Recovering RAID0

[GeorgeIoak]

I had a RAID0 with 5 SSDs and 1 of the SSD dropped out. The system would not recognize the drive and after exchanging emails with SuperTalent I updated the firmware of the drive using their MP Tool. I have added the drive back into the array but of course the array is not accessible by Windows. My system is as follows:

Gigabyte EX58-EXTREME and I was running Win7 x64 Ultimate. The drives were connected to the Intel array on the MB.

When I use TestDisk it finds a bunch of what it thinks are Linux partitions and 1 corrupted FAT32 partition. I only had 1 partition in Windows (the boot C drive).

Before I wipe everything out and start over I am hoping that maybe I can retrieve some data using TestDisk. I had backups going to a server but it appears that those started failing a couple of months ago and I didn't realize that my machine was not getting backed up every night.

If I have any chance of extracting data please let me know or let me know that it is a total loss so I can start the rebuild process.

Thanks,
George

[Fiona]

Do you have a working array now?
Might be possible to delete any broken array and recreate it.
But don't creaste any partition and don't format it.
If you reformat your array, you'll override your previous file system and you'd need datarecovery software to get your data back.
Also, your disks must be in sequential order like before and stripe size must match too.
If you have a working array, exactly rebuilded like before, you can use TestDisk to diagnose your array for lost partitions and your data.

How is your Array listed in your disk management console and TestDisk / Analyse (your current partition structur/table).

Fiona

[GeorgeIoak]

Yes, the array is working. I only had the 1 drive drop out so no drives were moved around. I did re-create the array just exactly how it was before. I am booting the same system with another drive that has WinXP x64 running and it sees the array as unallocated.

I thought I had attached my testdisk log file to my original post but it doesn't show so I've attached it again. I have NOT made any changes or done any formatting and testdisk finds a bunch of what it thinks are Linux partitions.

[GeorgeIoak]

I was looking at this more today and here's what is displayed for my array:

Code: Select all

Partition table type default to Intel
Disk \\.\PhysicalDrive0 - 320 GB / 298 GiB
Partition table type: Intel

Analyse Disk \\.\PhysicalDrive0 - 320 GB / 298 GiB - CHS 38917 255 63
Current partition structure:

Partition sector doesn't have the endmark 0xAA55

search_part()
Disk \\.\PhysicalDrive0 - 320 GB / 298 GiB - CHS 38917 255 63

recover_EXT2: s_block_group_nr=0/29, s_mnt_count=51/4294967295, s_blocks_per_group=32768, s_inodes_per_group=8192
recover_EXT2: s_blocksize=4096
recover_EXT2: s_blocks_count 952320
recover_EXT2: part_size 7618560
     Linux                 2582  38 17  3056  97 49    7618560
     ext4 blocksize=4096 Large file Sparse superblock Recover, 3900 MB / 3720 MiB

recover_EXT2: s_block_group_nr=0/13, s_mnt_count=7/4294967295, s_blocks_per_group=32768, s_inodes_per_group=8192
recover_EXT2: s_blocksize=4096
recover_EXT2: s_blocks_count 458240
recover_EXT2: part_size 3665920
     Linux                 4354 103 38  4582 152 50    3665920
     ext4 blocksize=4096 Large file Sparse superblock Recover, 1876 MB / 1790 MiB

recover_EXT2: s_block_group_nr=0/463, s_mnt_count=16/4294967295, s_blocks_per_group=8192, s_inodes_per_group=1024
recover_EXT2: s_blocksize=1024
recover_EXT2: s_blocks_count 3798528
recover_EXT2: part_size 7597056
     Linux                 7948 162 23  8421 135 34    7597056
     ext4 blocksize=1024 Sparse superblock Recover, 3889 MB / 3709 MiB
BAD_RS LBA=214161408 8192
check_part_i386 failed for partition type 0C
     FAT32 LBA            13330 237 28 13338  17 55     114688

recover_EXT2: s_block_group_nr=0/13, s_mnt_count=7/4294967295, s_blocks_per_group=32768, s_inodes_per_group=8192
recover_EXT2: s_blocksize=4096
recover_EXT2: s_blocks_count 458240
recover_EXT2: part_size 3665920
     Linux                14149 125 57 14377 175  6    3665920
     ext4 blocksize=4096 Large file Sparse superblock Recover, 1876 MB / 1790 MiB

recover_EXT2: s_block_group_nr=0/13, s_mnt_count=7/4294967295, s_blocks_per_group=32768, s_inodes_per_group=8192
recover_EXT2: s_blocksize=4096
recover_EXT2: s_blocks_count 458240
recover_EXT2: part_size 3665920
     Linux                15407  26 44 15635  75 56    3665920
     ext4 blocksize=4096 Large file Sparse superblock Recover, 1876 MB / 1790 MiB

recover_EXT2: s_block_group_nr=0/118, s_mnt_count=60/4294967295, s_blocks_per_group=32768, s_inodes_per_group=8192
recover_EXT2: s_blocksize=4096
recover_EXT2: s_blocks_count 3894016
recover_EXT2: part_size 31152128
     Linux                16360 171  4 18299 204 17   31152128
     ext4 blocksize=4096 Large file Sparse superblock Recover, 15 GB / 14 GiB

Results
   * Linux                 2582  38 17  3056  97 49    7618560
     ext4 blocksize=4096 Large file Sparse superblock Recover, 3900 MB / 3720 MiB
   P Linux                 4354 103 38  4582 152 50    3665920
     ext4 blocksize=4096 Large file Sparse superblock Recover, 1876 MB / 1790 MiB
   P Linux                 7948 162 23  8421 151 50    7598080
     ext4 blocksize=1024 Sparse superblock Recover, 3890 MB / 3710 MiB
   L FAT32 LBA            13330 237 28 13338  17 55     114688
   L Linux                14149 125 57 14377 175  6    3665920
     ext4 blocksize=4096 Large file Sparse superblock Recover, 1876 MB / 1790 MiB
   L Linux                15407  26 44 15635  75 56    3665920
     ext4 blocksize=4096 Large file Sparse superblock Recover, 1876 MB / 1790 MiB
   L Linux                16360 171  4 18299 204 17   31152128
     ext4 blocksize=4096 Large file Sparse superblock Recover, 15 GB / 14 GiB

I then installed TestDisk on another computer running Win7. It doesn't have a RAID Array but the structure looks like this:

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Partition table type (auto): Intel
Disk /dev/sda - 120 GB / 111 GiB - OCZ-AGILITY3
Partition table type: Intel

Analyse Disk /dev/sda - 120 GB / 111 GiB - CHS 14593 255 63
Geometry from i386 MBR: head=255 sector=63
NTFS at 0/32/33
NTFS at 12/223/20
Current partition structure:
 1 * HPFS - NTFS              0  32 33    12 223 19     204800 [System Reserved]
 2 P HPFS - NTFS             12 223 20 14593  33 32  234231808

If I wanted to try and get access to my file would I delete all of the false Linux partitions and change 2 of them to HPFS-NTFS like on this other computer? If so how do I know what values to use or does TestDisk take care of that?

[GeorgeIoak]

Can I offer a reward to anyone who can help me? I can make a PayPal donation in return for your help. I'm not sure if I will be able to retrieve any files from this RAID but I want to try and rule out all options before I give up and delete the array.

[dragonfly41]

We reply to these threads because we've been in similar positions ourselves at various times and testdisk has helped us out of a hole ..

Having no personal experience of recovering RAID0 .. have you tried this ..

http://www.z-a-recovery.com/raid-recovery.htm

Dig around for other forensic approaches .. e.g. here ..

http://www.forensicfocus.com

http://www.forensicfocus.com/Forums/vie ... p=6545180/

[GeorgeIoak]

Thanks for pointing me to those other tools. I'll check into them. I've been fortunate enough over the years to not be in this position and I don't want to experiment on my array and really loose what's there. I'm still not sure if anything is left but I would hope since I had 5 drives int he array that my chances are possibly fair of finding some data.

[GeorgeIoak]

OK, well ZAR seems to provide at least a little hope. It does seem to find some directories and files but it's a big mess and I'm not sure what to do next. I'm certainly willing to pay for the software but I wonder if the results from the demo version can be useful for using testdisk?

[dragonfly41]

I've had good results using Recover My Files (much earlier version I purchased).

I see that the latest Recover My File Pro version offers RAID recovery.

Try evaluation of this ..

http://www.recovermyfiles.com/upgrade-v3-to-v4.php

[Later EDIT]

More links ..

http://www.runtime.org/raid.htm

http://spench.net/drupal/resources/raid0

[GeorgeIoak]

OK, I'll give that a try. ZAR did find a bunch of files but at first glance it looks like it cannot retrieve those files, only the names which of course is just teasing me to continue to dig deeper in hopes of getting something.