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Recovering a RAID 0 suggestions?

post #1 of 3
8/3/12 at 11:24pm
Thread Starter 
So I've been running a RAID 0 128k stripe on my EVGA X58 SLI LE for a while now and recently swapped out the board for an EVGA X58 SLI LE. Skipping the part of the story where forgetting to plug in the CPU power led me to swap back and forth between the boards, I am now at a point where the SLI LE doesn't recognize the RAID 0 configuration anymore. The SLI 3, on the other hand, has recognized my Windows 7 installation on the RAID and will attempt the boot from it, but fails because it cannot fully read the RAID. Going into the RAID controller, I've found that this new board supports 32 kb and 64 kb striping but not 128 kb, so my guess is that it can recognize that there is a RAID and can read the first 64 kb of one and thus see that Windows 7 exists, but it simply cannot boot from it. I'd very much like to avoid reformatting the drives, so I'm curious if anyone knows of some work arounds that will allow me to work with the seemingly-intact but inaccessible information on my drives?

I've come up with two options:

First, I install Windows on a separate drive so I can get the computer booted and then go and download some RAID software that will allow me to view the 128 kb stripe content of the drives. From there, I can either continue to boot from this new drive and simply use the RAID as a storage drive, or transfer over the files I want to keep, reformat the RAID to a configuration compatible with my motherboard, and start over.

The second option is to buy a separate RAID controller that supports 128k striping and try running the drives from it instead of my motherboard's built in RAID controller.

Let me know if I'm on the right track or if you guys have any suggestions.
My System
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CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i7 920 @ Stock EVGA X58 SLI Nvidia GTS 250 x2 6 GB Corsair DDR3 
Hard DriveMonitorPower
1 TB x2 Raid 0 Samsung SyncMaster 216BW 700 Watt 
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My System
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i7 920 @ Stock EVGA X58 SLI Nvidia GTS 250 x2 6 GB Corsair DDR3 
Hard DriveMonitorPower
1 TB x2 Raid 0 Samsung SyncMaster 216BW 700 Watt 
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post #2 of 3
8/3/12 at 11:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flapjax View Post

So I've been running a RAID 0 128k stripe on my EVGA X58 SLI LE for a while now and recently swapped out the board for an EVGA X58 SLI LE. Skipping the part of the story where forgetting to plug in the CPU power led me to swap back and forth between the boards, I am now at a point where the SLI LE doesn't recognize the RAID 0 configuration anymore. The SLI 3, on the other hand, has recognized my Windows 7 installation on the RAID and will attempt the boot from it, but fails because it cannot fully read the RAID. Going into the RAID controller, I've found that this new board supports 32 kb and 64 kb striping but not 128 kb, so my guess is that it can recognize that there is a RAID and can read the first 64 kb of one and thus see that Windows 7 exists, but it simply cannot boot from it. I'd very much like to avoid reformatting the drives, so I'm curious if anyone knows of some work arounds that will allow me to work with the seemingly-intact but inaccessible information on my drives?
I've come up with two options:
First, I install Windows on a separate drive so I can get the computer booted and then go and download some RAID software that will allow me to view the 128 kb stripe content of the drives. From there, I can either continue to boot from this new drive and simply use the RAID as a storage drive, or transfer over the files I want to keep, reformat the RAID to a configuration compatible with my motherboard, and start over.
The second option is to buy a separate RAID controller that supports 128k striping and try running the drives from it instead of my motherboard's built in RAID controller.
Let me know if I'm on the right track or if you guys have any suggestions.

I'm a little bit confused by your post... You swapped a EVGA X58 SLI LE for a EVGA X58 SLI LE? Then you mention an SLI 3... Is the SLI 3 the new board? Is that what you meant?
Either way, RAID 0 is really AID 0 because you don't get much choice (if at all) for recovering broken arrays. If the new controller doesn't support 128K striping then you're pretty much ... err stuffed. The chances of an actual separate RAID controller that knows about 128K stripes being able to read your array is probably 1% as oftentimes the controller works its own black magic on how to define the array on the drive. AFAIK there is no standard for saying "hey, this is a RAID 0 array".

Your best bet might be to try and use a piece of software like you said. Assuming the drives have not failed then you should have a pretty high success rate but note that you cannot try to use RAID 0 recovery software while the drives are attached to the controller in RAID mode for the ports the drives are plugged in to. You'll need to attach each drive in standalone mode (as you would do simply without a RAID array). Hopefully whatever software you choose is capable of restoring the data - it should be possible assuming, again, that the drives have not failed, which from your post I can't see where you mention that, so that looks like your best bet. I doubt you'll ever get the thing to boot, though.

I must apologize for the pessimistic view of my post, but with RAID 0 its pretty much downhill.
My System
(30 items)
 
"Zeus"
(13 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 2500K (4.5ghz @ 1.320v) Gigabyte Z68X-UD3R-B3 MSI R7970 Lightning Corsair 16GB (4x4GB) 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveHard Drive
Plextor PX-256M5S 256GB Crucial M4 128GB Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 Hitachi HUA722010CLA330 WDC WD10EARS-00Z5B1 TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223B 
CoolingCoolingOSMonitor
Phanteks PH-TC14PE with TY-140's Lamptron FCv5 (x2) Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Dell U2412M 
MonitorMonitorMonitorKeyboard
Dell U2412M Dell U2212HM Dell U2212HM Ducky DK9087 G2 Pro 
PowerCaseMouseMouse Pad
Corsair AX-750 Corsair Obsidian 650D Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical  XTRAC Ripper XXL 
AudioAudioAudioAudio
Westone W3 IEMs RE-272 IEMs Shure SE-215 IEMs Schiit Bifrost DAC 
AudioAudio
Schiit Asgard 2 amp HiVi Swan M50W 2.1 
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CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7 950 GA-X58-UD3R Radeon HD 5450  24GB Corsair @ 1333mhz 
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4x WD Cavair Red 1TB in RAID 0 Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Corsair HX-520 LianLi LanCool 
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My System
(30 items)
 
"Zeus"
(13 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 2500K (4.5ghz @ 1.320v) Gigabyte Z68X-UD3R-B3 MSI R7970 Lightning Corsair 16GB (4x4GB) 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveHard Drive
Plextor PX-256M5S 256GB Crucial M4 128GB Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 Hitachi HUA722010CLA330 WDC WD10EARS-00Z5B1 TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223B 
CoolingCoolingOSMonitor
Phanteks PH-TC14PE with TY-140's Lamptron FCv5 (x2) Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Dell U2412M 
MonitorMonitorMonitorKeyboard
Dell U2412M Dell U2212HM Dell U2212HM Ducky DK9087 G2 Pro 
PowerCaseMouseMouse Pad
Corsair AX-750 Corsair Obsidian 650D Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical  XTRAC Ripper XXL 
AudioAudioAudioAudio
Westone W3 IEMs RE-272 IEMs Shure SE-215 IEMs Schiit Bifrost DAC 
AudioAudio
Schiit Asgard 2 amp HiVi Swan M50W 2.1 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7 950 GA-X58-UD3R Radeon HD 5450  24GB Corsair @ 1333mhz 
Hard DriveOSPowerCase
4x WD Cavair Red 1TB in RAID 0 Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Corsair HX-520 LianLi LanCool 
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post #3 of 3
8/4/12 at 3:55pm
Thread Starter 
Oh you're right I did say SLI LE twice. Yes I meant I swapped the LE for the 3. So you inferred correctly.

I called nearby stores and no one seemed to carry 128 kb raid controllers anyway. So the first option will probably be my own.

As for it not booting, why might it be so unlikely that I would be able to boot from these drives?
My System
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i7 920 @ Stock EVGA X58 SLI Nvidia GTS 250 x2 6 GB Corsair DDR3 
Hard DriveMonitorPower
1 TB x2 Raid 0 Samsung SyncMaster 216BW 700 Watt 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
My System
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i7 920 @ Stock EVGA X58 SLI Nvidia GTS 250 x2 6 GB Corsair DDR3 
Hard DriveMonitorPower
1 TB x2 Raid 0 Samsung SyncMaster 216BW 700 Watt 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
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