migration back to non-RAID configuration from an INTEL RAID 5

[lucspec]

Hi all,

I got 3 SATA WDC HD's coming from a Intel RAID 5 (matrix Storage) . I
suppose that the RAID was not dismantled before taking the disks off.
Now I would like to use them for an ordinary non-RAID configuration
and I do _NOT_ need to backup the data. I just want to format them and
put them into use again as single hard drives.

The problem is that when I connect them to my VISTA system and go to
the control panel, I got an error: "Unable to inizialize the disk" and
the OS cannot update/create the new MBR. Vista sees the disk connected
but the HD cannot be used by the OS and the size of the HD is reported
incorrectly as that of the whole RAID 5 and not of the single hard
drive.

I tried to boot with Ultimate Boot Utilities CD under DOS and I tried
some of those utilities that fix MBR and partitions. But I'm still
unsuccessful because when I reboot under Vista the drive is still the
same as before. I have tried also with Acronis sw, but it even
recognizes the HD ... I really don't know what to do at this point!

Thanks to all who will post me back!

Have a nice sunday!

 

[Andy]

Did you use the Hard Disk Wiping Tools?

 

[Arno Wagner]

Did you use the Hard Disk Wiping Tools?

 

[Arno Wagner]

Hi all,

I got 3 SATA WDC HD's coming from a Intel RAID 5 (matrix Storage) . I
suppose that the RAID was not dismantled before taking the disks off.
Now I would like to use them for an ordinary non-RAID configuration
and I do _NOT_ need to backup the data. I just want to format them and
put them into use again as single hard drives.

The problem is that when I connect them to my VISTA system and go to
the control panel, I got an error: "Unable to inizialize the disk" and
the OS cannot update/create the new MBR. Vista sees the disk connected
but the HD cannot be used by the OS and the size of the HD is reported
incorrectly as that of the whole RAID 5 and not of the single hard
drive.

I tried to boot with Ultimate Boot Utilities CD under DOS and I tried
some of those utilities that fix MBR and partitions. But I'm still
unsuccessful because when I reboot under Vista the drive is still the
same as before. I have tried also with Acronis sw, but it even
recognizes the HD ... I really don't know what to do at this point!

That is the wrong approach. You need to wipe the whole disk on
sector level. For this you need to attach them to a controller that
does ignore the RAID information on the disks. This means a) a
non-RAID controller or at least not the INtel one. And b) possibly
a non-Microsoft OS. Personally I would use a Knoppic CD-Linux and
just use

dd_rescue /dev/zero /dev/<device>

with <device> being the HDD, i.e. hda or sda if it is the only
disk in the system (highly advisable for this type of operation).

Arno

 

[lucspec]

That is the wrong approach. You need to wipe the whole disk on
sector level. For this you need to attach them to a controller that
does ignore the RAID information on the disks. This means a) a
non-RAID controller or at least not the INtel one. And b) possibly
a non-Microsoft OS. Personally I would use a Knoppic CD-Linux and
just use

  dd_rescue /dev/zero /dev/<device>

with <device> being the HDD, i.e. hda or sda if it is the only
disk in the system (highly advisable for this type of operation).

Arno- Nascondi testo citato

- Mostra testo citato -

Hi Arno,

thanks for your reply. What is a Knoppic CD-Linux? I'm not expert of
the Linux world. if it's a bootable CD, it'd be perfect as at the
moment VISTA's the only one OS installed on this new machine. And,
yes, unfortunately also this motherboard has Intel controller only on
board.

Could you be so kind to fully descrive the procedure to wipe the disk?
Thanks in advance.

Best regards

L/S

 

[lucspec]

Did you use the Hard Disk Wiping Tools?

No, I didn't on the whole disk but I wipe out all the MBR, EMBR and
FAT locations on the disk. Then I entered with a disk editor and
checked that everything was set to "zero" in binary terms. I have the
suspect that there is a sort of lock on MBR which is allocated in some
reserved zone of the disk which is not easily accessible!

L/S

 

[Odie]

Arno Wagner wrote in news:[email protected]

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

No, I didn't on the whole disk but I wipe out all the MBR, EMBR and
FAT locations on the disk.

Which obviously does nothing to the RAID configuration itself.

Then I entered with a disk editor and checked that everything was set
to "zero" in binary terms.

I have the suspect that there is a sort of lock on MBR which is allo-
cated in some reserved zone of the disk which is not easily accessible!

Not the MBR but the RAID setup info.
Use the RAID utility in BIOS to setup for Non-RAID.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Hi Arno,

thanks for your reply. What is a Knoppic CD-Linux? I'm not expert of
the Linux world. if it's a bootable CD, it'd be perfect as at the
moment VISTA's the only one OS installed on this new machine.

And, yes, unfortunately also this motherboard has Intel controller only on
board.

How is that unfortunate?
While obviously that is the culprit it also allows you to re-setup
your RAID, without all of the clueless babblebot's hocus pocus.

 

[lucspec]

Not the MBR but the RAID setup info.
Use the RAID utility in BIOS to setup for Non-RAID.

That was an OLD computer which is not here anymore as I wrote in my
1st post. I cannot use _ANY_ RAID utility to setup to a non_RAID
config.

L/S

 

[lucspec]

(e-mail address removed) wrote inHow is that unfortunate?
While obviously that is the culprit it also allows you to re-setup
your RAID, without all of the clueless babblebot's hocus pocus.

NO, unfortunately that OLD computer is GONE! I need to move to a NON-
RAID in another way ... I cannot access that har drive (INTEL chipset)
controller anymore ...

L/S

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

NO, unfortunately that OLD computer is GONE! I need to move to a NON-
RAID in another way ... I cannot access that hard drive (INTEL chipset)
controller anymore ...

You said -which you conveniently snipped- that the new board
has the same Intel controller. Apparently you lied?

If the controller is not to blame then you must have a Software RAID
compatible Windows. It too should have a RAID setup utility of sorts.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Hi Arno,

thanks for your reply. What is a Knoppic CD-Linux? I'm not expert of
the Linux world. if it's a bootable CD, it'd be perfect as at the
moment VISTA's the only one OS installed on this new machine. And,
yes, unfortunately also this motherboard has Intel controller only on
board.

Knoppix (-> Google) is a CD Linux that will leave your disks entirely
untouched, unless you instruct it to do so. There is also a newer
DVD variant, but the latest CD version is fine for most tasks.

Burn to CD, boot it,
then use ALT-F1, ....., ALT-F4 to go to a text console. (You have
4 of them.) You can use "fdisk -l" to list all disks and partitions
in the system. Then use the command "dd_rescue" as described above
to wipe the one you want. To get help, use "man <commandname>",

Could you be so kind to fully descrive the procedure to wipe the disk?
Thanks in advance.

See above.

Arno

 

[Arno Wagner]

Arno Wagner wrote in news:[email protected]

And the pathetic imposter is at it again.

Arno

 

[Arno Wagner]

Knoppix (-> Google) is a CD Linux that will leave your disks entirely
untouched, unless you instruct it to do so. There is also a newer
DVD variant, but the latest CD version is fine for most tasks.

Burn to CD, boot it,
then use ALT-F1, ....., ALT-F4 to go to a text console. (You have
4 of them.) You can use "fdisk -l" to list all disks and partitions
in the system. Then use the command "dd_rescue" as described above
to wipe the one you want. To get help, use "man <commandname>",
"<commandname> -h" or "<commandame> --help". To shyt down your machine
afterwards, simply use "halt".

See above.

Arno

P.S.: I strongly urge you to disconnect (pulling the SATA cable on
one side is enough) all disks you do not want to wipe during this
procedure. That way the rirsk of error will be nonexistent. The
whle thing may take a while but dd_rescue gives you a nice
progress indicator.

Hmm. I schould write this down in detail sometime and then start
posting an FAQ to this group.

Arno

 

[Eric Gisin]

If your three disks show up as one of 2X capacity in Disk Manager,
then the Vista system has Intel's RAID, or Vista somehow installed the RAID driver.
Does your BIOS show RAID as an option you can disable?

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Eric Gisin wrote in news:[email protected]

If your three disks show up as one of 2X capacity in Disk Manager,
then the Vista system has Intel's RAID,

or Vista somehow installed the RAID driver.

There are different PCI device IDs for the various controllers and modes
they can be setup in. [*]
If VISTA installed the RAID driver, then that is how that controller was setup.

Does your BIOS show RAID as an option you can disable?

If so it must have a RAID setup utility too.
Of course disabling the RAID capability altogether is the easiest way
to go and not have to futz around with the utility. On the other hand
now setting up in RAID mode for Non RAID and then revert to standard
controller mode may protect against this situation from happening again.

*
D 2820 82801H (ICH8 Family) 4 port SATA Controller
D 2821 ICH8R (ICH8 Family) SATA AHCI Controller
D 2822 ICH8R/ICH9R (ICH8/9 Family) SATA RAID Controller
D 2824 82801HR/HO/HH (ICH8R/DO/DH) SATA AHCI Controller
D 2825 82801H (ICH8 Family) 2 port SATA Controller
D 2828 ICH8M (ICH8 Family) 3 port SATA Controller
D 2920 82801IB/IR/IH (ICH9 Family) 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 1
D 2921 82801IB/IR/IH (ICH9 Family) 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 1
D 2922 82801IB/IR/IH (ICH9 Family) 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
D 2923 82801IB/IR/IH (ICH9 Family) 4 port SATA AHCI Controller
D 2925 82801IB/IR/IH (ICH9 Family) SATA RAID Controller
D 2926 82801IB/IR/IH (ICH9 Family) 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 2
D 2928 82801IB/IR/IH (ICH9 Family) Mobile 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 1
D 2929 82801IB/IR/IH (ICH9 Family) Mobile SATA AHCI Controller
D 292C 82801IB/IR/IH (ICH9 Family) Mobile SATA RAID Controller
D 292D 82801IB/IR/IH (ICH9 Family) Mobile 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 2
D 292E 82801IB/IR/IH (ICH9 Family) Mobile 1 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 2

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Arno Wagner wrote in news:[email protected]

Knoppix (-> Google) is a CD Linux that will leave your disks entirely
untouched, unless you instruct it to do so. There is also a newer
DVD variant, but the latest CD version is fine for most tasks.

Burn to CD, boot it,
then use ALT-F1, ....., ALT-F4 to go to a text console. (You have
4 of them.) You can use "fdisk -l" to list all disks and partitions
in the system. Then use the command "dd_rescue" as described above
to wipe the one you want. To get help, use "man <commandname>",


See above.

Which all is of no use when the RAID controller will protect and obscure the Raid superblock.

Which all is then unnecessary if the controller is set to Non RAID mode
and the problem just disappears by itself.

 

[Michael Hawes]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in


You said -which you conveniently snipped- that the new board
has the same Intel controller. Apparently you lied?

If the controller is not to blame then you must have a Software RAID
compatible Windows. It too should have a RAID setup utility of sorts.

Go into BIOS at startup and see if the drives are seen, if not, you have a
cabling problem.. If seen in BIOS, start Vista. Do the drives show in Drive
Manager? If yes, wipe them and create new partitions. as required. If these
are for data storeage, create extended partition on wholw drive, then
logical drives to your requirements on the the extended partition.

Mike.