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Failed RAID5, Help!

G

GreatestOne

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 15, 2005
Messages
488
I had 3x400GB Samsungs in RAID 5. One drive failed, I sent it back, and have not received a placement yet. I was waiting for a deal to get a 1TB+ external and iamge my data so I can replace it when I go with a new storage system, something like a 150/300GB VR and a 1TB storage drive with the external 1TB as well.

Anyways, so now for some reason, out of nowhere, BOTH of my remaining RAID 5 drives show it has FAILED in the bios screen. Not sure how this could happen, but I cannot start Windows, I cannot run a repair, because it does not recognize any hard drives at the moment. My AVG did pick up a virus right before this, so that could be a cause.

I just reoloaded XP onto a separate internal HD, and it is running great, but what is the bets way to extract my data and possibly even programs over? I know programs usually you cant, but is there a way to access the old RAID 5 drive data somehow?

raid_screen.JPG
 
I seriously doubt a virus could kill an array.

What exactly is the RAID BIOS telling you? Have the arrays failed because drives are missing, or do they simply need a rebuild?

If there's no rebuild option, it might help to diagnose the problem if you could post more information about your RAID setup, and some screenshots of your RAID BIOS screen (Just point your cameraphone at your monitor - the photos should be good enough for us to read).
 
Of course its not going to boot and say failed, its missing a bloody drive! Raid 5 needs 3 drives to function.
Common people, if your going to raid 5, run a hot spare!

Wait for the replacment, install and rebuilt, then copy the data to a 1tb for backup.
 
The Spyder said:
Of course its not going to boot and say failed, its missing a bloody drive! Raid 5 needs 3 drives to function.
QUOTE]


Yeah, its not gonna reboot with only two drives. You should not have pulled the failed drive till the new one arrived, your stuck till you get your new drive in
Click to expand...
 
The Spyder said:
Of course its not going to boot and say failed, its missing a bloody drive! Raid 5 needs 3 drives to function.
Common people, if your going to raid 5, run a hot spare!

Wait for the replacment, install and rebuilt, then copy the data to a 1tb for backup.
Click to expand...

k1pp3r said:
The Spyder said:
Of course its not going to boot and say failed, its missing a bloody drive! Raid 5 needs 3 drives to function.
QUOTE]


Yeah, its not gonna reboot with only two drives. You should not have pulled the failed drive till the new one arrived, your stuck till you get your new drive in
Click to expand...


You can lose a drive in a raid 5 and still fully function in a degraded state.


However, the OP is having an issue with the other two drives failing, which leads me to believe of a compatibility issue with the controller (afterall, these are samsungs). Or simply that the array went into a degraded state and the OP thinks that it has failed.
Click to expand...
 
Ockie said:
k1pp3r said:
You can lose a drive in a raid 5 and still fully function in a degraded state.


However, the OP is having an issue with the other two drives failing, which leads me to believe of a compatibility issue with the controller (afterall, these are samsungs). Or simply that the array went into a degraded state and the OP thinks that it has failed.
Click to expand...

Umm last time i removed a disk from a 3-disk array and tried to boot with 2 disks, it wouldn't even boot,

Raid 5 will not boot with 1 disk removed in a 3disk array.

Now if he would have left the disk in, it would boot in a degraded state
Click to expand...
 
k1pp3r said:
Ockie said:
Umm last time i removed a disk from a 3-disk array and tried to boot with 2 disks, it wouldn't even boot,

Raid 5 will not boot with 1 disk removed in a 3disk array.

Now if he would have left the disk in, it would boot in a degraded state
Click to expand...

You can force degraded state without the extra disk. If this was true of what you say, wouldn't that render raid 5 or 6 pointless if you have a drive that fails completely (to the point of not even detecting?) Think about it.
Click to expand...
 
Ockie said:
k1pp3r said:
You can force degraded state without the extra disk. If this was true of what you say, wouldn't that render raid 5 or 6 pointless if you have a drive that fails completely (to the point of not even detecting?) Think about it.
Click to expand...

hmm the controller i was working with was a perc 4/i and didn't see a way to run with a disk missing, but once the failed disk was back in, the array detected as in a degraded state.
Click to expand...
 
i used to do raid 5 with 12 drive after 1 drive fail i still can be able to boot up in degraded and still be able to access my data in the array while 1 drive is fail (now going to raid-6) that's my experience
 
raid 5 min is 3 drives, if you have 4 drives, and one fails it will still work with 3, the min.

now not sure with 3 drives, one dies, your not running the min.. ?
 
MrGuvernment said:
raid 5 min is 3 drives, if you have 4 drives, and one fails it will still work with 3, the min.

now not sure with 3 drives, one dies, your not running the min.. ?
Click to expand...


Raid 5 is a min of three drives, if one fails you are still protected, if more than one failed, you lost it all. There is a reason why a lot of high end servers (especially in the past) have space for at least 3 drives.
 
Ockie said:
Raid 5 is a min of three drives, if one fails you are still protected, if more than one failed, you lost it all. There is a reason why a lot of high end servers (especially in the past) have space for at least 3 drives.
Click to expand...

True, however if you "remove" the drive, the controller only detects 2 drives, hince it doesn't boot, put the failed drive back in, it will boot degraded
 
Geez, this is driving me nuts... now a scan of that second "bad" drive is coming up clean. However, when I go back to the RAID bios control panel, it states that both data disks are NON-RAID. How do I start rebuilding my RAID array with these drives now? As you can see from my screenshot I dont have a "rebuild" option... if I go and "create" a raid array again, will that destroy my data? I do have 3 drives now, 2 data filled drives, both supposedly good now according to the Samsung disc scan, and the third refurb I just got back.

Or if the drives are labeled "non-raid" does that mean i cannot do anything about it anymore to use my existing data on those drives?
 
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