Raid 0 SCREW UP....

[Radioman]

As title...
I have a computer as follows:

1 HDD - 150 GB, Raptor - main system disc (was running XP 64 bit)

2 HDD off - 250 GB discs, setup as raid 0 array

2 HDD off - 250 GB discs, also setup as raid 0 array.

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OK I was living dangerously but hindsight is wonderful..
==================================

The 5 year warranty raptor crashed .. so I lost my system..

I got a new raptor, but the problem is reinstalling a system and getting it
to recognise the two Raid 0 arrays.

I have installed Vista 64 bit on the new Raptor - by physically
disconnecting the Raid 0 arrays and disabling them in Bios.

===================================

However the fun begins. When I re-enable them, all looks ok - the two arrays
are recognised in Bios.
BUT (surprise!) they are not recognised by Vista.

In computer management, disk management I see the following:

Disk 0 - basic, 137.73 GB, NTFS (the raptor, system disc workling fine)
Disk 1 - basic, 232.89 GB RAW (healthy) - the first disc of first raid 0
Disk 2 - dynamic, invalid (second disc of first raid 0)
Disk 3 - basic, 232.89 GB RAW (healthy) - the first disc of second raid 0
Disk 4 - dynamic, invalid (second disc of second raid 0)

How the heck can I get the OS to recognise the two valid Raid 0 arrays
please - without losing data...

I know I can un-Raid them in Bios and use a raid destriping program but that
is so clumsy and surely there is a way??

Many thanks..

 

[SkyKnites]

I am not that knowledgable in RAID setups and do not have an answer for your
problem, however my vista64 system is running on my first RAID0 set up and I
thought I could offer you some info to compare to.
1st It is my understanding that your RAID0 setup would outperform the single
raptor, so I am not sure exactly what your trying to accomplish other then
saving drive letters on your multiple drives.
Anyways.... In my disk managment it only show 1 drive ( my 2 harddrives
combined into the raid0 setup, 2-500gig drives striped into 1-1 TB drive) So
I would guess if its showing the individual drives still, that the raid setup
has failed. Also the term RAW to me means that the drive has not been
formatted. using the drives for the OS it prompted me to format before OS
install. Since your not using it to boot I would think you could format it
while in windows using rt click on drive in my computer and going choosing
format (in vista)
For me the biggest challange was to get the raid drivers installed proir to
installing the OS, I accomplished this using a flash drive (floppy be easier
yet) I had to establish the raid configuration then re enter bios setup (hard
disc configuration, + boot set up) to get the pc to recognize the raid drive
for booting. Then it was just normal boot to OS disc and set up. Again I know
this is not a solution for your problem, but I hope giving you something to
compare to will help you. In the raid setup utility it had many options for
choosing what discs to use, so I don't think it would be a problem to
initialize several raid0 discs.
A major difference in your set up is that your running the OS on its own non
raid disc, I would think that would make things easier to set up the
additional storage raids.
I would guess that you would just reinstall the OS on the c: raptor, make
sure that you install a raid management utility ( i used intel program
myself) It presents itself to me after cmos loads and before windows loads.
but again that is needed for making the raid bootable.
I am sorry if I have wasted your time, but if you need more info to compare
to, just ask.

Good Luck

 

[andy]

Did you load the raid driver for the interface that the raid disks are
connected to?