[SOLVED] Raid 0 drive turned to Raw Volume - How to fix and recover previous data? - SOLVED

[pcHobby]

I am helping a friend fix her 2tb Raid 0 drive. She has 2 X1tb drives striped into Raid 0.

She recently started her computer which is on Windows 10 and noticed that the raid 0 drive has turned into a Raw Volume drive.

I had a look at her computer in windows explorer and noticed the following;
- E drive (2tb) Raw volume drive which cannot be accessed and if you try, it asked to format the drive.
The E drive is the Raid 0 drive but has now turned into Raw Volume.

In Computer Management, it asks whether to intialise disk 4 below. There is the following drives listed;
Disk 3 Online E drive (2tb RAW Healthy Basic Data Partition)
Disk 4 Unknown Not Initialised F drive (1tb)

Disk 3 and Disk 4 are the two X 1tb Raid 0 drive.

It seems like Disk 4 is disconnected somehow from the Raid 0. Disk 3 is physically a 1tb drive, so not sure what is going on here??

I am presuming the Raid 0 structure has somehow become corrupted and just needs to be fixed so that disk 3 and disk 4 is joined back together but I am struggling to find the appropriate approach to do this without losing the data that was originally there.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Is there a free software out there that can repair the Raid 0 properly?

I am trying Reclaime software but I can't seem to make it work, as it seems to do nothing when trying to use it on drive E.

Any help appreciated

 

[mdd1963]

the whole problem with RAID 0 is that any glitch in either drive results in loss of all data...

Any recovery software would need to be cognizant/aware of the RAID 0...

If the data on the RAID 0 is valuable/truly needed, I'd consult with data recovery specialists, who perhaps might have the software needed to make this happen, or, given a single drive failure but perhaps said drive is not physically damaged, might be able to have more success.

Try these guys if the data is truly needed...

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[USAFRet]

Was there any critical life changing data in this RAID array?

In the consumer space, RAID is rarely the answer.
RAID 0 without a known good backup is never a good idea.

 

[pcHobby]

She hasn't backed up all her files on the drive.

 

[USAFRet]

She hasn't backed up all her files on the drive.

So....
For unknown reasons, the RAID 0 is broken
No backup
Tried Reclaime with no success

Even paying money to a data recovery company may not result in actual recovery. A RAID 0 requires both drives to be present and fully functional. If one of them is physically faulty, that data is gone gone gone.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Your data is gone. Never use raid as a consumer. Keep backups.

 

[pcHobby]

I have been told the two hard drives is less than a year old and the computer still sees them as functioning. I might not be using Reclaime correctly? There must be software out there that is able to restructure a Raid 0 that has turned into a Raw Volume.

 

[USAFRet]

I have been told the two hard drives is less than a year old and the computer still sees them as functioning. I might not be using Reclaime correctly? There must be software out there that is able to restructure a Raid 0 that has turned into a Raw Volume.

Less than a year old is meaningless.

I had a new off the shelf WD die at 5 weeks.
A 14TB Toshiba Enterprise die at 7 months. It is currently at Toshiba in Fail Analysis.

But even if the drives are working fine physically, the RAID array itself might have gotten corrupted. Which, to your data, means the same thing. Bye bye.


Reclaime is probably the only consumer tool for this.

 

[alceryes]

If she needs the data, and it's willing to pay for the potential to get it back, she needs to disconnect both drives NOW and reach out to professional data recovery services.

 

[pcHobby]

She cant afford it, that is why I am helping her

 

[USAFRet]

She cant afford it, that is why I am helping her

And from here, it looks like this has gone beyond a user level fix.

What make/model/size drives are these?
What sort of data was on it?

 

[pcHobby]

For those who come across the-same issues, this is the solution.

I was lucky to have come across a post online somewhere discussing about BIOS had reset and they needed to change their settings in BIOS from ACHI(something A) back to RAID.

I thought this could be the cause of this issue because it seems like the RAID is still setup on the two drives somehow but the two drives were disconnected for the RAID 0 to work properly.

So I looked through the motherboard manual and read through the process of how RAID is setup on the Motherboard of this computer and followed step by step on the BIOS and checked where it was different.

Behold, the "Sata Controller Mode" was set up to ACHI or something A, and I changed it to RAID. Restarted the computer and the RAID 0 drive was back on the desktop. I have been copying files and comparing files between her old backups to check if the RAID drive was OK and it seems fine now.

She mentioned that her browser and I think her clock changed during the time of the issue, which could have been a clue that settings may have changed in the bios that caused the RAID issue? Just speculating here

Anyways, thank you all for the glass is half empty chat

 

[USAFRet]

Strongly urge you to copy ALL of the data from this array to some other device.
Then reformat both drives, completely disabling any RAID.
Then, start a comprehensive backup routine.

A RAID 0 without a known good backup is like standing in a pool of gasoline, with a lit firecracker in your hand.
Its not a matter of if it will go bad, but rather how soon.

And as said earlier, there is little reason for a RAID 0 in the first place.

 

[fzabkar]

FYI, DMDE is able to reconstruct a virtual RAID.

Mdadm is a free Linux tool that can also do this.

 

[pcHobby]

Strongly urge you to copy ALL of the data from this array to some other device.
Then reformat both drives, completely disabling any RAID.
Then, start a comprehensive backup routine.

A RAID 0 without a known good backup is like standing in a pool of gasoline, with a lit firecracker in your hand.
Its not a matter of if it will go bad, but rather how soon.

And as said earlier, there is little reason for a RAID 0 in the first place.

She actually uses it for video editing and so need the boosted speed of Raid 0, but I have informed her of backing up more often or use some automated backup sync tool of some sort.

 

[pcHobby]

After further tests, the Bios settings would continue to reset to AHCI when the computer was turned off from the power point. I tested the motherboard battery and discovered it needed replacing. After replacing the battery, the Bios now retains the Raid settings and everything is back to normal.

Thanks everyone regarding their replies and I do understand why some people suggested that I seek a data expert/specialist. No person wants to be liable or contribute to the loss of valuable data. In my case though, the option to seek an expert/specialist was out of the question as there was no budget for it, and I do not believe this issue warranted it.

At least troubleshooting, could have helped in concluding whether an expert/specialist was the only choice in this situation.

 

[alceryes]

For those who come across the-same issues, this is the solution.

I was lucky to have come across a post online somewhere discussing about BIOS had reset and they needed to change their settings in BIOS from ACHI(something A) back to RAID.

I thought this could be the cause of this issue because it seems like the RAID is still setup on the two drives somehow but the two drives were disconnected for the RAID 0 to work properly.

So I looked through the motherboard manual and read through the process of how RAID is setup on the Motherboard of this computer and followed step by step on the BIOS and checked where it was different.

Behold, the "Sata Controller Mode" was set up to ACHI or something A, and I changed it to RAID. Restarted the computer and the RAID 0 drive was back on the desktop. I have been copying files and comparing files between her old backups to check if the RAID drive was OK and it seems fine now.

She mentioned that her browser and I think her clock changed during the time of the issue, which could have been a clue that settings may have changed in the bios that caused the RAID issue? Just speculating here

Anyways, thank you all for the glass is half empty chat

Good diagnosing.
Remember, it's very difficult to diagnose over the internet, especially without pertinent info (like clock resetting). The rest of us don't have the same vested interest nor are able to diagnose hands on.
I recommend getting a faster, single drive than relying on a RAID 0 for performance.

 

[chrysalis]

We cant tell her how to use her PC, but I would only consider raid0 for scratch storage or for data you are ok to lose if something goes wrong.

What was the reason she set it up in the first place, performance? one big drive convenience? or maybe she isnt sure and just did it as some dude on the internet mentioned it?

If its reason 2, then a JOBD linear mode is a little better, as the data isnt deliberately scattered so data recovery is easier.

This time things turned out ok, but yeah get some backups going, and think about if its the right moving forward to keep the raid0.