Please help fix RAID array

16k_zx81

16k_zx81

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Stupidly I swapped out CMOS battery without backing up BIOS and now the customer's RAID does not boot.

The board is a GA-965P-DQ6

I have set the SATA type to RAID and it looks like this:

2012-02-24154308.jpg


In RAID settings it looks like this:

2012-02-24155238.jpg


Gparted identifies it as a 900+GB volume + 4 phys. disks, but spits this out:

2012-02-24155117.jpg


... which Im not sure is entirely accurate given the history.

To be clear, all that happened was CMOS/BIOS reset and now the machine does not read the array.

Not sure where to start as I have not messed around RAID it for years and have no idea where to start. Im worried about breaking it.

Instructions as though speaking to a 4 year old appreciated, as I am really out of my depth here.

..
 
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It's RAID 0 setup, thus no redundancy. I was going to suggest pulling a drive and rebuilding however that will not work.
 
16k_zx81 said:
Stupidly I swapped out CMOS battery without backing up BIOS and now the customer's RAID does not boot.

..
Click to expand...

The screen that your getting is normal. I'm get similar screen (raid not recognize) when I change SCSI controller on a raid environment. Basically all you have to do is re-create the raid. In your picture, it looks like Drive 0 is non raid and drive 1,2 and 3 is raid 5. But if I where you, I would back it up first. (Be careful if your planning to do backup image for each drive. I've never had luck recovering raid from image backup)

1) Send all three Drive for data recovery unless you own a software. (label the drive with permanent marker) This shouldn't be too expensive because the raid and the drive are intact. This is just a safety measure.
2) Once it's back up then reconfigure the raid. Drive 0 (Raid 0) and Drive 1, 2 and 3 (Raid 5).
3) For Scsi, there's an option for re-build or re-create raid. :eek::eek::eek:A big warning sign about using the create option on existing raid will wipe out the data. :eek::eek::eek: I'm not sure if SATA is the same. I've haven't recover RAID for SATA;
4) Once you commit to the new configuration, there no turning back. (unless you send it out for recovery but this time it would be very expensive)

Good Luck
 
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R-Studio would probably sort that out with little ado, it doesn't have too steep a learning-curve, and is invaluable software to have on hand.
 
I assume as Gparted is detecting as a 900GB volume than all those 4 drives were arranged in a RAID 0 (striped) array.

It is not booting due to the 1st drive not showing as a RAID member, all drives of a RAID 0 array need to be online for it to function as data is striped across the drive as one logical volume with no redundancy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels

In that screen shot it is indicating what the RAID level is.

If it were a higher RAID level it would not be a logical volume of 900+ GB, ie if it were RAID 1 it would be approx 464GB volume due to RAID 1 being mirroring.

RAID 5 would not reach the full 900GB+ logical capacity of the physical drives either, it would be just shy of 700GB for a logical volume.

Thus to me it would be a RAID 0 with 4 physical drives within the array.
 
Ick!

I agree with Craka...the BIOS screenie you have shows a single RAID 0 volume, 931 gigs in size. That would be 4 of those drives if you consider the capacity of each, versus the size of the RAID 0 volume it shows it thinks it should have.

The entry level onboard SATA RAID controllers on desktops are horrible at recreating when something goes wonky like this. On higher end server RAID controllers they're good at doing something like importing a missing member again...finding the RIS file on the drive, and BAM it's back online fine.

Hmmm...what to do on yours.....I'd look at finding out what data was on this. For someone to have a setup with 4x drives in RAID 0....this has to be a computer that does not store data. Someone just built it for gaming? Although..why all that storage just for gaming. I'd talk to the owner first..see what data might be on it, and make a move after finding out the answer to that. Either try to retrieve data if it was there....or if he/she says nothing important on it, try to import that first drive into the volume again and hope it picks up and boots.

RAID 0...any member goes missing, it's all unusable..hence not able to boot.
Gotta get that member back in there.

Good luck with this one!

After it's done..find the person that setup this computer in the first place and tell them to go find another field to work in. RAID 0 with 4 members..LMAO! Talk about playing Russian Roulette each and every day! RAID 0 risk enough with just a pair...but 4 drives...double the chance of failure!
 
Can you just clarify what option 1 is that is highlighted in your raid setup screen. Can't make it out from the pic.
From memory you should be able to create a new raid setup, which I think is option 1, and it will ask if you want to clear the disk/s so obviously say no to this.
 
cyabro said:
Can you just clarify what option 1 is that is highlighted in your raid setup screen. Can't make it out from the pic.
Click to expand...

Option 1 is "Create RAID Volume" on the Intel Matrix menus.
Horribly lacking in options, there is usually a Windows / GUI control panel that allows a couple of more options...rebuilding, etc. Why they left those features out of the BIOS one...I'm baffled, because...you need to get to Windows to run the GUI program. So what happens when you can't get to Windows? LOL....good thinking on their part.
 
Buy R-Studio, make an image of each drive and then rebuild the RAID with those images.

Also, RAID 0 with 4 disks as the boot partition and from the sound of it no backup?!! Someone likes living on the edge. :D
 
What's the point of imaging the drives, RAID0 isn't going to rebuild anything if one of the members is shot which it looks like this one is, unless you recover that drive fully then rest is a moot point really
 
DCGPX said:
What's the point of imaging the drives, RAID0 isn't going to rebuild anything if one of the members is shot which it looks like this one is, unless you recover that drive fully then rest is a moot point really
Click to expand...

I second this. Unless you can get the other member online, R-Studio is your best bet IMO. You can hook up all of the drives and R-Studio will try recovery. Assuming that the non-included member disk is OK, R-Studio should be able to get the stuff.


EDIT: Forgot to say "What were they thinking!" With 4 drives they have a bunch of RAID options available.. and they pick the worst one for data integrity. Should have went RAID 1+0 or RAID 5.
 
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You can also use ReclaiMe http://www.freeraidrecovery.com/Default.aspx

Basically, pull all the drives and put them in one of your systems. Use the software to select all four drives, then have it scan for a Raid0 array. It should allow you to copy the data if it's successful...probably even create an image.

If you have the data backed up, remove the raid array (without the drives installed)...then install the drives and start up the system. Then rebuild the array with the disks. The meta data for the array is on the drives and it should rebuild it without problem.
 
Just a thought... could you boot with a Live CD using the same os (assuming Windows) and go into Disk Manager and see if it can identify the drives in any way?

Just thinking out loud.

Saddle..
 
Yes the BIOS screen shows a single RAID 0 volume, 931 gigs in size. But since the Raid Partition is gone, the BIOS Screen regarding the raid partition is not accurate. This is the default if a raid partition can not be detected.

However, the Physical drive information shows that Drive 0 is non raid and Drive 1,2 and 3 is a member of a raid.

Based on this info. Drive 0 is Raid 0

Now with the three remaining drives 1,2,3 the only possible combination is Raid 5. Not Raid 1 because you will need even drives for Raid 1.

Good Luck
 
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