How to recover raided hdds or enable them.

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Cerebrum

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Dec 30, 2013
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Hello

Recently I had to reformat my ssd (samsung pro 840 )with the OS (windows 7 ultimate )in AHCI mode.

All of my video files were on my raided 0/3 tb seagate barracudas.

I have no access to them at this point, I have all intel rapid storage tech files and sata drivers for raid installed. Whenever I enable raid in my bios during boot i get a BSOD when "starting windows" is coming up.
I have tried changing registry keys, for a few registries that had "Start" to 0, with no avail.

I do not know if I have lost my raided files in the first place when I reformatted my OS and changed it to ACHI.

If I have, is there a way to recover them.

Thankyou!
 
Solution
M
There's a good chance the USB install will give you the same error, but I think it's worth a try. What have you got to lose but a little time, and the potential payoff is fantastic if it works. You'd be surprised how many times things like this work. Much of my troubleshooting consists of Try This, Try That, then Try Something Else. Since we have no idea why the DVD install is not working, you don't know what will actually work. Try it. It can't hurt and it just might save your data.

I would even try burning another disk on the off chance that part of the one you're using got scratched or damaged. I don't hold out much hope that it will work, but it seems that your situation is desperate so try anything you can think of.
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mbreslin1954

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How are you implementing RAID? With the motherboard (drives connected to the motherboard SATA), or do you have a dedicated RAID card that the drives are connected to? When you changed the access method of the SSD to AHCI, did you also change the the RAID drives to AHCI (assuming the RAID drives are connected to the motherboard)? What's the brand and model number of your motherboard? And the RAID adapter card if you're using one.
 
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mbreslin1954

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Your files should not be lost. At the worst, you can set your SSD back to non-ACHI, re-install Windows 7, then you should be able to access your RAID. At that point you would need to copy all of your data files to an external drive, then go back to AHCI and start the RAID from scratch, then copy your data to the new RAID.
 
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Cerebrum

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I am currently using the Asus Rampage IV Extreme, direct connection via SATA.

I have already set it back to Raid, but whenever I do, the BSOD occurs during boot. (I have already reinstalled windows 7 ultimate but on AHCI mode)
 
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mbreslin1954

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Set SATA access to whatever it was before (I assume "RAID"), then re-install Windows. I know it's more work for you but that should be the exact same setup you had before and Windows 7 should then boot properly AND that should give you access to your RAID volume. Then get the data off safely to a backup. This will free you to re-install in AHCI mode and start a new RAID volume, after which you can copy your data back to the RAID volume.

That's the easiest solution, although it is a lot of work, having to install Windows twice and backup and restore your RAID data.
 
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Cerebrum

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I forgot to mention but, before, when I tried installing windows on raid mode, it would not properly go into the install page during the cd install, it says I was missing files during the install, and the only solution that worked for me was installing via AHCI mode.

Is there no way just to enable raid without a complete reinstall? I only need my raided hdds to be readable, not my main ssd with the os to be raided.
 
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mbreslin1954

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Was the original install in RAID mode, but now Windows won't install in RAID mode? If so, you're probably screwed. I have come across a couple of posts, on Tom's and elsewhere, where there are directions to changing the registry to enable booting up in a disk access mode other than the one in which Windows was installed, but I don't believe they addressed a RAID array/volume. I know it's too late now, but you should ALWAYS backup your data when re-installing an operating system, especially when the data is stored on RAID. RAID 5 and 6 can protect you from downtime due to hardware failure, but it doesn't really protect your data like a good backup solution does, and I've seen and experienced enough horror stories with RAID that I avoid it, for reasons like you've encountered here.
 
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Cerebrum

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I believe I had windows installed on AHCI mode a year back to install on my ssd (samsung pro), then I switched it over to raid mode, then raided my 2 other hdds (2x 3tb seagate barracudas). (which suprises me why I cant do a simple switch to raid witout getting BSOD during boot)

Yeah, I know I should have backed up my raided hdd array but there was too much data to backup and I had no resources to back it up to. (yes i did mess up, no excuses there)

I could care less whether my data on the ssd gets reformatted, but I just need to access my 2 other hdds that are raided. (any recovery method at all?)

If I am truely screwed, then thank you for your attempt to help.
 
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mbreslin1954

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I think your best bet is to install Windows 7 in RAID mode on the SSD. I don't understand why you're getting an error installing it from the CD. It might be worth it to put it on a flash drive if you have a 4 GB or larger one available. If you do, search for "Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool", which will enable you to copy it to a flash drive in order to boot and install from it. I'll hunt for a BIOS manual for your motherboard in case there is a setting in there that might be messing you up.
 
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mbreslin1954

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Does the ASUS BIOS allow you to individually set the access mode for SATA drives individually, on a per-drive basis, or if you select AHCI or RAID mode does that apply to all drives? The ideal solution is to set the SSD to AHCI mode and the other SATA ports to RAID.

Can you look up page 4-24 of your ASUS manual? It shows how to enter the Intel RAID BIOS. The way I understand it, once you enter the Intel BIOS (separate from the ASUS motherboard BIOS), one of your options is "4. Recover Volume Options". This sounds like a way to recover a previous RAID volume. However, I suspect you would first have to have Windows installed on your SSD, which seems to be the big problem now, especially if you have to define SATA access as "RAID" for all the drives (either all or none).
 
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Cerebrum

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Ok, I have tried your new solutions, but sadly they all do not work.

My mobo has a master setting, cannot split between raid or ahci, pick one and it affects all sata ports.

I have tried booting into raid and then tried control + I to get into the intel rapid storage tech and it has not worked, my screen would hang at the boot screen for the asus rampage mobo logo.

It does not work when in ahci mode either

I do have windows installed on my ssd, but the type is ahci, I was wondering if the usb install of windows would allow me to get past the "missing files please insert usb/cb" error when having raid settings set in bios for sata / ( i am really skeptical of this because isnt the usb install just a copy of the cd install, would it not give the same error?)
 
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mbreslin1954

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There's a good chance the USB install will give you the same error, but I think it's worth a try. What have you got to lose but a little time, and the potential payoff is fantastic if it works. You'd be surprised how many times things like this work. Much of my troubleshooting consists of Try This, Try That, then Try Something Else. Since we have no idea why the DVD install is not working, you don't know what will actually work. Try it. It can't hurt and it just might save your data.

I would even try burning another disk on the off chance that part of the one you're using got scratched or damaged. I don't hold out much hope that it will work, but it seems that your situation is desperate so try anything you can think of.
 
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Cerebrum

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Dec 30, 2013
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Good News!
The usb works, and I can get to the select drive to install page.

However, now my ssd is not detected.
I can see my ssd on the bios menu though, which is strange. Windows does not detect it.

I have done, diskpart, list disk, and looked for the ssd via command prompt and it does not show up.

My bios from the mobo seems to read it, but now it is just windows not picking it up.

I did a secure wipe with parted magic also, still not luck.

All storage drives are unplugged, only ssd/cd/and usb with win 7 is plugged in.
 
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Cerebrum

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Dec 30, 2013
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Finally Solved!

My Struggles and Solutions in Chronological Order.

1. I want to change from AHCI to Raid and I get BSOD on boot.
Answer-various solutions use regedit. but for me that didnt work so a fresh install of win7 was needed, i used parted magic to secure erase my ssd before reinstalling win 7.

2. I cannot get past the screen to install during win 7 installation.
Answer- Get a usb copy of win 7 and reinstall, setting raid in bios before win 7 installation.

2. My ssd or hdd is not dectected in select a drive to install windows on.
Answer- For me, I had to go to the mobo website download sata drivers and use them.

Thankyou for all your help mBreslin.
 
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