External RAID to internal?

[designedforhell]

I have a My Book Premium II 1T external drive that I came home to the other day and will no longer power on…errrr. There are two 500GB SATA drives in it running RAID0 and they are full of my very coveted data (sorry no pron). My question is if I setup the drives internally on a RAID controller set to RAID0 will everything work and I can start stomp fest 2008 on the external enclosure, or will I fire up my computer and POOF no more data?

Thank you for your contribution.

 

[Old Hippie]

You put "very coveted data" on a RAID O?

That's tuff to recover under the best of circumstances.

My only suggestion is to buy another unit and swap the drives.

Otherwise, my votes on the "POOF" part.

 

[capreppy]

The WD MyBook has proprietary (I believe) raid card in there. You would not be able to stick the two drives on another box and get it to automagically work. You'll need to figure out some way to get it back up and running and then get the data off. That is one off the biggest problem with the two drive WD MyBooks is that to get the full drive capacity, you have to run Raid 0. It is not possible to run two separate drives. The drives in Raid 0 are not capable of being transferred to another box to be read.

Get the data off (good luck with that by the way) and get the data on a single 1TB (or 1.5TB drive if you've got the change) and then back it up to another 1TB (or 1.5TB) and then back it up again to DVD (or BlueRay discs). Yes it'll take more than a few DVDs. How coveted is this data? If it can't be replicated, then I would suggest you find a better backup solution. Putting it on a Raid 0 drive isn't such a good idea.

 

[designedforhell]

I thought this to be the case , I also got the verry un-prompt email back from WD stating: “The RAID stripe comes from the enclosure so you won't be able to see the data without installing them into another MyBook Premium II” . This is my first RAID array of any kind and once I RMA the drive, put my drives in the new enclosure and send the other junk back to WD, I will then back up data, install drives internally, and commence with operation stomp fest or ebay on ‘BAD IDEA’ external drive enclosure.

 

[capreppy]

I've got the 1TB as well. I will be replacing this with a 1.5TB Seagate inside a Thermaltake Enclosure. Once I get the data off the drive, I will be pulling the drives and using them inside two dedicated folders I am building. The rest will be thrown in the trash!!! Piece of crap. First and Last WD External I will be buying.

 

[Old Hippie]

That is one off the biggest problem with the two drive WD MyBooks is that to get the full drive capacity, you have to run Raid 0.

Not true. He could have used the linear option to get the full capacity, but he chose to increase the performance of the HDs.

The problem here is two fold.

You never put storage data on a RAID 0 configuration, and you get what you pay for.

I find it incredulous that anybody that frequents a computer hardware site buys these prebuilt external storage units. But I still see people going "Ga Ga" over the cheap pre-built external units in the Hot Deals section.

Buy a decent external enclosure and a HDD you trust and put them together. It may cost a little more up-front, but how much is your data worth?

 

[designedforhell]

I don’t like or would buy ANYTHING external, I was complaining about needing a TB of disk space for a little bit and come my birthday dad springs the my book on me. I was almost disappointed (Not with gift giving or giver just that it was external) because my opinion is that any two bit ass clown can buy an external drive with crappy performance and have tones of storage with no seek time and be happy but not me. So I was about two seconds from ripping it apart and installing the drive internally (If I had done that it would be RAID1) but my situation is complex. You have to understand at the time and still to this day I have a LOT of problems with file sharing from vista (my main computer) to XP (HTPC) and couldn’t share movies from one to the other (HTPC wireless and bad for downloading torrents) also the whole warranty thing on an almost $600 drive when I got it. So over time everything started flooding into the 1TB drive that could move from computer to computer and all was well…. UNTILL that one fateful day the drive quit working and I had realized that not only was I going to lose the tones of movies and music that I had collected but also the first pictures of my son the day he was born and videos of is first footsteps and so forth. It really makes me thing about when I was setting it up and I had the option to make the drives redundant or not and saying to myself “I really need the space” If I knew then what I was going to be losing now I would have clicked the other radial button!

 

[Dangman]

I find it incredulous that anybody that frequents a computer hardware site buys these prebuilt external storage units. But I still see people going "Ga Ga" over the cheap pre-built external units in the Hot Deals section.

Main reason why some people go "Ga Ga" is that with some of those deals, the pre-built external units were/are cheaper than the custom/DIY route. And some frankly, some don't care about the speed or even the quality as long as they have some form of backup.

 

[Old Hippie]

some don't care about the speed or even the quality as long as they have some form of backup.

I realize this.

They don't care 'till their data is gone.

Any HD can take a crap, but the chances are much greater when you buy a cheap enclosure loaded with a refurb/off-brand drive.

Designedforhell, I feel bad for you, but at least you have a chance to recover your stuff.
And please, any type of RAID is not a back-up.

 

[designedforhell]

I never wanted to mess with RAID because I had a friend back in the day that ran RAID01 on four drives and it seemed like he spent more time repairing the RAID array then using the computer! once the replacement gets her next week I will not be using the drives externally anymore once the data is backed up but WOW that’s going to be a LOT of work…

Thanx guys!

 

[Old Hippie]

I never wanted to mess with RAID because I had a friend back in the day that ran RAID01 on four drives and it seemed like he spent more time repairing the RAID array then using the computer! once the replacement gets her next week I will not be using the drives externally anymore once the data is backed up but WOW that’s going to be a LOT of work…

Thanx guys!

Smart Man!

Please let us know how it turns out.

Some one else may have the same problem and you would have the solution.

BTW, I have my best tin-foil hat on my head and am sending you great positive RAID repair vibes. There's no way I would wish that anybody would lose precious pics of their young'ins.

Good Luck!

 

[designedforhell]

The RMA drive WD sent me is CRAP it works but I like to keep all my stuff in like new condition including the boxes they came in and everything. The drive came out of the box with multiple peaces of broken plastic rattling around in it, the screws on the outside of the case functional cosmetic screws are nearly stripped out, the drive smells like whatever used to be in it burned and there is sticky something on the drive cage inside the unit. I’ll most likely back up my data and send the RMA drive back!

 

[designedforhell]

BTW I can get to everything by installing the drives in the RMA enclosure

 

[DonDon]

BTW I can get to everything by installing the drives in the RMA enclosure

Cool, good for you.

I tried a WD Mybook World edition last year. What a useless POS that was. I took it back the same day.

I am currently running a Thecus N5200 NAS to share data over 6 computers. I currently run 3 drives in Raid 5 mode. I have 3 TB dives installed. I backup the important stuff very couple of days to a Hammer Myshare running in RAID 1.

Don