Broken RAID 0 after firmware update - Repair How-To

[idata]

I was running a RAID0 array with two X25-V drives, one with firmware 02HB and the other with the newest 02HD. I have been having some problems with the system, so I decided to update the other drive. I disabled RAID on my motherboard (which uses P45/ICH10R chips), enabled Legacy SATA mode, and powered down. I then booted to the update disc, it found both drives, said one drive's firmware was current, and asked if I wanted to update the other one. About 30 seconds after initializing the update, it reported that it had succeeded and the update was verified. I then powered down again, and after a few minutes entered the BIOS, switched RAID and Native SATA mode back on. The Matrix BIOS now reports the array as failed, and the drive that was updated is not marked as being part of an array.

I do understand that there was a risk of something happening, but I don't understand this. The update is non-destructive, so why would it change the array info on that disk? Or is the ICH10R simply not detecting it, maybe because of the changed version info? Either way, what a let-down. This was supposed to work OK, and while I haven't lost any data, I wasn't counting on having to do a complete reinstallation right-this-second. What's stranger is, I can't seem to find any other reports of this happening. Maybe I'm not using the right keywords, but you would think that having been around since late 2009 there would be plenty of them if it was a common issue with this update/updater.

From the brief information I've found so far, it's supposedly not possible to downgrade the firmware on these drives, so that's out. Is there anything else I can try before I wipe them and start all over?

[edit: see post 3 for solution]

[MFusi]

Thanks I will check it out. My trouble I think is I booted into window and even clean installed to another OS drive. I've done this in both RAID mode and ICHI mode and my drives seems to have switch back and forth from GPT to MBR because in my disk manager in windows they showed as 746 gigs each ( isn't that 2TB limit + leftover for a 3TB drives I am using ?)

I have not changed or formatted anything on my drives and they are installed on the same ports still.

Think I am screwed or would it still work ? In the link I posted to server thread in AVS there was a couple other ideas floating around too. I really hope I can recover this data. Thanks again for the help!

[idata]

In this case nothing has been written to the drive so the repair is quite simple. One must destroy and re-create the array in the Matrix BIOS, then use a disk repair tool to find and revive the partition(s). Additionally, the drives' master boot records may need to be re-written. The whole process takes about five minutes.

Part 1: Recreating the array in the BIOS ("Intel Matrix Storage Manager Option ROM")

1. Note all of your array's attributes(# tgentry_note 1) as shown during boot: array name, RAID level, member disks, strip size, and capacity. From the Matrix menu choose option 3 - Reset Disks to Non-RAID. Select all disks which are shown as being part of the failed array and follow the prompts(# tgentry_note 2). You will then be returned to the main menu and those disks will be shown as Non-RAID Disk or similar.

2. Now choose option 1 - Create RAID Volume, and enter the exact same settings as before (name, RAID level, member disks, strip size, and capacity). The array volume name probably doesn't need to be the same, but I wouldn't risk changing it.

Part 2: Recovering the partition tables in TestDisk (or other partition recovery software)

3. After rebooting, use a backup OS of your choice (on a removable drive, or installed temporarily on a different hard drive) to run http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk Christophe Grenier's TestDisk - a free, open-source recovery program. Others will probably work as well, but this one is fast and does the job very well.

4. In TestDisk, select your disk (which in this case is actually the array)(# tgentry_note 3) , then your partition type (in my case, it was correctly auto-detected as "Intel/PC"), and choose Analyse. Since the Matrix BIOS has invalidated the partition table information, you will not see anything listed. Now select Quick Search and follow the prompts. If all is well, you will quickly see your existing partitions appear. Once it lists them all, you can hit Stop to avoid waiting as it scans through the rest of the disk. If the detected configuration is correct(# tgentry_note 4) , press Enter to continue to the next screen, and choose Write to update the partition table as shown.

Part 3: Correcting the Master Boot Record

5. The Matrix BIOS has also invalidated your array's MBR, so it will need to be retrieved or replaced. There are many ways to achieve this, and TestDisk itself has several methods to do so(# tgentry_note 5). I prefer to boot to my Windows 7 installation disc and use the "Repair your computer" option(# tgentry_note 6) . It will detect the invalid MBR and prompt you to fix it - note that you can't alter Windows' proposed changes, only apply or dismiss them. The resulting boot manager behaviour(# tgentry_note 7) can be viewed from the "Click here for diagnostic and repair details" link, if changes are necessary you can open a command prompt and use Windows' bcdedit command to do so, or if you prefer a GUI (and can get into Windows) you can use http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1 NeoSmart's EasyBCD, which is freeware.

Notes and troubleshooting:

(1) If all disks in the array are shown as "Offline Member", the array information will not be visible. Booting with only one previously RAIDed disk plugged into the motherboard should cause these details to be reappear so you can write them down. (It will also change that disk's status to show as "Failed"). Repeat with one disk from each array if you have several.

(2) There will be a warning that says all data will be lost. Ignore this, it is untrue (unless you don't follow the rest of the steps, of course.)

(3) Depending which OS you run TestDisk from, the drive's manufacturer may not be listed. Alternatively you may just not be aware of who makes the controller for your specific drive. In these cases it will be necessary to identify the correct entry by its listed capacity, which will be very close to that entered when creating the array in the second step.

(4) The partition layout detected in the first few seconds will usually be correct; I would not recommend changing anything unless you're certain it is wrong. Keep in mind that installing Windows 7 often creates a hidden ~100MB partition on the system drive.

(5) See details at http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step# NTFS_Boot_sector_recovery TestDisk Bootsector Recovery - CGSecurity.org.

(6) See details at http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/ss/windows-7-startup-repair.htm Win7 Startup Repair Tool - About.com.

(7) Did you have multiple OS installations, some of which were already broken (or that required a different combination of hardware)? Murphy's Law dictates that one of these will be set to boot as default. Verify the OS you want is actually the one being loaded before worrying that this fix did not work.

(8) All the TestDisk operations described are shown visually at http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step TestDisk Repair Tutorial - CGSecurity.org.

(9) The above procedure was gleaned from http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showpost.php?s=a33fed98137617b7e5dfe363c544d985&p=3329132&post... this thread, and is originally credited to Yasin Abbas, aka YaZ.

[idata]

Hi TGentry! Thanks for the above posts.

It saved my ass from a reinstall after running Diagnostics on a Samsung HDD within ESTOOL.exe. ESTOOL.exe within diagnostic test writes out some bytes to the very beginning of the disk destroying RAID and MBR infos (it was a RAID0 setup). Recreating ARRAY and scanning with TestDisk recovered partitions. Windows 7 recovery repaired MBT and all in 5 minutes it was up and running. It took me more time to find this thread than repairing.

Really appreciate this knowledge.

Yours,

Cina.

[idata]

THANKS TGentry!

After several unsuccesful attempts I came to realize that the only way to get any further /message/154058# 154058 in my case was to reset the remaining disk in the array to non-raid. And despite the warnings no data was affected only the array. The lesson for Intel must be to elaborate a bit on the warning in the window with plenty of room to do this. The warning states that the data will be deleted but this is not true - it is only the array that is deleted.

I'm currently backing up my array using R-Studio's virtual raid but I'm almost certain that the backup won't be needed - I will create a new array using the same parameters and if I'm correct everything will return to normal using existing disks and data.

/Søren

[idata]

Hi TGentry,

I ran in a similar problem yesterday with our ICH9R

I followed you instruction but I can only see the folders structure (no

files). I'm now on my second attempt but this time using the "Deeper Search"option hoping my file can then be seen...

Please let me know if you're having other suggestion

Thanks for your post that was helpful