RAID 0 Status Failed Bootable No

[7ksair]

Hi everyone.

Got a problem trying to transfer files from a old computer to a new one. The old computer was set up with a RAID 0 array with two 160GB hard drives (dells decision not me).

As it turns out I only found about RAID today, because when I went to transfer it I just ripped out the old hdd and tried to open them through an external case. Obviously this didnt work, but I was ignorant of the whole RAID thing until this morning.

So I put them back into the old comp and tried to boot and I get this error, RAID 0 status failed bootable no. Both HDDs are physically fine, so the data is still there, but obviously the RAID array itself corrupted in some way? Whats the best way to go about recovering the data?

All help appreciated.

 

[egilbe]

Did you connect the drives in the same ports? If not, try swapping the cables.

 

[7ksair]

Did you connect the drives in the same ports? If not, try swapping the cables.

Yep, have tried them both ways round. When I plug them in through the external drive and look t disk management, one of them shows up as having at 40mb partition, whilst the rest is unallocated, whilst the other is completely unallocated

 

[egilbe]

You don't have any other SATA ports to plug then into? There is only two on the mobo? Why I'm asking is that there are usually raid controllers (i.e. intel) and then hard drive controllers. Which ports you plug them into does matter. For instance, I have 6 SATA connectors on my board. 2 of them are for the intel raid controllers, the other four are just standard SATA ports.

 

[7ksair]

You don't have any other SATA ports to plug then into? There is only two on the mobo? Why I'm asking is that there are usually raid controllers (i.e. intel) and then hard drive controllers. Which ports you plug them into does matter. For instance, I have 6 SATA connectors on my board. 2 of them are for the intel raid controllers, the other four are just standard SATA ports.

Dont know if I have any other sata ports, its only a crappy dell standard mobo, but for sure they are plugged into the correct ones. I left the sata cables hanging over the side of the case when i removed them, then tried the hdds both ways around.

Before I realised it was a RAID setup (in my computing ignorance), I thought the formatting had screwed up as the first HDD I pulled out was showing a RAW format (the reasons for this are now too obvious...), so I tried using test disk to "fix" the partitions. When that didn't work, I then realised about this whole RAID thing and plugged them back into the old comp to get a better look. And then the real problems started....

 

[egilbe]

yeah, test disk probably screwed up the partitioning. The data, including the partition table is, shared between both drives. Half o one drive, half on the other. If half was changed, it makes the entire thing unreadable.

 

[7ksair]

yeah, test disk probably screwed up the partitioning. The data, including the partition table is, shared between both drives. Half o one drive, half on the other. If half was changed, it makes the entire thing unreadable.

So you're saying im completely screwed?

 

[7ksair]

yeah, test disk probably screwed up the partitioning. The data, including the partition table is, shared between both drives. Half o one drive, half on the other. If half was changed, it makes the entire thing unreadable.

The thing is now about 40mb of the drive is readable, which I think was the dell recovery partition. Surely the data is still there, its just a case of repairing the array or recreating the array?

 

[egilbe]

Dell recovery partition would be about 10GB. Yeah, I think you're screwed. Sorry.

 

[fzabkar]

The partition table lives in sector 0 of the first drive in the array. That's probably all that TestDisk changed.

I would run Partition Find and Mount against the array.

http://findandmount.com/

 

[7ksair]

Dell recovery partition would be about 10GB. Yeah, I think you're screwed. Sorry.

But the data is still there? So their must be a way of retrieving it?

 

[7ksair]

The partition table lives in sector 0 of the first drive in the array. That's probably all that TestDisk changed.

I would run Partition Find and Mount against the array.

http://findandmount.com/

Which hdd should I run this to?

 

[fzabkar]

Reassemble the original array. PF&M will then see it as a corrupted 320GB drive which it will scan for missing partitions. At least that's how I'm assuming it will work.

If this fails, then try using DMDE to Search For Special Sector -> Boot Sector.

http://dmde.com/

 

[7ksair]

The partition table lives in sector 0 of the first drive in the array. That's probably all that TestDisk changed.

I would run Partition Find and Mount against the array.

http://findandmount.com/

Reassemble the original array. Then PF&M will see it as a corrupted 320GB drive which it will then scan for missing partitions. At least that's how I'm assuming it will work.

If this fails, then try using DMDE to Search For Special Sector -> Boot Sector.

How would I reassemble it without plugging them into the old computer, which wont boot? Sorry if thats a dumb question, I have absolutely no idea about RAID

 

[fzabkar]

Could you boot from a third drive in the original box?

If that is too difficult, then there is another way to rebuild the partition table. I would install each drive, one by one, into another machine and use DMDE to search for boot sectors. The information in these sectors will allow us to manually reconstruct sector 0. I would be prepared to help you do this.

 

[7ksair]

Could you boot from a third drive in the original box?

If that is too difficult, then there is another way to rebuild the partition table. I would install each drive, one by one, into another machine and use DMDE to search for boot sectors. The information in these sectors will allow us to manually reconstruct sector 0. I would be prepared to help you do this.

Nope it was only those two drives in the original computer and the OS was installed on the array so it wont boot. I can plug the drives one by one into my new computer through an external case though?

 

[7ksair]

Could you boot from a third drive in the original box?

If that is too difficult, then there is another way to rebuild the partition table. I would install each drive, one by one, into another machine and use DMDE to search for boot sectors. The information in these sectors will allow us to manually reconstruct sector 0. I would be prepared to help you do this.

Yeah I think i'll have to try with DMDE, I can plug them into my new computer through an external case. If you could help me do that that would be greatly appreciated, as I'm clearly out of my depth here!

 

[7ksair]

Could you boot from a third drive in the original box?

If that is too difficult, then there is another way to rebuild the partition table. I would install each drive, one by one, into another machine and use DMDE to search for boot sectors. The information in these sectors will allow us to manually reconstruct sector 0. I would be prepared to help you do this.

Yeah I've installed DMDE, and got the second machine up and running with one of the HDDs plugged in, I'm just at a loss as to how "manually reconstruct sector 0". If you could help me with this that would be greatly appreciated!

 

[fzabkar]

Launch DMDE.

Select the desired Physical Device.

Uncheck the "Show Partitions" box and click OK.

You should see sector 0 in hexadecimal mode.

Select Tools -> Search For Special Sector -> Boot Sector

Hopefully DMDE will find a boot sector. When it does, select Mode -> Hexadecimal

Save the image and upload it.

Then search for the next boot sector until you reach the end of the drive.

 

[7ksair]

Launch DMDE.

Select the desired Physical Device.

Uncheck the "Show Partitions" box and click OK.

You should see sector 0 in hexadecimal mode.

Select Tools -> Search For Special Sector -> Boot Sector

Hopefully DMDE will find a boot sector. When it does, select Mode -> Hexadecimal

Save the image and upload it.

Then search for the next boot sector until you reach the end of the drive.

Ok got it to search for boot sectors, but it looks like its gonna take a while. I think its searching all the sectors, is that what we want it to do, not just search sector 0?

 

[7ksair]

Launch DMDE.

Select the desired Physical Device.

Uncheck the "Show Partitions" box and click OK.

You should see sector 0 in hexadecimal mode.

Select Tools -> Search For Special Sector -> Boot Sector

Hopefully DMDE will find a boot sector. When it does, select Mode -> Hexadecimal

Save the image and upload it.

Then search for the next boot sector until you reach the end of the drive.

Found the first few boot sectors. You want me to screenshot and upload?

 

[7ksair]

Launch DMDE.

Select the desired Physical Device.

Uncheck the "Show Partitions" box and click OK.

You should see sector 0 in hexadecimal mode.

Select Tools -> Search For Special Sector -> Boot Sector

Hopefully DMDE will find a boot sector. When it does, select Mode -> Hexadecimal

Save the image and upload it.

Then search for the next boot sector until you reach the end of the drive.

Here are the first 4 boot sectors. http://imgur.com/a/A9jfh

However I have now encountered an error:

"LUN0 Sector 116 430 961 - 116 431 089 (try 1): Win error121. The sempahore timeout period has expired."

 

[7ksair]

Launch DMDE.

Select the desired Physical Device.

Uncheck the "Show Partitions" box and click OK.

You should see sector 0 in hexadecimal mode.

Select Tools -> Search For Special Sector -> Boot Sector

Hopefully DMDE will find a boot sector. When it does, select Mode -> Hexadecimal

Save the image and upload it.

Then search for the next boot sector until you reach the end of the drive.

Fixed the error (dodgy cable), heres the rest of the boot sectors for the first disk, starting on the second disk now.

http://imgur.com/a/vRkxg

 

[7ksair]

Launch DMDE.

Select the desired Physical Device.

Uncheck the "Show Partitions" box and click OK.

You should see sector 0 in hexadecimal mode.

Select Tools -> Search For Special Sector -> Boot Sector

Hopefully DMDE will find a boot sector. When it does, select Mode -> Hexadecimal

Save the image and upload it.

Then search for the next boot sector until you reach the end of the drive.

And here are the boot sectors for the second disk. http://imgur.com/a/158ln

Can we now reconstruct sector 0? You've been a great help so far, much appreciated.

 

[fzabkar]

ISTM that there are 3 partitions.

FAT16 / Dell Utility - 47MiB
NTFS - 10GiB
NTFS - 289GiB

There is also a 32GiB FAT32 partition which appears to be a remnant from a previous build.

Does that sound right?