Recover data from mirrored set after motherboard goes down

[SimonDMZ]

I have a W2K server and the motherboard has gone down. The OS resided
on a RAID5 array and the data on a software mirrored drive set.

We want to recover the data off the mirrored set. However when
installing either one of the drives (or both drives) on another W2K
server, the drives are visible in Disk Management but are marked
foreign. With one drive installed, we imported the foreign disk but it
appeared as an unformated partition. I am loath to import the two
drive setup as I don't want to do anything destructive.

Is it possible recover the data this way? Or does anyone know another
soltion?

Thanks in advance, Simon

 

[Joep]

Hello,

First make sure that if the disk you're trying to import is > 137 Gb that
you install SP4 and apply registry modifications to support disks of that
size (see www.48bitlba.com). If you do not. W2K will not be able to access
the LDM.

If the above does not apply, you may want to create a support analysis
logfile using DiskPatch from www.diydatarecovery.nl and see if they can
help.

 

[SimonDMZ]

Thanks Joep. I was sure the server supported 48bit LBA at the BIOS
level, and I was running W2K SP4, so it had to be something else.

I found the clues in XP Reskits online:-

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkb_cnc_klvo.asp

After all, it was down to my paranoia I am afraid, not wanting to
corrupt the data. However, after reading "Do not import mirrored or
RAID-5 volumes into computers running Windows XP Professional or
Windows 2000 Professional. Because these operating systems do not
support mirrored or RAID-5 volumes, you cannot access data on these
volumes after the import. You must move the volume back to a computer
running Windows 2000 Server to access the volume". So I felt confident
that it was possible to get these drives up and running. So I connected
BOTH drives and bit the bullet and imported the first "foreign disks"
and it said "mirrored set 2 of 2" with "data not redundant" in the
Condition box on pressing Disk button. Said the same for the other
disk. So I held my breath and clicked OK and it imported both disks.
Then it went and synced the second disk to the first and after about
four hours (250GB) they came up healthy. Needed to allocate a drive
letter and then could read the data.
Thanks for your help. Glad to have that diydatarecovery link too!

 

[SimonDMZ]

Thanks Joep. I was sure the server supported 48bit LBA at the BIOS
level, and I was running W2K SP4, so it had to be something else.

I found the clues in XP Reskits online:-

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkb_cnc_klvo.asp

After all, it was down to my paranoia I am afraid, not wanting to
corrupt the data. However, after reading "Do not import mirrored or
RAID-5 volumes into computers running Windows XP Professional or
Windows 2000 Professional. Because these operating systems do not
support mirrored or RAID-5 volumes, you cannot access data on these
volumes after the import. You must move the volume back to a computer
running Windows 2000 Server to access the volume". So I felt confident
that it was possible to get these drives up and running. So I connected
BOTH drives and bit the bullet and imported the first "foreign disks"
and it said "mirrored set 2 of 2" with "data not redundant" in the
Condition box on pressing Disk button. Said the same for the other
disk. So I held my breath and clicked OK and it imported both disks.
Then it went and synced the second disk to the first and after about
four hours (250GB) they came up healthy. Needed to allocate a drive
letter and then could read the data.
Thanks for your help. Glad to have that diydatarecovery link too!

 

[dagdabrona]

Well,

If the drive is indicated as unformated partition then you can use
Active@ partition recovery utility to bring the partition back. It
worked great for me in this cases so I think it'll help you.
http://www.partition-recovery.com/