Question Lost RAID 0 after BIOS Upgrade, can I recover it?

[Kurgan2]

I bought a PC from Cyberpower, had them put in 2 SSD's and a RAID 0 setup of 2 8TB drives. The motherboard is an MSI PRO Z790-P WIFI with an i9-14900KF CPU. Since the i9's are having problems, I figured I'd update the BIOS to get the fixes Intel has put out.

However, after the upgrade to version E7E061MS.AF0 my computer no longer recognizes the RAID 0 drive. The letter is there, it's my E: drive, but when click it it tells me I need to format the disk before I can use it. I need the data on this disk, all the legal documents pertaining to my father's estate are on it, for starters, along with a lot of other things I can't afford to lose.

In BIOS, I show 2 ST800NT001-3L drives in SATA P3 and P4, which are the drives in the RAID setup. I also have my 2 SSD drives, Kingston SNV2S (or SNV25, I can't read my own handwriting) in M2_1 and M2_3.

I put the question to MSI and was advised to turn VMD back on as the update would have set the system back to defaults. I did so, and as you can guess since I'm here, with no success. When I turn on VMD, all my drives vanish, so the system can't boot. I tried making a bootable thumb drive and booting through that with VMD on in hopes I could use the command prompt to copy the files to a 14TB external I just bought so I could try this, but even with VMD on in BIOS, when I boot from the thumb drive and go into cmd, I can't see the RAID drive, just the 2 SSDs, the thumb drive and the USB connected 14TB external.

Please tell me there's something I can do to recover the data from the RAID drive.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I need the data on this disk, all the legal documents pertaining to my father's estate are on it, for starters, along with a lot of other things I can't afford to lose.

Putting important legal documents on RAID 0 and having no backup.

 

[Kurgan2]

Putting important legal documents on RAID 0 and having no backup.

Thanks, not terribly helpful. I'm more than stressed out enough and beating myself up already.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Why RAID? RAID was never intended for home use. And why no backup of your essential data? This all comes down to your failure to plan. Recovery, if even possible is going to cost greatly. Only paying a recovery house to analyze the drives will tell the tale.

 

[Kurgan2]

Because they had that option when configuring the PC, and didn't have one for 2 seperate 8TB drives on top of the 2 4TB drives I already had. I didn't know squat about RAID other than if I chose it I could have a ton of storage space. No clue why they offer it on a gaming PC if it's not meant for home use.

And yes, thank you, pointing out it's my own fault is just as helpful as the post by SkyNetRising.

I was kind of hoping for some tech help, not more stress and blame.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

This is not someplace that you can perform some sort of software handwavium magic and recover your lost data. As already outlined, you will spend a large amount (likely into the thousands) just for an estimate on whether or not recovery is possible, with up to several thousand more for any recovery (you pay the full recovery cost even if they only recover a single unusable byte ).

 

[USAFRet]

This is about the only thing I can think of that may have a chance.

RAID Recovery Software - the only FREE tool

Need to recover a failed RAID? Do not rush to send it to a lab, try our read-only free RAID recovery software which recovers most common RAID types.

www.freeraidrecovery.com

But...whether this works or not...please please please undo this RAID, and just have them as two individual 8TB drives.

And then, start a comprehensive, automated, backup routine.

 

[Ralston18]

@Kurgan2

Not a technical response.

And surely the estate lawyers and/or courts will be able to provide copies of those documents.

Likely not free. - but hopefully much less expensive than an attempted data recovery.

What about other family members or interested parties? They may have copies as well.....

Every little bit can help....

 

[USAFRet]

I didn't know squat about RAID other than if I chose it I could have a ton of storage space.

Without the RAID, you would have had exactly the same storage capacity.
Just with 2 drive letters instead of 1.

 

[Misgar]

If you're very lucky, all your data on the two 8TB drives will still be intact, unless you've formatted them (which hopefully is not the case).

CAUTION, Messing around could prevent a professional recovery agency from getting your data back.

It's not clear whether or not your two Kingston NV2S NVMe drives are also set up in RAID0. Are they amongst these drives?
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/kingston-nv2-ssd

You've already tried booting up from a USB memory stick. What OS did you use? Linux?

A different course of action might be to install a fresh copy of Windows on a cheap 120GB SATA SSD inside the PC, with VMD enabled in the BIOS and ALL other drives disconnected. This means physically removing the two NVMe SSDs from the motherboard and unplugging the SATA and power leads from the two 8TB hard disks.

You'll need to pre-load the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (ISRT/VMD) driver before installing Windows, as described in this guide.

https://www.msi.com/faq/notebook-1995

To quote from the guide:-

When the VMD Controller option in the BIOS menu is enabled, it's required to load the IRST driver to make {sure} the disks or RAID arrays can be recognized during Windows installation.

Download the ISRT/VMD driver from the MSI web site (or possibly from the Intel web site) to a USB stick.
1). Plug this "ISRT F6 driver" stick into the computer.
2). Plug a bootable Windows 10 installation USB stick into another port and set the BIOS to boot from this stick. Windows 10 will be easier to set up with a Local Account than Windows 11.
3). Choose the "Load driver" option as described in section 2 of the guide, browse to the stick with the ISRT/VMD driver and load the driver.
4). The 120GB SATA SSD should now become visible to the Windows installation setup program.
5). Install Windows, then remove both USB sticks and see if you can boot to the Windows desktop from the 120GB SATA SSD.
6). If the new version of Windows 10 works, shut down the PC and reconnect the two 8TB drives.
7). Boot up the PC and see if the RAID0 volume is now visible.
8). Copy the data to your new 14TB drive.

If the above does not work, let the professionals attempt a recovery. Assuming the data is really important, it's a price you'll have to pay.

Good luck.

Just remember, DO NOT FORMAT THE 8TB HARD DISKS.

https://edc.intel.com/content/www/u...02/intel-volume-management-device-technology/