RAID recovery? Expert Insight needed.

[IBM]

I'm lost.

Following on from this thread http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=109166 I'd pretty much given up on recovering any data off my failed RAID 0 boot disk, and wanted to start reinstalling Windows. But Windows isn't seeing any disks. Two 74Gb Raptors and one 200Gb or 250Gb Seagate (maybe, can't remember the make).

Here's the screens as I get them during boot

1) VIA technologies Inc. VIA VT8237 Serial ATA RAID BIOS Setting Utility V2.01
Copyright (c) VIA technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved
Scan Devices. Please Wait.
Press TAB to enter user window.
Serial_CH0 Master Array 0 - RAID 0
Serial_CH1 Master Array 1 - RAID 0
2) Fasttrack 378 (TM) BIOS V.100.0.37
(c) 2003 Promise Technology Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Scanning IDE Drives
Press CTRL-F to enter Fastbuild Utility.

Then DEL to enter BIOS.

Then 'problem with boot, select normal, safe mode, last good configuration' then reboot.

If I press TAB to enter User Window (screen 1) the two raptors are listed and have all detail correct.

If I CTRL F to enter Fastbuild Utility, then check the drive assignments, the only drive listed on ID 1 is, Model SATA HDS722525VLSA80, Capacity 20059 MB, Assignment Array 1, Mode U5

If I look under the define array option, still in fastbuild utility, I'm getting Array no. Array1, Mode Stripe, Total Drv. 1, Capacity 250059, Status Function.

If it means anything, BIOS states my 1st drive as VIA VT6420 1st HDD, 2nd Drive as FT TX array 1.



Can anyone please please please please please have a read through this and tell me if anything strikes them as being strange?

Where do I start? As said previously, I'd love to have a go recovering the data, but at this point I just want to find the two Raptors....

[IBM]

bump

Anybody?

[TiG]

IBM,

You've got 2 IDE controllers, one on the motherboard listed via tab, and the second via the Fasttrack promise controller.

You can't see the raptors from CTRL F.

I'm not sure what you are missing?.

TiG

[IBM]

Quite a lot it seems.

Is that normal for the 2 IDE controllers to be split across the motherboard and the Fasttrack controller?

What I'm missing is all the hard drives when I try to reinstall XP. Shouldn't there be something showing when I try to install the OS?

And maybe I'm not quite getting this, but why is my secondary drive have anything to do with arrays through the fasttrack controller? It was never part of an array?

[TiG]

Yes its pretty usual to have two IDE controllers, most of the ICH series of intel controllers usually only have two sata channels. To offer more items off this you usually have another controller in this case the promise controller that's added and chosen by the motherboard manufacturer rather than the chipset provider of the motherboard.

If you want to see the harddisks in the OS install you need to hit F6 and put in the driver disk (or slipstream the drivers onto the install)

Either way XP doesn't know bugger all about sata disks and needs to be told where and how to find them by installing the drivers during the first part of the XP install.

Hopefully that explains

TiG

[IBM]

It does many thanks

[IBM]

Okay, snag 1

My install is looking for driver disks on drive a: a non-existant floppy disk drive.

How do I go about setting the install to look elsewhere? I'm contemplating slipstreaming the drivers into a XP install disk, but if I can just tell it to go look somewhere, that'd be easier.

[dave87]

You can't, you either have to slipstream the drivers onto an XP disk, or plug a floppy drive in for the time being. I do the latter, its easier

[TiG]

Dave's right its fixed location, if you've never slipstreamed drivers before go with the floppy disk. Otherwise you might find you are spending hours messing about with it all.

TiG

[IBM]

Using nLite and everything seems to be working, XP is checking the disks now and trying to repair (currently sitting at 75% checked) so I'm assuming it carried the drivers OK.

There's a place up the road that's sure to have a floppy drive, but doesn't look like I'm going to need it. Fingers crossed.

[IBM]

Yup, two tries later, still sticks at 75%....it just does it to build up your hopes and then crush them, doesn't it?

So, back to BartPE and RAID Reconstructor.