RAID 1 drive failure

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Sometimes fools get lucky.

A MAXTOR SATA drive (one of two) in my XP Professional system went
*poof* according to my Intel Application Accelerator RAID edition
software. There was no warning, and the system has been rock-solid
stable, lightning fast and reliable until this evening.

As I have been very foolish, the only thing that has saved me from a
data loss disaster is the other drive in the array, which (for now)
appears to be functioning happily -- although since it is an identical
drive, with a serial number that differs by only one digit, I have
concerns that if this is a systemic problem I am running short on time.

Obviously tomorrow I backup everything to an external drive before doing
anything else.

But can anyone offer advice on two issues:

1. What is the 'best' tool to make a complete backup of my drive's
contents to an external drive?

2. I have never re-built a RAID 1 array before. Can I simply replace the
dead drive with a similar drive, and restore the data (could I be so
lucky? this seems unlikely as the drive would have to be partitioned and
formatted, etc.) or, as I fear, will I end up having to basically
re-install the OS and RAID drivers as if the drives were virgin, and
then install backup software and restore the volume data to the RAID 1.

Any advice for a guy who has been VERY lucky so far?

I apologize if this is an inappropriate forum to ask this question.

Regards,

Steve 'Luckier than he deserves and trying not to push his luck'
 
Sometimes fools get lucky.

A MAXTOR SATA drive (one of two) in my XP Professional system went
*poof* according to my Intel Application Accelerator RAID edition
software. There was no warning, and the system has been rock-solid
stable, lightning fast and reliable until this evening.

As I have been very foolish, the only thing that has saved me from a
data loss disaster is the other drive in the array, which (for now)
appears to be functioning happily -- although since it is an identical
drive, with a serial number that differs by only one digit, I have
concerns that if this is a systemic problem I am running short on time.

Obviously tomorrow I backup everything to an external drive before doing
anything else.

But can anyone offer advice on two issues:

1. What is the 'best' tool to make a complete backup of my drive's
contents to an external drive?

2. I have never re-built a RAID 1 array before. Can I simply replace the
dead drive with a similar drive, and restore the data (could I be so
lucky? this seems unlikely as the drive would have to be partitioned and
formatted, etc.) or, as I fear, will I end up having to basically
re-install the OS and RAID drivers as if the drives were virgin, and
then install backup software and restore the volume data to the RAID 1.

Any advice for a guy who has been VERY lucky so far?

I apologize if this is an inappropriate forum to ask this question.

Regards,

Steve 'Luckier than he deserves and trying not to push his luck'
Click to expand...

You need to image the drive so that you get an exact copy. I use Norton's
Ghost program all of the time with great success. You just need to be sure
and use the correct switches if you are using an NTFS format.
 
Thank you very much for your response!

Yes, the RAID is NTFS :)

I am considering purchasing an external USB2 drive that comes with
Norton Ghost. I will probably do this tomorrow and read up on how to get
an exact copy, and then back everything up. Total RAID capacity is over
150 GB, but most of the array is blank and I have PLENTY of time to get
things backed up right! (Unless the other drive goes poof)

As for replacing a RAID 1 drive.... Do you know what the steps are once
I have replaced the failed drive with a blank unpartitioned /
unformatted drive? It would sure be nice to NOT have to reinstall the OS
but I have this terrible feeling that a RAID 1 may not be that forgiving.

Steve
 
Thank you very much for your response!

Yes, the RAID is NTFS :)

I am considering purchasing an external USB2 drive that comes with
Norton Ghost. I will probably do this tomorrow and read up on how to get
an exact copy, and then back everything up. Total RAID capacity is over
150 GB, but most of the array is blank and I have PLENTY of time to get
things backed up right! (Unless the other drive goes poof)

As for replacing a RAID 1 drive.... Do you know what the steps are once
I have replaced the failed drive with a blank unpartitioned /
unformatted drive? It would sure be nice to NOT have to reinstall the OS
but I have this terrible feeling that a RAID 1 may not be that forgiving.

Steve
Click to expand...

While I am very familiar with RAID, I have never used RAID myself, so I
can't say for sure. There are 2 methods to use Ghost to image or clone a
drive. You can use the Ghost in the Windows GUI or have the Ghost program
create DOS boot disk with the Ghost program on it. For an NTFS drive, you
would have to create the Ghost bootable disk. After you insert the disk and
bootup, the Ghost program will automatically start. You will need to exit
the program so that you are back at an a: prompt and then execute Ghost with
the correct switches. For example a:\ghost /ir or whatever the switch is in
your case. Be sure and check the users manual to determine the correct
switch to use. Does the BIOS recognize the RAID drives? If so, the Ghost
program should show the source and destination drives to clone from and to.
What you might do before you buy it is give Symantec a call or post a
message at their forum to make sure that you won't have any issues when
dealing with a RAID setup. They will be much more qualified to guide you on
the exact steps when dealing with a RAID drive clone.

Good Luck
 
Thank you very much for your response!

Yes, the RAID is NTFS :)

I am considering purchasing an external USB2 drive that comes with
Norton Ghost. I will probably do this tomorrow and read up on how to get
an exact copy, and then back everything up. Total RAID capacity is over
150 GB, but most of the array is blank and I have PLENTY of time to get
things backed up right! (Unless the other drive goes poof)

As for replacing a RAID 1 drive.... Do you know what the steps are once
I have replaced the failed drive with a blank unpartitioned /
unformatted drive? It would sure be nice to NOT have to reinstall the OS
but I have this terrible feeling that a RAID 1 may not be that forgiving.

Steve
Click to expand...

Also, you won't need to reinstall the OS or worry about partitioning or
formatting the drive. You will likely want to do what they call a sector by
sector copy of the drive which leaves you with an EXACT copy of the good
drive.
 
Thank you very much for your response!

Yes, the RAID is NTFS :)

I am considering purchasing an external USB2 drive that comes with
Norton Ghost. I will probably do this tomorrow and read up on how to get
an exact copy, and then back everything up. Total RAID capacity is over
150 GB, but most of the array is blank and I have PLENTY of time to get
things backed up right! (Unless the other drive goes poof)

As for replacing a RAID 1 drive.... Do you know what the steps are once
I have replaced the failed drive with a blank unpartitioned /
unformatted drive? It would sure be nice to NOT have to reinstall the OS
but I have this terrible feeling that a RAID 1 may not be that forgiving.

Steve
Click to expand...

You might want to check out this document.

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...077bfd2?OpenDocument&prod=Norton Ghost&ver=20
03%20for%20Windows%202000/NT/Me/98/XP&src=sg&pcode=ghost&svy=&csm=no
 
Thank you VERY much for offering your advice and providing the link.

I am continuing to RTFM for my raid controller, and it does have some
migration features although they appear to be primitive.

Basically, If I have everything (OS and all data) backed up onto a
bootable drive, (and I believe I can boot this system to a USB Drive) I
can boot to that drive, remove the RAID 1 volume and then 'migrate'
everything to a new RAID volume which will consist of the old (working)
SATA drive and the new (virgin) SATA drive.

Then, a few hours later depending on migration speed, amount of data and
phase of the moon, I can reboot the system to the new RAID 1 volume and
look back on this as just another learning experience.

If we all join hands and believe in fairies, it will magically work!

Maybe.

Steve
 
I have now been told by at least two reputable sources that all I need
to do is replace the failed drive with a new unit, and the RAID 1
hardware will detect what has happened and prompt me to allow it to
rebuild the array. No backup required, no major hassle, etc.

I am going to do a complete backup to an external drive before I attempt
this of course.

If it works like advertised, I owe Intel a big fat kiss! (platonically
speaking)

Steve
 
I have now been told by at least two reputable sources that all I need
to do is replace the failed drive with a new unit, and the RAID 1
hardware will detect what has happened and prompt me to allow it to
rebuild the array. No backup required, no major hassle, etc.

I am going to do a complete backup to an external drive before I attempt
this of course.

If it works like advertised, I owe Intel a big fat kiss! (platonically
speaking)

Steve
Click to expand...

That's what I thought would happen and I guess I should have suggested that
it might. Hope everything goes well.
 
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