, I didn't reinstall. Would I need to? (Windows is on a different drive, not part of the array)

There are 3 total hard drives

160 GB PATA drive
300 GB SATA drive
300 GB SATA drive

I was running fine with the 160gb partitioned as C & D, and the 300gb as E. I've now added the other 300gb and created a RAID-1 array, and now the E drive isn't there, and the RAID array shows up like I noted in the first post (as unreadable)

 

[FlyingPenguin]

No you don't have to re-install Windows if the RAID mirror is not the boot drive.

You do need to partition and format the RAID array however. You can't just attach a drive to a RAID controller and make it a mirror array and expect the data on the drive to be available. Any data that was on the drive originally is now gone. The array is now seen by Windows and BIOS as a non-partitioned drive. The RAID controller uses a proprietary format to create the array across the two drives.

Any data you had on that original drive MAY still be recoverable if you connect it the way it was before and you run a disk recovery program on it.

Be aware that all hardware RAID controllers use proprietary formats. You cannot connect those drives to a different brand or model controller and read any data off them.

Hope this helps...

 

[Slick5150]

Uh oh.

When setting up the array it said it was copying the mirror from the source disk, so I assumed it was preserving the data.

I just tried removing the array, and just hooked it back up normally, and now Windows just sees the drive as "dynamic - offline". Am I totally screwed here? Is there any way to get the data back and the drive working again?

 

[cubby1223]

When you say you "hooked it back up normally", what do you mean by that? Even if it is the single drive by itself, you must attach it back to the raid controller to be able to use the drive. What should happen is during boot, the controller will complain at you that you have an incomplete array, but should let you continue into Windows and access the single drive.

If you want to "un raid" the drive, you have to format it, which means copying all the data over to another drive first. If you did what I think you said in the previous post, and configured the one drive to be a stand-alone drive, you likely just lost all the data. If so, try and hook the other hard drive to the raid controller by itself and boot into Windows.

Now comes the big question, is that raid controller a hardware or a software raid controller? In other words, was the card $20, or $200? If it is a cheap $20 software raid controller, don't bother setting up raid in the future, the disadvantages far outweight the advantages of mirroring.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: FlyingPenguin
No you don't have to re-install Windows if the RAID mirror is not the boot drive.

You do need to partition and format the RAID array however. You can't just attach a drive to a RAID controller and make it a mirror array and expect the data on the drive to be available. Any data that was on the drive originally is now gone. The array is now seen by Windows and BIOS as a non-partitioned drive. The RAID controller uses a proprietary format to create the array across the two drives.

Any data you had on that original drive MAY still be recoverable if you connect it the way it was before and you run a disk recovery program on it.

Be aware that all hardware RAID controllers use proprietary formats. You cannot connect those drives to a different brand or model controller and read any data off them.

Hope this helps...

Ah, misinformation. The scurge of AT.

When you create a RAID-1 mirror set, the data is not gone. The data is copied from the source drive to the destination drive to make the mirror set.

Secondly, he's using a PCI RAID controller. Thus, the RAID-1 array will still be valid. Also, all hardware RAID controllers do not use proprietary formats. Moving a RAID-5 array from one controller to another is bloody difficult, but moving a RAID-1 array is not.

 

[Slick5150]

Ok, well, that last post is encouraging..

So how do I make either drive readable to Windows so that I can access the data?

Based on above posts, I told the PCI card to remove the RAID array so both drives are independent now, but Windows still can't read them (one shows up as Dynamic - Offline, the other as Dynamic - Unreadable). I would think I need to somehow convert them to basic drives, but I don't think there's a way to do that without losing the data, right?

Thanks for any help, I really don't want to lose what's on the drive(s)!

 

[imported_Phil]

Right-click My Computer -> Manage.
Open Disk Management, select the drive that says Offline, right-click on it and see if you get an option to import it. This is the problem with running Dymanic Disks, they are usually difficult to get working on a different system. You could also try the Unreadable disk, to see if you can get it to import it.

Your data should all be there, don't worry. It sounds like your RAID card does all the work within Windows, which is why they're Dynamic Disks. However, you should be able to import a Dynamic Disk without too much trouble.

If the above doesn't work, then try attaching one of the disks to a controller port other than your RAID card- i.e. temporarily unplug a CD/DVD drive and put the drive in it's place. It sounds a bit like Windows is expecting those two disks to appear in a certain place, and by moving them around, you should be able to get to your data.

Hope this helps

 

[imported_Phil]

Oh, and the last resort would be to format one of the drives (flip a coin!) and then use something like GetDataBack to retrieve the data from the other drive and store it on the formatted drive.

[Edit] Don't use full format, just in case. Use quick format, that way the data can still be recovered after it's formatted.

 

[Slick5150]

Phil,

Thanks a ton! I couldn't reactivate the drives, so I did a quick format on one, ran Getdataback, it found all of my files which I'm currently copying over onto the newly reformatted one.

I'll then reformat the other one, dump all the data back, and forget this whole thing ever happened!

I really appreciate the help in getting my data back!

 

[V00D00]

Here's how you should properly do it:

1. Set the drive with all your data as the master.
2. Reboot and get into the RAID setup.
3. Setup your array with the drives, making note of which drive is the master with your data
4. Rebuild the array from the master drive. (this is a very long process, could take 4 hours or more)

NOTE You should always backup your data if possible before doing ANYTHING like this to an array.

It should just copy all your data to the other drive and you'll have a fully functioning array.

I have a RAID 1 array right now and I remember one time when I took the drives out. I used one of the drives independently in a USB enclosure and modified some files.

When I put the array back together I had to rebuild the array from the drive I modified the files on. When everything was said and done, I had everything right back the way it was before, except with the new modified files included. Before I did all that I copied everything to a spare 300gb drive I had.

 

[Slick5150]

That's actually exactly what I did, but for some reason Windows wasn't recognizing the array. So, based on some posts in this thread I freaked out and told the RAID controller to get rid of the array, then thankfully Phil was able to talk me through getting the data back without Windows being able to access the drives.

Not sure why Windows didn't like the array, but since I'm not really modifying the files on these drives very often, I'm not going to bother with the RAID setup now and I'll just do manual backups once in awhile.

 

[imported_Phil]

Glad it worked!

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Slick5150.....I'm not going to bother with the RAID setup now and I'll just do manual backups once in awhile.

Having a mirrored drive array doesn't eliminate the need for backups, anyway. Viruses, worms, fire, theft, flood, accidental deletion/overwrites, and drive controller failure can all cause data loss that having a RAID array won't prevent.

RAID 1 is great, but you still need backups.

 

[wpenhall]

Originally posted by: V00D00
Here's how you should properly do it:

1. Set the drive with all your data as the master.
2. Reboot and get into the RAID setup.
3. Setup your array with the drives, making note of which drive is the master with your data
4. Rebuild the array from the master drive. (this is a very long process, could take 4 hours or more)

NOTE You should always backup your data if possible before doing ANYTHING like this to an array.

I'm in the process of creating a SATA RAID 1 (non-bootable) using my mobo's nF3 250Gb (mobo: SOLTEK SL-K8AN2E-GR). I have a drive with data on it (backed up elsewhere), and a clean drive. How do I designate the master drive? The BIOS tool gives me an option to rebuild the array, but I'm not sure how to tell it which is the master.

The only differentiation shown between the drives is the controller - one is on Cont 0, the other is Cont 1. The SATA designations on the board are SATA 1 and SATA 2. Would it be safe to assume that SATA 1 is Cont 0, and SATA 2 is Cont 1? If not, how do I tell which is which?

Thanks!

 

[imported_Phil]

It would be safe to assume that, yes. If you're unsure, unhook the slave drive and see what the RAID BIOS reports.