recovering data from a raid array

[danroyle]

i got a friend who has an old xeon dual cpu setup and his motherboard fried.

he had his data on a raid 0 array and has not backed it all up all his graphic design art is on there.

he cant get hold of another board with the same raid controller on it (some old promise pdc one)

so anyone know of some software that will help me recover the data for him ideally free software as i said i'd help him as i owe him a favour


thanks dan

[SammEl]

As far as I know, you need to get the same RAID controller and rebuild it again. I didn't think it was possible without it?

[danroyle]

As far as I know, you need to get the same RAID controller and rebuild it again. I didn't think it was possible without it?

i know that used to be the case but was hoping by now there would be some kind of software to do it

[Splash]

RAID0 with no backups? Did he like flying by the seat of his pants?

RAID0 without backups is just reckless, not to say stupid. Anyhoo as Sammel says you're going to need to rebuild the array somehow. How many disks are there in the array? *exactly* which board was he using?

How valuable is the data on the array? If it has any form of commercial value I would say that you should stop immediately and point him to a data recovery specialist, as any action you take can (and probably will) reduce the chance of recovery.

[shaithis]

RAID0 will require a compatible raid controller to rebuild the array as Samm mentions.

RAID1 is the only raidlevel where you could get away with less.

Depending on how valuable the data is, a data recovery firm may be able to help but it would be a stomach-churning price.

[streetster]

there is software you can use to rebuild the raid in software, Active Undelete does - well the Enterprise version does ($80).

I spend $50 on the non-enterprise one only to find that it did not support RAID0, i was a little peeved - but nevermind, i used the enterprise one and recreated the raid in software and got all my important stuff back

But yeah, dont sweat - fair enough he should've had backups, but if the mobo fried and the drives are fine then this bit of software is well worth the money and will save your friend a lot of agro

[llololloy]

What streetster said.
Also, Raid Recontructor might help. Not sure on the price of that though.

[danroyle]

he has gone the route of buying a pci raid card that is exactly the same as his original onboard raid and is hoping he will be able to recover his raid that way.

he had just started out on his own doing graphic design had been working for a company recently so funds were a little short so he didnt bother with a backup drive.

[GaryRW]

... funds were a little short so he didnt bother with a backup drive.

£50 for 500gb external drive: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500Gb...ge-35-External

Just how small was his startup budget?

(though having said that, I'm currently trying to convince a friend who's started semi-professional photography that storing stuff just on their 5 year old Dell dimension's drive isn't a great idea - I'm not getting anywhere very fast...)

Edit: I meant to say good luck to your mate with the raid card

[danroyle]

£50 for 500gb external drive: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500Gb...ge-35-External

Just how small was his startup budget?

(though having said that, I'm currently trying to convince a friend who's started semi-professional photography that storing stuff just on their 5 year old Dell dimension's drive isn't a great idea - I'm not getting anywhere very fast...)

Edit: I meant to say good luck to your mate with the raid card

not sure how small his budget was but he took the pc with him from the old business i presume.

i guess he never thought it would happen but the board that died is so old you can only get secondhand ones at about £150-200.

will let you know if his raid card works