RAID 0 mistake. Recovery possible?

[shock29]

Hi guys, I am new to setting up raid arrays. I think I just made a pretty big mistake. I'll try and explain my situation as simple as possible.

In my new system, I have 3 drives.

2 150GB raptors
1 2TB backup drive.

In my attempt to raid my 2 150 raptors together, I accidentally got the sata cables physically mixed up. When entering my RAID setup from boot up (CTRL-J), instead of performing a RAID-0 setup on the two 150GB drives, I RAID-0'd one of the 150GB drives, with the 2TB backup drive I have.

It didn't warn me about erasing any data, and didn't do a format of any sort.

Long story short - Even using parted Magic, looking at my 2TB drive, it shows there is only unallocated space...


Is there ANY way of getting the information on my 2TB drive back? again, I have done nothing other than raid 0 it with one of the raptors... The hard drive(s) had almost 0 activity after doing so, so i am guessing the information on my 2TB is still "there" somewhere... Is there any software, or option that I can do to retrieve the data on the 2TB, or is it simply gone.

Thanks so much in advance

-Trevor

 

[treefrog07]

I would install the 2TB HDD in another computer, download and use TestDisk on that computer to try to recover/restore the Master Boot Record (MBR), and then recover the files that still exist. Then, in the BIOS, "break" the RAID volume on the original computer. Create the new RAID 0 volume on the original computer using the BIOS to set the 2 150GB HDDs into the new volume. Install your operating system. Then re-install the 2TB HDD to the original computer.

Be sure to read the TestDisk wiki and understand what it will do. It has examples for recovering data in Windows systems. I have used it successfully several times. It is free and is not crippled - it will find and restore the MBR if it has not been overwritten. It will find and restore all your files - again, if they have not already be over-written.

When I setup a new system I only install the drive(s) for the operating system. After I install the OS, apply updates, and see that it is working well - then I install other drives that I want to use for storage - not criticism, just a tip.

 

[shock29]

Treefrog, from help from you and other forums, I was able to get 100% of my data back from the drive! TestDisk worked like a charm (loaded through PartedMagic off of UBC).

Thank you so much. and yes, I most certainly will leave the 2tb drive disconnected while getting my raid0 set up - this time.

thanks again, cheers

 

[treefrog07]

You're welcome. I'm glad you got it fixed.

TestDisk is the only freeware I found that would recover all my files. (Late response because I've been away from the computer the past couple of days.)

 

[shock29]

Best answer selected by shock29.