BIOS update caused RAID 10 To Fail

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
Forum rules
When asking for technical support:
- Search for posts on the same topic before posting a new question.
- Give clear, specific information in the title of your post.
- Include as many details as you can, MOST POSTS WILL GET ONLY ONE OR TWO ANSWERS.
- Post a follow up with a "Thank you" or "This worked!"
- When you learn something, use that knowledge to HELP ANOTHER USER LATER.
Before posting, please read https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
Locked
Message
Author
ascottj
Posts: 3
Joined: 04 Mar 2014, 22:26

BIOS update caused RAID 10 To Fail

#1 Post by ascottj »

Hello,

This is my system:
* i7-2700k CPU
* 16 MB Memory
* ASUS P8P67 DELUXE
* Windows 7 Professional 64 bit (6.1.7601 Service Pack 1)

I updated the BIOS for my ASUS P8P67 Deluxe motherboard and in the process the computer rebooted with the four WD Green 1.5 TB SATA RAID 10 drives set to AHCI in the BIOS. When I realized the Raid 10 volume was missing, I returned to the BIOS and reset the drives appropriately. Then, when looked in the Intel Matrix Storage Manager BIOS, I found the RAID 10 listed as Failed and the status of the last two disks were listed as Non-Raid Disk. Of course, I then panicked and dove into internet research to try to resolve the issue. I found the following (and other very similar potential solutions):

> 1. Reset both HDs to non-member using Intel BIOS utility - the utility warns that all data will be lost - in fact only metadata is lost and can be recreated using steps below.
> 2. Create a new array with identical settings as the broken array. It is critical that the HDs are in the array the same order as before. I was reconnecting the drives several times and lost track of correct order. Because of that I had to go through the steps twice (I guessed wrong the first time).
> 3. Get TestDisk from http://www.cgsecurity.org. I used Windows version (I installed a new Vista on a separate HD for this purpose).
> 4. Run TestDisk according to steps on the web site. If your HDs are connected in correct order, TestDisk should find the lost partition(s) within a few seconds. It ran for several hours, scanning my array and never found anything because I had HDs were connected in wrong order. After I changed the order and restarted from step #1 TestDisk found the missing partition immediately.
> 5. Have the TestDisk write the fixed partition table to the drive and reboot.
> 6. Now all your data on the array should be readable but the system might not boot (it didn't for me).

This is what I have done thus far:

1. Since my Windows 7 Professional 64 bit OS resides on my Corsair Force 3 SCSI Disk, which is not part of the RAID, I booted normally, stopped the Intel Rapid Storage Technology service and set it to MANUAL start, then rebooted.
2. Entered Intel Matrix Rapid Storage Manager BIOS and noted the specifics of the Failed RAID 10.
3. Reset my two Member Disks to Non-RAID Disk, so that all four were now Non-RAID Disks.
4. Created a new RAID 10 using the noted elements of the previous RAID 10 that failed. I did not unplug the physical disks, so the disk order in the new RAID 10 should be the same as the Failed RAID 10. The notable difference was the new RAID 10 was now listed as bootable, but I do not believe the Failed Raid 10 was ever bootable. I tried to find a way to set it to Non-Bootable, without success.
5. Booted normally, initialized the RAID 10 volume as GPT, downloaded TestDisk 6.14 and ran it As Administrator to Analyze GPT via Quick Search. I stopped Quick Search after ten minutes or so and continued with Deeper Search, which found the name of my RAID 10 (Imagery) within a few minutes. I marked the partition as PRIMARY, wrote it and rebooted.
6. Just after the Windows 7 screen appeared, the OS wanted to run CHKDSK, which I declined. When I tried to access the RAID 10 via Explorer, I received the following: F:/ is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted & unreadable.
7. Restarted the Intel Rapid Storage Technology service and set it to AUTOMATIC start, then rebooted.
8. Once again, Just after the Windows 7 screen appeared, the OS wanted to run CHKDSK, which I declined. When I tried to access the RAID 10 via Explorer, I received the following: F:/ is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted & unreadable. The volume is listed as unformatted in Partition Manager 11.
9. I ran TestDisk again to check on files in the partition and did not find anything. I am not sure where I went wrong.

Does anyone have any advice for what I should try next?

Thank you!

ascottj
Posts: 3
Joined: 04 Mar 2014, 22:26

Re: BIOS update caused RAID 10 To Fail

#2 Post by ascottj »

This is what I did to recover my RAID 10 files after repeated attempts with TestDisk, ZAR and RAID Reconstructor failed:
1. Downloaded and used Free RAID Recovery from here: http://www.freeraidrecovery.com. The software provided the RAID 10 configuration to recover the information.
2. Paid $79.95, downloaded and used ReclaiMe File Recovery Standard from here:http://www.reclaime.com/buynow.aspx.

It is possible I could have used the configuration that Free RAID recovery provided to in step 1 with TestDisk and recovered the files for free. But, I had already invested more than a week of experimenting with various recovery attempts without any success and I had deadlines to meet.

I hope this information helps one of you recover your failed RAID 10 data. I wish you all the best.

Nirvana
Posts: 1
Joined: 28 May 2014, 15:03

Re: BIOS update caused RAID 10 To Fail

#3 Post by Nirvana »

Hi Ascottj,
Thanks for the post.
I followed your step by step post and have finally managed to access the data of the Raid0 :D
I just copied the important documents will put them all on google drive now and will redo a new Raid0 from scratch.
regards.

Locked