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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Saskatchewan, Canada
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    66

    Anyone know anything about RAID Hardware configurations?

    I am running in PANIC-PANIC-PANIC mode tonight.....I guess this morning as it is now almost 2am.....urghh....

    Here is a quick overview - my computer has 4 hard drives.

    2 x 60GB that mirror each other

    2 x 20GB drives that stripe each other.

    Tonight, one of the 20GB drives failed.

    So, here are my URGENT/PANIC questions:

    1.) How do I determine which 20GB drive is still okay?

    2.) How do I recover whatever data I can from the good and the bad disk???

    Any help is GREATLY appreciated....

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Redmond, WA
    Posts
    310
    I hate to say it, but you're unlikely to be able to recover much, if any data from the bad stripe set. Unfortunately, this is one of the risks of using RAID 0 (it's because each drive has about half of each file). As for determining which drive failed, your RAID controller BIOS may tell you (you may have to enable SMART to do this, though). If you can get your OS to boot and recognize the RAID 0 array, you MIGHT be able to recover some data, but it's a long shot. If the drive completely died, though you've likely lost everything.
    I realize that this probably isn't what you wanted to hear, but I think you'll probably be best off just trying to restore your system without either 20 GB drive for now and later try each one to see if it still works. It's not a fun process, but.... Good luck. Sorry I can't be of more help.
    Chris Spangler
    chris@thespanglers.net

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Saskatchewan, Canada
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    66
    Thanks.....your right though, that's not what I wanted to hear...

    I am already working on restoring my system with a new drives and getting everything back to normal.....

    I just wanted to know if I could recover anything because I stand to lose 1 month's of e-mail's and one week's of accounting......ARGHHH!!! I back-up as often as I remember, but what do you do.....

    On the bright side, it was becoming time for me to format everything and do a clean WIN XP install......
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Redmond, WA
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    IF (and it's a big if) you can get your computer to recognize the array, then you might be able to get some data back. I had my RAID 0 array die a few weeks ago and somehow I managed to get it to hold together long enough to back almost everything up, but I got lucky. If I hadn't been able to make it work, I would have lost 6+ months of email not to mention a TON of code and documents that I didn't have backed up. Don't count on it though... Good luck restoring. Just remember not to stay up all night fixing it 'cuz work sucks when you haven't slept.
    Chris Spangler
    chris@thespanglers.net

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Saskatchewan, Canada
    Posts
    66
    Originally posted by banner
    Just remember not to stay up all night fixing it 'cuz work sucks when you haven't slept.
    LOL!!! I know what you mean.........as soon as I can get my e-mail software installed (The Bat!) and the important accounts set-up again, I will be heading to bed.......

    Nice thing about owning your own company, I can sleep in tomorrow and no one can fire me!

    Thanks for the help/info....

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Redmond, WA
    Posts
    310
    That's always a nice situation to be in. I don't own my own company, but at least I don't have to be at work 'til 10 (and my offfice is right across the street from home). But that's life in the corporate world...
    Chris Spangler
    chris@thespanglers.net

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    Sudbury Ontario Canada
    Posts
    13
    OK, here's the even worse news. RAID 0 provides no redundancy at all. It is implemented to improve disk speed. Worse yet, on half of a RAID 0 array is useless without the other half. Redundancy in a RAID 0 is known as RAID 1 or disk mirroring.
    You require a minimum of 3 disks to establish redundancy in a stripe set - this is known as RAID 5. By implementing RAID5, you will lose the storage space of 1 disk, but you will be able to recover data in the event of a failure.
    So, here's the deal. If you don't have the money, or controller space (IDE) for another hard drive to make a stripe set, you should mirror the 2 20 gig drives to protectyourself against data loss.
    If you can boot, you can go to disk manager to determine which hard drive died. If you can't boot up, you'll have a hard time unless there's smoke. Really though - during boot up - watch for the hard drive that doesn't respond to the BIOS.
    As for recovering the existing data, as banner said, its not too likely at this point. If you inspect the damaged hard drive, maybe you can get it to live a litle longer and recover some of that data.
    And of course, if the data is important enough to you, you can sent it to a data recovery specialist, but the service doesn't come cheap.

    HTH,

    Mike

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2000
    Location
    San Diego, CA
    Posts
    1,571
    There's always the option of shipping both drives over to a data recovery company but that costs money. Is your data worth it?
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  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Saskatchewan, Canada
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    No.........it's not worth it to ship them away.........I think I will just rebuild my system now and then in a few days, try sticking both 20's in another computer and seeing if I can get them to show up...........

    Thanks everyone....
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