I need help to restore an old RAID configuaration

Happy Hopping

Happy Hopping

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Some guy set up 4 hard drive on a Dell under RAID 0 a few years ago. I'm a bit surprise that he uses RAID 0, as w/ 4 drives, usually people pick at least RAID 0+1 or RAID 5.

Anyhoo, forward to present day, his motherboard is toasted, so he got a replacement motherboard. So we are at the step where we want the new motherboard to see those 4 old hard drives.

Now we all know the default is non-RAID. So when we go to the RAID setup screen,

1) if we select RAID 0, the machine should see all the data in those 4 drives?

2) what if my friend's memory is not that good, that he thought he setup RAID 0 a few years ago, turns out it's RAID 0+1, or perhaps some other RAID, then I assume all data in those drive would be lost if we key in RAID 0?
 
Is it a real dell controller (Perc?). If so it should just detect the raid configuration. if its some sort of onboard software raid then maybe not. Some more details on the exact hardware involved would be helpful.
 
As said on what controller, as long as its the same/very similar you should be ok.
 
Happy Hopping said:
It's a Dell Precision 690. How can I tell if it's a real dell controller?
Click to expand...

The 690 was available in 2 configurations, one with an Integrated LSI 1068 SAS/SATA 3.0Gb/s controller that supports RAID 0, 1 or an Optional PERC 5/i PCI-e RAID card that supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 10. Do you remember if the drives were plugged into the motherboard or an accessory card?
 
The 4 hard drives, even as of right now, is connected directly to the motherboard. The motherboard type is MY171. I assume the MY171 motherboard is embedded w/ this integrated LSI 1068 SAS/SATA 3.0Gb/s controller

So since it's the integrated motherboard type, would it automatically find those 4 drive in RAID 0? Or is the default still going to be non-RAID?

And what if a few yr. ago, he select RAID 1 and thought it's RAID 0? Would selecting RAID 0 today kills all the drive then?
 
Happy Hopping said:
The 4 hard drives, even as of right now, is connected directly to the motherboard. The motherboard type is MY171. I assume the MY171 motherboard is embedded w/ this integrated LSI 1068 SAS/SATA 3.0Gb/s controller

So since it's the integrated motherboard type, would it automatically find those 4 drive in RAID 0? Or is the default still going to be non-RAID?

And what if a few yr. ago, he select RAID 1 and thought it's RAID 0? Would selecting RAID 0 today kills all the drive then?
Click to expand...

Your best bet is to use something like RAID Reconsturctor to find the layout and geometry. That said, before you do ANYTHING you should use dd to make a backup of each drive to 4 spare hard drives, and then do all analysis and repair (if needed) to the backups. In case anything goes wrong, you can always make another copy off the originals in this case.
 
I never use RAID reconstructor before, I'll give it a try. Thanks for all your help, very useful

Now, it seems RAID reconstructor requires the boot up CD called Runtime Live CD. Then Runtime Live CD seems to want me to run Captain Nemo Pro V5.07 and RAID reconstructor.

So, how many piece of software do I need here? as I never done this before. Shouldn't I be able to use just RunTime Live CD? Or do I need the other 2 as well? As RunTime Live CD seems to have a RAID recovery module

Which software do you use?
 
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Captain Nemo is just an app that will let you mount the volume. Just use RAID reconstructor and see what it tells you. The free version will just show you what it can get back, you have to buy it if it is successful. Again, to be safe, reread what I said about making backups of the drive first to be safe.
 
Thanks again.

I'll post a separate question on using disk cloning software like Norton Ghost
 
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