Lost Motherboard on a raid 0 setup. How can I get data back?

[henryhoehandle]

Hello all.
Lightning toasted a mb (asus p4c800-e) a couple weeks ago and I had a raid 0 setup on it with a fasttrack controller (i think). I am rebuilding but using a different Asus board model. Is there any way to get my data off of the raid array? (2 drives striped)

Thanks!!

 

[Onus]

Was the fasttrack controller built-in to the old mobo?

 

[henryhoehandle]

Yes, it was.

 

[Onus]

Hmmm, that's tough. You might need to send the paired drives to a recovery service. You might check with Asus whether the two controllers implement RAID-0 the same way, then perhaps they'll work just by plugging them in.
You might also look for a used p4c800-e somewhere just to recover your data.

 

[pinaplex]

look again to be certain what raid controller your old motherboard was using. if you find another mb with a fasttrack controller you SHOULD be able to set the controller to read the drives as an array. just make sure not to create a new array. also, there are no guarantees with this, as the lightning might have fried the hdds too.

 

[chunkymonster]

If you can't find a RAID controller card or motherboard with the exact same fastrack controller, you've got little to no chance of recovering your data.

There are software and utilities you can buy that can recover RAID arrays. Check out www.runtime.org for the data recovery software called RAIDReconstructor and GetDataBack.

In the absense of the same controller or mobo, software recovery is your best option.

Good luck!

 

[henryhoehandle]

Thx for the info guys. I have read some info about a proggy called "testdisc" but haven't tried it. I did in fact contact Asus and they said no other board they had has the same controller on it :[. I also thought that buying another exact same board would work too (there are a few on fleabay). Actually this has happened before..lightning came in through the ethernet and blowed the board. I replaced the board and it booted fine.
I checked the power supply and it is ok, so I guess (hope) the hdd's are still good. I guess vista (booted from another hdd of course) will not see the array? It has to be done at a bios /mb level?

 

[SomeJoe7777]

All hardware RAID controllers store the metadata (information about the array) on the drives differently. In general, the exact same controller is necessary to read it, or at the very least, a controller made by the same manufacturer.

I've had pretty good luck with arrays from Promise FastTrack controllers being readable across all Promise FastTrack controllers. If you can find a Promise FastTrack with the correct interface for your drives (IDE or SATA), there's a high probability that it would see the array.

If that doesn't work or you can't get ahold of a Promise FastTrack, the above-mentioned utilities from Runtime.org (RAID Reconstructor and GetDataBack) will work. It's a multi-step procedure, but I've actually tried it and recovered data from a broken RAID 0.

Basically you'll have to weigh the cost, availability, and ease of use of 1. Replacement Promise FastTrack card, 2. Replacement motherboard with same or very similar RAID controller, 3. Runtime.org software, or 4. Professional data recovery.

 

[henryhoehandle]

Thx Joe.. I think I will try the raid reconstructor program first. Is it fairly easy to use?

 

[kmagill]

lightning hit your computer twice? that sucks, invest in a circuit breaker and a wireless network!

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Thx Joe.. I think I will try the raid reconstructor program first. Is it fairly easy to use?

Ya, it's pretty straightforward.

1. Hook up both drives of the RAID 0 to standard SATA controllers on a computer that already has Windows on it.
2. Run RAID Reconstructor, point it to the two drives, tell it it was a RAID 0, and let it figure out the formatting and drive rotation parameters. It will destripe the array by copying all blocks into an .img file on a 3rd hard drive.
3. Run GetDataBack for NTFS, use the .img file as input. It will then recover the files out of the .img.

 

[henryhoehandle]

Thanks guys. Yes, I have had lightning take out 3 or 4 machines. Yes, I have also went to wireless as most of the strikes came in through the ethernet port. I also had a UPS once, and it didnt stop it. it blew the UPS, and computer. but Cyberpower did pay for it. Nothing, IMO will stop it unless it is unplugged.
SomeJoe7777, Raid reconstructer worked perfectly. I got most/all of my data back.. thx!!

 

[SomeJoe7777]

SomeJoe7777, Raid reconstructer worked perfectly. I got most/all of my data back.. thx!!

Awesome ... glad you got it recovered.

 

[revjohn]

I also Lost Motherboard on a raid 0 setup. My Motherboard is P5n32-SLI SE Deluxe. My wife's computer is using P5n32-SLI Deluxe. Is there a way to connect my drives to her computer to get all my data from my drives and back it up on her single drive?
Thanks,
John

 

[MrLinux]

^ If you must dig-up an old thread, at lease read it.

 

[Translucency]

If you can't find a RAID controller card or motherboard with the exact same fastrack controller, you've got little to no chance of recovering your data.

Using linux of freebsd software raid drivers can indeed use the array without needing to read the meta-data. This kind of recovery can be done without writing anything to the two drives, and provided the (FAT/NTFS) filesystem is not damaged, can be recovered without problems.