Help me save 1TB of data!!!

mrr2534mrr2534
edited March 2008 in Hardware
Last week my computer with a RAID5 system started mysteriously/randomly shutting down. The RAID files were available. Not finding a solution, I took the 'puter back to the shop that built it. He reinstalled the operating system which was getting a disk error... but now is unable to rebuild/access the RAID files. It is not recognizing the file system. At any rate, he wants to delete everything and start over. This alternative sickens me b/c I have about 1TB of data on it. I'm trying to find alternates before I give him the go ahead. Any suggestions? I was thinking that it might be a partition issue... Please !!!!


Addendum: XP wants to format the RAID drive.
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Comments

  • Gate28Gate28 Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    buy a 1 TB hdd

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136061
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    Unfortunately, the issue is that XP is not recognizing the RAID5 with the data. I wish it could be as simple as buying a 1TB drive. Thanks, anyway! :)
  • Gate28Gate28 Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    can you possibly transfer the data from your RAID5 to a 1 TB hard drive with another computer and two SATA cables? if its just that computer that the issue is with, then maybe using another one to transfer your RAID5 data to a 1 TB hdd then to another RAID5 would work...
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    I'm not real familiar with RAID5... but I asked that to the guy in the shop and he said it doesn't work that way.
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    Do not format the drive, for sure.

    What controller is the Raid 5 on?
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    Unfortunately, the computer is still in the shop. It was a Promise controller. And I want to avoid formatting the disk at all costs.

    One more thing, when the random complete shutdowns started happening, I found the following warning:

    (System)
    Event ID: 262
    Type: Warning
    Source: Promise Disk Contoller
    Error Description: "Disk1 timeout at device path \card\port1"
    Followed by:
    Event ID: 260
    Type: Information
    Source: Promise Disk Contoller
    Error Description: "Retry access on disk1 at device path \card1\port1"
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    Is this array the system drive? Windows is installed on this partition?

    Ok....Raid 5 means that all the data on the failed drive is on the other drives.

    You just need to put a new drive in, then go into the utility for the controller and rebuild the array. There should be a "rebuild" feature in the Windows utility that goes with the controller.

    If you don't have the controller software installed
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    There are 3 drives - the system drive, a 500 GB drive for backups, and the RAID 5 (4 500 GB drives). The tech said he was unable to rebuild the array, but didn't say it might be a hardware issue. I got the impression the RAID 5 drives are all working. What he can't get past is that XP isn't recognizing the Raid 5 file system and wants to format it.
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    You have to have a drive error or a port error on the card...port 1 is listed in your data you posted.

    Replace the drive on port 1 or replace the controller would be my plan of action.

    When you get into Windows, go to My Computer > Right click > choose Manage > go to Disk Management and see if you can import the array. If it was all formatted, etc you should be able to import it to avoid the format. It might be called a "Foreign Disk"
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    Yeh, a Raid 5 should not need to be formated. I think with four drives you can have up to two fail simultaneously but don't quote me on that. I agree with Ryder in that it is either a controller or drive issue. Not windows.

    My question is this a hardware (dedicated) Raid controller or is it software/integrated?
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    Thanks, RyderOCZ. One thing (and please excuse me if I show my ignorance), but... import the array, where? (Hopefully, the tech will know what I'm talking about, but for my own knowledge...)
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    It may not show that option. This array was runnin, in this Windows installation already, correct?
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    Yes, when it was working, it showed up as the "Z" drive
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    Ok...that is really weird that it wants to format it.

    I would go about it this way:

    Get the Windows software for the raid card, put it on a USB key or whatever. Should be available from the Promise site for download or on the install disk with the drivers.

    Boot the system and install that software so you can see the raid card and how its configured. Then see if it will tell you if the raid array is whole or not.
    Do not mess with it in the Windows disk manager or Explorer. You may have to leave the card out at first to install this software, then once done, re-install and boot to Windows.

    Does this raid card have a hotkey during boot to access the rom to setup the arrays?
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    Thanks again--I will relay this message to the tech. If all else fails, is there anything else I can try to recover the data?
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    The biggest key is making sure the disks do not get formatted, nor does anyone mess around in the ROM on the raid controller and change the array.

    If either of those happen, the data will be gone.

    Right now I don't have anything else for you to try.
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    airbornflight -- excuse my ignorance, but would the Promise controller be a (dedicated) Raid controller?
  • rapturerapture
    edited February 2008
    Promise comes in onboard flavor too, I think airborn is going to suggest replacing the RAID card if there was one to rule out any issues there.
    Does this raid card have a hotkey during boot to access the rom to setup the arrays?
    +1 make sure the array is setup properly before doing anything to windows.
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    Here's an email I received from the tech today:

    Yes there is a hotkey setup on boot, You have one raid array on the board promise, nvidia, via, etc. You have a onboard nvidia 410 controller running the raid, and a promise fast trak running the two extra drives. Had to restart the undelete this morning, there was an error with the program.

    (I don't know what undelete he's talking about, but was that a good idea?)
  • rapturerapture
    edited February 2008
    If he's talking about undeleting then to me it sounds like he already wiped all your data. What you're explaining sounds like an issue with an array, either config or dead drive.

    Impossible to say though without seeing the actual machine. Your tech might be doing the right things to fix this.
  • EssoEsso Stockholm, Sweden
    edited February 2008
    mrr2534 wrote:
    Here's an email I received from the tech today:
    Yes there is a hotkey setup on boot, You have one raid array on the board promise, nvidia, via, etc.

    You have a onboard nvidia 410 controller running the raid,

    and a promise fast trak running the two extra drives.


    Had to restart the undelete this morning, there was an error with the program.

    (I don't know what undelete he's talking about, but was that a good idea?)

    I'm getting confused :)

    It states, that the raid is on the internal nVidia 410 controller.

    nVidia 410 has no raid 5 capability. The nVidia 430 has Raid 5.

    2 drives on promise fasttrack, makes no HW raid 5.

    Q: Are you using software or hardware, raid 5 setup.

    Q: Do you have the spec for the Promise card ?
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    Esso--I'm confused too. The computer is in the shop so I have no access to it. This guy built the machine and I assumed he knew what he was doing. I'm having my doubts and am growing increasingly fearful that my data is toast. If the 410 controller was not the right hardware... could that account for the warning message below? (The machine seemingly worked fine for about 3 months.)


    (System)
    Event ID: 262
    Type: Warning
    Source: Promise Disk Contoller
    Error Description: "Disk1 timeout at device path \card\port1"
    Followed by:
    Event ID: 260
    Type: Information
    Source: Promise Disk Contoller
    Error Description: "Retry access on disk1 at device path \card1\port1"
  • EssoEsso Stockholm, Sweden
    edited February 2008
    I have no idea, but it looks like there is some problem with port 1 on the Promise card.

    To my knowledge, the first six months life of the hdd is vital.
    If they survive that time, they probably live for ever :)

    If the system is setup to use soft raid 5, with 2 drives on the nVidia 410 ports, and 2 drives on the promise port.
    Or hardware raid 5, it doesn't really matters.

    The faulty HDD should just be replaced, and then using the "proper",
    recover procedure, should restore the system.

    I'm not an expert on the Raid 5 setup.
    I have both nVidia 430 and Sil chipset to play with, but has not used it yet.

    If you really want to get into HW raid 5 system.
    Acrea is one of the manufactures you should look into.
    The card is expensive, but so is the data you are backing up.

    Also as always, you need to have a good system with a good PSU.

    One friend of mine have had several Win XP, SW Raid5 nervous breakdowns.
    And I have to listening to it. :)

    Ask the Tech, about the Promise card, and get the spec on the motherboard.

    Whatever happends, post the computer data later and we can follow this up.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    I'll start by saying I have never messed with a RAID array, but it may help...

    If all else fails, drive recovery software may be of use to you. I use a program called Restorer2000 (http://www.restorer2000.com - the Pro version does RAID recovery) to do data recovery. It's been able to recover data lost due to formatting or other disk errors.

    1. Install XP
    2. Don't let XP format your array
    3. Run the recovery software

    Hopefully it won't come down to this, but $50 may be worth the recovery of your data.
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    Thanks, mertesn! I hope it doesn't come to it... but I will check out Restorer2000,
  • revorocksrevorocks England, East Sussex, Hove Member
    edited February 2008
    Man, if this guy has lost all you data after you told him not to you should yell at him extremely loudly! When can you find out if your data is safe or not?
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    I'm going to pick up the machine today. I'm not going to do any yelling until it's back in my possession and I can see if I can salvage the data.
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    ok--here's where it stands. just spoke to the tech. he said the raid array is intact. the problem now is that the "file system is lost and xp wants to format the drive" he said that i should forget that it's a raid... and try to figure out how to get the file system back w/out wiping the drive
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    Physically impossible, unless someone smarter than me comes along (there are lots here ;D )

    The file system cannot be gone, it sounds like the raid array is in fact broken. You need to get another drive (same size as is in use now), replace the failed drive, then rebuild the array. That is basically what Raid 5 is for. The ability to rebuild the array.
  • mrr2534mrr2534
    edited February 2008
    As you might tell, I'm not very smart in this area either... but the statement within the quotes is his.

    Is the tech totally off on this?
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