Recover RAID0 with replacement controller...

C

chiyeong

n00b
Joined
Dec 7, 2008
Messages
6
Hi,

I have a RAID0 array using my old mobo JMicron JMB363 (rebranded as Gigabyte SATAII) controller chip. However, during upgrading of my RAM, I somehow end up with a dead mobo. I am desperate to recover my data from my RAID which I suppose the data is intact, just without a controller.

Now, the questions is, if I can find another motherboard with the exact same chip, possible for me to read my data and do a backup? What precautions I need to look for? Is it just plug in the old drive and it will detect it? Never tried to unplug the array since I created it.

Any advice will be helpful. Thanks.

Desperated...
 
Lazn_Work said:
this is one of the reasons I don't recommend RAID 0 for most people as anything other than a scratch drive.. (not for storing anything of value)
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In his case it doesn't matter what raid level he used. If it had been RAID-1 he still wouldn't be able to recover his data because essentially his raid controller is dead.

Anyhow, to OP: You should be able to read your drives if you buy another mobo with identical raid controller. This actually happened to me also 2 weeks ago. I was pulling drives and raid controller from a raid-5 set out of my old PC to put into new PC and in the process a transistor came off my motherboard and thus my motherboard based boot RAID-1 was dead.
 
leadman said:
In his case it doesn't matter what raid level he used. If it had been RAID-1 he still wouldn't be able to recover his data because essentially his raid controller is dead.

Anyhow, to OP: You should be able to read your drives if you buy another mobo with identical raid controller. This actually happened to me also 2 weeks ago. I was pulling drives and raid controller from a raid-5 set out of my old PC to put into new PC and in the process a transistor came off my motherboard and thus my motherboard based boot RAID-1 was dead.
Click to expand...

AFAIK, raid 1 is a MIRROR, which means a bit for bit copy on two separate drives. You don't need a (raid) controller to read it, it is just a pair of drives that can be read by any OS that can read NTFS. Raid 0, 5 etc is different, because the data is striped across multiple drives.
 
On each disk, your raid controller has written a disk signature and information about the array of disks that it was once part of. In theory, and this depends heavily on your RAID controller’s ability to detect a foreign configurations, you should be able to recover. If you re-pair the drives with a like raid controller and the card is smart enough as described, when the controller initializes you should be prompted with the option to import a foreign configuration. This will copy the configuration from each drive back onto the virgin controller. Do no REINITIALIZE the disk if you are given the option as this will wipe the drives for sure and render your data even harder to recover. Before you get started, I would suggest finding documentation on recovery procedure for your given RAID controller to confirm that the functionality exists.
 
leadman said:
In his case it doesn't matter what raid level he used. If it had been RAID-1 he still wouldn't be able to recover his data because essentially his raid controller is dead.

Anyhow, to OP: You should be able to read your drives if you buy another mobo with identical raid controller. This actually happened to me also 2 weeks ago. I was pulling drives and raid controller from a raid-5 set out of my old PC to put into new PC and in the process a transistor came off my motherboard and thus my motherboard based boot RAID-1 was dead.
Click to expand...

As jcolby already said, you can break a RAID 1 mirror and still read the data just fine on a standard non RAID controller. I have done it.
 
Hi, Just to report back.

I bought a different motherboard with the exact same controller chip and I had successfully recovered the files by just plugging in the array in the same order (not sure if it is necessary). After that, the controller just detect it as a raid array and I can access the files as usual. How lucky I am.

Anyway, thanks everyone for your info.
 
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