raid failed, full stop!

[milad_sm]

oh no!! seems like i have lost all the data on my RAID!!
please help ppl!! here's the story..
i turned on my comp this morning, and when the win2k starting page was loading, i heard clicking sounds from my one of the harddisks, which is set up in a stripping Array...i plugged the one that i suspected was making the noise off, and rebooted. obviously the raid card gave errors, but i didn't pay attention, cuz i knew it would!! just wanted to make sure that the suspected drive was making the noise...
anyway, i plugged the HDD back on and rebooted...
the raid card recognised the second hdd, but it prompted me, if i wanna setup an array!!!! what!!! what happened to the previous one?!!
oh...amm...my win2k is on a separate harddisk, and i use 2 VERY NEW (like 2 weeks old!) IBM desktar hdd's for my stripping raid (for video editting).
1. what was the clicking sound?? nmy hdd is dying/dead?!
2. what happened if i rebuild the array? will it clear everything??
3. how can i recover hours that i worked on my videos???!!?!?
PLEASE HELP!!

H E L P!

(shamefully, i use an unbranded raid card...i think it's called Cyclon or something like that...)

[Shadow ÒÓ]

click of death...the hard drive is bad, and since it held 1/2 the information, you can't restore the lost half.

Make sure you have the drives in the same order as you did before you unplugged them from the controller.

More than likely, all is lost tho. =(

[Jon]

Well, if it's not detecting the second drive at all then yes, it's dead and there is no recovering the data unless you want to pay about $200-300 for it from a data recovery firm.

If you can get it to detect the drive you can try using THIS (http://www.vp6-board.com/_public/hpt/raidrb.zip) utility to recover your array. It has worked in a few cases and I've recommended it here a couple times (both were successes...hope it's in your favor).

However, for future consideration I would absolutely NOT run anything in RAID 0 that you don't want to lose. I'm sure you know that now but it's the truth. Look into a RAID 1 array or buy a couple more drives and go the RAID 0+1 route...performance plus redundancy.

Also, this only works with HPT-based RAID controllers.

[milad_sm]

hmmm...thanks jon...

trying to figure out how to use the file you linked. (what's wrong with the server?!?! i took me 5 minutes to download the 24k file!!!!)

anyways....ammm...no i am not going to pay 300$ for recovery!!!

and the hdd looks to be back up...no sign of failure now...
i mean no more clicking sound...
so, you are saying i shouldn't rebuild the array right????
if i do, will it be lost??
please answer faster!! i got my boss waiting!! thanks!

[milad_sm]

oh and...i need performance...
RAID 1 is mirroring right??
my data is not sensitive...it's just capturing and editing...i have the backups...but i work on them and edit them..
anyways....ammm.....raid 0+1 sounds nice...amm...how many hdd do i need for that??? 4??
can i have 2 on strip and the 3rd for mirroring??
cuz i have a 40GB spare hdd...it is 5400 though...
my strip raid consist of 2 40GB IBM 7200....
i have them both as masters....that's fine right?? or should i use one primary master and slave??
amm...please guide me more!! thanks!!
amm...how do i use your file by the way??
in the menu, should i chose don't create the bak file??
i don't have any previous bak file!!!
what am i using the softwar for really??? am i 'resuming' the disks? or am i rebuilding???
thanks!

[milad_sm]

come on guys!! i need answers!!
please share!

[Jon]

Don't know how to use the program...never used it. I've only offered it to those that have needed it to restore a RAID 0 array and it has worked for some.

Server is pretty slow there...I've got it posted here in the forums somewhere too but you'd have to do a search for it. It was posted in GH.

No, do not do an array rebuild...you will lose your data. If the program is offering an array rebuild, I don't know...like I said, I've never used it. It should have had a readme in the zip...read it.

RAID 0+1 takes 4 drives. It's basically a RAID 0 mirrored to another RAID 0 array.

Also, if you're back up and running and everything is there now then you don't need to use that program. You might want to look into replacing that disk though...sounded bad to me. That program is supposed to repair data that is lost considering you get a "broken array" error message. If you don't have that, don't use it. If you have no array left at all, try it out...it's already hosed even if it doesn't work.

[milad_sm]

well..it didn't work for me...
i gave up and rebuilt the array, then tried to forma the drive in win2k...but the drive was dead!!! it couldn't format more than 12% of the drive..so, i went and replaced the harddrive altogether!
i was lucky it happened within 1 month, or i had to wait for 3 weeks until i could use the warranty...
anyway, thanks a lot for your help..
i have my new raid set up and running...will consider 0+1 as soon as i get some budget!
though i am not sure about recovering yet....
is it like...when the main striped drives fail, i can simply replace them both with the mirrored disks??? or there are some configs??

[Jon]

If using a RAID 0+1 setup, if any one drive in that array fails you can keep working and will have a complete working backup of all data until you get a new drive. Once the new drive is in place you simply regenerate the data back to that disk.

Very simple but can be a life saver...would have been in your case. Two more drives and you're set.

[Shadow ÒÓ]

Jon, your thoughts on this.....

From what this (http://www.tweakhardware.com/guide/raid100/) page describes, you can use resistors (all the way down the page) to fool the controller into believing there is another drive, yet recording all data (0 or 1) to a single drive.

What if you used 2 disks for 0 and one for 1, but used the resistor trick for the 1?

*edit* that make any sense? LOL

[Jon]

Love that site...always have.

As far as using 1 drive for the mirror backup on a 0+1, I always wondered why it wouldn't let you do that. Would make sense to me. I know you can restore it to a RAID 0 array in case it fails but would make for a more cost effective redundancy configuration...would just need a drive at least as big as the other two combined.

I'm guessing the overhead for these WinRAID controller chips would have been too high when doing it that way so they didn't include it, but if they can just solder a resistor then the chip has the capability to do it. I don't think it can do it though...these chips are pretty dumb. It might be possible to get it to write to one drive, thinking it were two, but I don't know what the data would look like in the end.

If you have the means to try it, let me know how it goes. I get my 1st Promise controller in today! FastTrak100 TX2 RAID. Going in my new dually Asus board (whenever that comes along) and it'll be able to take advantage of that PCI66 bus speed. Don't plan on seeing any difference though.

[Shadow ÒÓ]

havn't had the opportunity to play with it yet as I'm waiting on DDR to set up my new XP 1800. I do intend to play with it to find out tho, and will let you know.

Thanks for the response.