Undo a "quick format" on a Windows NTFS software RAID 1?

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heisendisk
Posts: 1
Joined: 06 Sep 2024, 06:17

Undo a "quick format" on a Windows NTFS software RAID 1?

#1 Post by heisendisk »

I just installed a new HDD and went to quick format it and accidentally selected my software RAID that had all the files I wanted to copy from. :oops:

Once I realized what I'd done, I immediately downloaded ubuntu (onto another drive) and flashed it onto a USB stick to reboot and start running dd to copy one of the drives to the new HDD so I'd at least have some chance at data recovery.

I got nervous as Windows was "Resynchronizing" both RAID disks so really did this as quickly as possible.

I've tried going through the testdisk instructions for partition recovery and undelete, but it's just showing what's currently on the drive (which is nothing) - or it shows a 2x disk size partition that I have no way of copying (none of my disks are that large).

Is testdisk capable of recovering this, or do I need to go with something like DiskDrill?

6.9.2024 11:46 MESZ Recuperation: Sorry, i massacred your posting erroneously!
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recuperation
Posts: 3026
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: Undo a "quick format" on a Windows NTFS software RAID 1?

#2 Post by recuperation »

heisendisk wrote: 06 Sep 2024, 06:23 I just installed a new HDD and went to quick format it and accidentally selected my software RAID that had all the files I wanted to copy from. :oops:

Once I realized what I'd done, I immediately downloaded ubuntu (onto another drive) and flashed it onto a USB stick to reboot and start running dd to copy one of the drives to the new HDD so I'd at least have some chance at data recovery.
Well done!

I got nervous as Windows was "Resynchronizing" both RAID disks so really did this as quickly as possible.

I've tried going through the testdisk instructions for partition recovery and undelete, but it's just showing what's currently on the drive (which is nothing) - or it shows a 2x disk size partition that I have no way of copying (none of my disks are that large).

Is testdisk capable of recovering this, or do I need to go with something like DiskDrill?
Search for "RAID" on this webpage:
https://www.cgsecurity.org/

There is no term like "Windows software RAID" on this webpage. You can try PhotoRec on one your two disks from your RAID 1 array.
As you "only" ran quick format I would try out some other recovery software hoping for recoverable remains.

Except for the mentioned linux RAID cases TestDisk seems to be single-device oriented.
When using a hardware RAID array TestDisk only sees the resulting virtual device and not its members. Therefore it can operate on the working RAID like on any single device. If such a virtual device gets broken because a member disk fails for instance, TestDisk will not be able to circumvent the hardware RAID controller and will not do any kinds of repairs affecting the proprietary RAID organisational structure of the hardware.
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