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I'm working with a server that recently had two drives fail.

Windows Server 2003 - Standard

Array 0 (bootable) - two 35GB U320 drives in a striped set.

Array 1 - two 35GB U320 drives in a striped set.

The U320 adapter is an Adaptec 2010S.

Both of the drives that failed were in Array 0. So, I can't boot the server using them.

I have put an IDE drive into the system and installed Windows 2003 Server Std. with the Adaptec 2010S drivers.

Array 1 appears in the "Disk Management" applet. It is "Not Initialized" and "Unallocated".

If I initialize the drive, will it erase the data on the array?

Is there a safe way to get the data off of the Array that is functional?

I can make a boot disk with the adapter BIOS. Can that disk be used to access the working Array?

Scott Jibben
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2 Answers2

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Do you have any array management software installed? You should be able to run that and confirm the status of 'Array 1'. If it is indeed seen as a valid and healthy array, you can initialise it through Window's disk management. Assuming that the software setup is the same, there should be no reason why you would lose data.

One assumes that as it's striped, you have a good backup of the data?

Zoidberg
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  • When the server boots up, I can press Ctrl-A to enter the setup for the Adaptec 2010S. That software says that the drives in Array 1 are "Optimal". Unfortunately, the backups were not working. – Scott Jibben Aug 12 '13 at 16:55
  • Do you not have any software installed within your OS to manage the arrays? – Zoidberg Aug 14 '13 at 10:58
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Array 1 appears in the "Disk Management" applet. It is "Not Initialized" and "Unallocated".

Are you sure, that this [logical volume] was initialized before on OS-level and data was on this array?

Are you sure, that this [logical volume] was not cleared from RAID card management?

If I initialize the drive, will it erase the data on the array?

Yep. Don't do this.

Is there a safe way to get the data off of the Array that is functional?

Adaptec is storing it's metadata in AMF format, readable with any other adaptec controller with same physical ports, but it won't help you anyway if there is no problem with controller itself. If array status is "optimal", this means that array is not degraded and it's in normal state.

So, possible issues:

  1. This isn't array 1
  2. Something's wrong with Windows drivers
  3. Array 1 was re-initialized from adapter BIOS after failure (manually)
  4. Logical volume was cleared after failure (manually)

I recommend PartedMagic distribution for analyzing block devices and recovering partitions, files.

If someone re-initialized array on adapter BIOS level and if it was "quick" method - you are saved. You just need to recover partitions - it works, I've done it many times on Adaptecs.

You can delete array and re-create it with "quick" method. Only thing you need to worry about is stripe size. It must match.

If array was re-created with full initialization - say goodbye to your data.

GioMac
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  • you were right on several points. After reviewing the Adaptec settings again, it looks like the arrays were set up as RAID 10. Array 1 was the second half of the RAID1 sets. So, it looks like the data is gone regardless. Thanks for the advice on Parted Magic, it looks like a very useful program. – Scott Jibben Aug 12 '13 at 23:23