RAID 10 - 2 disks left array - recovery help please

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headphonejack

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Dec 21, 2015
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4,510
Hi,

The situation:
RAID 10 Drive not visible in Windows
-> Intel RST was non-responsive, required reinstall
-> After reinstalling RST it complains of device errors and only shows 2 non-Member discs
-> Switching to SATA mode in BIOS to RAID shows the RST boot utility and that 2 of the disks are no longer members (see screenshot). However, it also prevents Windows booting on the SSD boot drive with INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE error.

The backstory:
After some time away from my PC I found no video on boot with warning LEDs lit up all over the place. I flushed CMOS to resolve and restored BIOS settings (or so I thought). Default SATA set up must have been AHCI so I booted up Windows using that and thought nothing of it. I almost immediately updated to Win10 without checking the RAID array in Windows.

Steps taken:
Reinstalled the IntelRST manager, using the original installer I had running compatibility mode (new one from Intel's site didn't work). Application now launches but only shows the 2 disks that are Non-Member on the RAID boot utility. (see photo)
Downloaded TestDisk and fired it up, shows some strange things. 2 disks still in raid 0? (see screenshot)

The goal is to recover the partition and all the data. My next step is to try to reinstall windows on the SSD with the BIOS set to RAID mode, but am unsure if it's the right way to go. I've attached some screenshots to help, any advice is much appreciated as I set this up with a friend a while ago who is no longer around to help.

imgur album

Cheers, Jack

 
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T

TyrOd

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Aug 16, 2013
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Well it's normal to have a RAID0 left when 2 drives leave a RAID 0+1 array. That just means you've lost the +1 part of the array.

Of course the safe way forward would be to make images/clones of the members in RAID0 and manually merge the array to recover the data using r-studio or RAID Re-constructor. If you're not familiar with this process you'll need professional RAID recovery help. After you've got your data on a separate device you'll want to check the stability of the 4 drives independently and then recreate the array and restore your data from the separate device.
 
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H

headphonejack

Reputable
Dec 21, 2015
3
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4,510


Thanks for your reply TyrOd, the tools you've suggested could certainly come in handy. Priority as usual is data recovery, so once I had the data I could format them all and start again without issue. Do you happen to know if I need a device of the full volume size to clone to? Even if the volume was not even close to full?

Another question would be if I need to proceed with the windows reinstall (or if that's indeed the right step to taken) given my Windows SSD will not boot when SATA mode is set to 'RAID' in BIOS.

Cheers
 
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drtweak

drtweak

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Sep 17, 2012
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For pretty much EVERY motherboard regradless of Make and Model if you are using Onboard RAID and you either Do a BIOS/CMOS Reset or Upgrade the BIOS you WILL more than likely lose the RAID settings. So be careful next time you do that. Either 1) buy an addin RAID card so that you will be unaffected by this or 2) image your RAID off to another hard drive, do it, then rebuild the RAID, and reimage your data back.

Also you can use Macrium Reflect and make a Image or Clone the RAID. All you need is a drive that is AS big AS the AMOUNT of data you have. Not the same size of the hard drives or RAID.

are you able to access your data at least?
 
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H

headphonejack

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Dec 21, 2015
3
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4,510
@popatim I don't know if it functional as the Raid volume shows as failed in the Intel boot manager. I have 4x2tb in the raid 1+0. I have Windows booting on a separate SSD. You can also see a 16Gb USB flash drive on the TestDisk app but that's obviously not a harddrive.

@drtweak That is sound advice and I will definitely heed it in the future. And that's good news, I have a 1tb usb HD which will cover the data so that will work.

To clarify further, I cannot access the data as of now - I do know that I see the ~4tb partition in TestDisk which indicates to me there is still a raid0 active, but I can't see a volume in windows or the Intel startup manager.
 
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