Windows stopped recognizing my drives...

[nodoubts2k]

Windows stopped recognizning my two Maxtor 80gb Drives on a Raid 0 array. I know this because when i try to go into the recovery console, it says windows did not find any drives recognized. When I try to boot from the hard drive, it gives me the option to start in safe mode and normally, but neither work, I get the BSOD with "Unmountable Boot Volume". I also tried knoppix (what Im using to post now) and it still does not recognize the drives. I downloaded the Maxtor diagnostic tool and it gave me an error message that said the drives were failing, and when I called Maxtor they said that it is a Firmware failure and not a Hardware Failure, meaning that the Data is still on the drive and the firmware is just bad. Is there a way to flash the firmware on the drive? Also, is there any way to recover the data off of the drive?

 

[Paperlantern]

go back into the recovery console and use the command CHKDSK /R, this will force a checkdisk and repair, it will check the integrity of the drive structure and repair anything it sees wrong, note: this will take some time to complete on a 80GB, id expect to invest at least 30 minutes, it took 20 fo rthe last 40GB i did, so maybe as much as 40 - 50. once complete, exit the console and reboot, the computer should boot to windows with no issues, good luck

personally, ive never had real reliable results from the maxtor tests, the drives may be fine, try this fix first, if they ARE failing, this may get you up long enough to back up

 

[mechBgon]

This is on your Abit KX7-333R in the rig in your signature, right? They must both be on the Highpoint RAID controller then. Presumably the drives aren't completely goners, or you wouldn't get WinXP boot options. But realize that the utilities you're trying to use are probably not going to be able to reach drives that are on the Highpoint controller, healthy or otherwise.

If you do want to attempt a Windows repair:

1) get your RAID drivers on floppy

2) start Windows Setup from CD and press the F6 key so it knows to ask for your Highpoint drivers on floppy later.

3) The first time it offers the Repair option, do not choose Repair. Continue as if you were going to do a fresh installation.

4) Wait while Windows Setup gets going, and acquires your RAID drivers from your floppy. It will reach the point where (hopefully) it shows you the partitions on your RAID0 array.

5) Tell it to install to the C: partition. It will notice the existing Windows installation in the C:\WINDOWS folder and offer to Repair it. NOW choose Repair.

6) Unplug your network cable and read my suggestions here so you know you've got a plan to prevent worm infection. Why, because when this Repair completes, you will have lost all your Windows security patches and will need to apply them all again before you'll be protected from worms.


Good luck, and if you pull it off, back up your data and abandon RAID0, is my advice

 

[nodoubts2k]

I'll try what you suggested, but I called Maxtor and they said the only way to get the data back is by replacing the circuit board on it with another from an identical drive.