Setting raid has eaten my other hdds =/

[mrapoc]

I have crucial stuff backed up but quite a bit is looking as if its gone now

It automatically raids any other disks you add after raiding (into their own raid config)

Now if i reverse them back to normal...they will lose all data

At this moment, they are in my computer, seperate drives but are "corrupted" or need formatting

Help?

 

[mrapoc]

They work in ubuntu though...

phew

 

[mrapoc]

Sorry to post again but i wanna get this sorted

Im guessing I need bios set to Raid

But this takes over any hdds added (even ones i dont want raided)

Why did it automatically add them to a raid and how can i stop them being a raid without wiping them?

I am backing up in linux off them as i speak however...

 

[nathan]

i dont think you can have only some hard drives of one controller in a raid. its either all or nothing.

 

[mrapoc]

So now I have raid - I cant have any disks running on their own accord? Just as storage?

That cant be right surely

 

[Sihastru]

You can have disks in RAID and individual drives as JBOD ("Just a Bunch Of Disks") on the same controller.

I've never heard of a controller adding a drive to a RAID array because it felt like it. You must've done something wrong.

I have 2-4 drives in RAID0 (and RAID5, sometimes) and a few more in JBOD on the same controller on a regular basis. I have taken drives out, put drives in, no problems whatsoever. Information is always preserved, unless you manually specify otherwise.

You always have to manually add a disk to an array. Connecting a drive to a controller configured as RAID never adds that drive to an array. Trust me.

There are a few exceptions. For example there are some controllers that only work as RAID0 or RAID1. This is because their BIOS is controlled directly by the motherboard BIOS though a wizard of some sort. Usually they only accept two disks. For example on some ASUS boards, they have some extra SATA ports that *ONLY* work as RAID. But connecting drives to them never results in the creation of an array, unless you change the settings in the MB BIOS.

Since you can read the disk data in linux, it usually means that you have a corrupted MBR. This can be fixed easily, running two simple commands, but I advise you to backup the data before trying them.

Look on Google for "fixmbr", "fixboot", "bootcfg" and "diskpart" but don't use them if you don't know what you're doing. I won't be responsible for any loss of data.

 

[deathwish]

i asume you are using an intel controler

if you press Ctrl+i when booting it will bring up the configuration page

just make sure that the drive hasnt been added to the raid array

its always wise to unplug the drives with data on them to make sure that it isnt lost

 

[mrapoc]

thing is all i did was

fit the raptors

unplug the data disks

set sata in bios to raid

save and exit

wtf - the raptors are already raided, one says something about raid damaged, but still they raided without help and were going to try a boot

so vista installed easily etc.

shutdown, plugged in data disk etc. and it installed them using finding drivers

restarted and wtfbbq!!! Those two disks were in another raid0 array - start windows and both drives show as seperate but double clicking them says its corrupted or needs a format (unless both disks are really the two drives in raid0 and a partition i used for windows 7)

why the hell is it auto adding disks? This means anytime i need to fix somebodies hard drive or somethin the damn thing will auto raid them and kill any data on them

The raptors are in sata 1 +2, my data disks in sata 3 + 4

 

[Sihastru]

Those two disks were in another raid0 array

Well the answer is quite obvious then. The information about the RAID array is stored on the drives, and not in the controller. If the drives were in an array then they still are in that array. Switching controllers doesn't reset a disk.

It seems to me that the disks were RAID-ed using a different controller then the one you are using now. Controllers are usually incompatible, and the RAID will not function properly when you're moving the RAID to another controller.

You have to reset the disks and rebuild the RAID (in case you shuffled the disks around), but this means you'll loose all the data.

 

[mrapoc]

I did reset the raptor's raid

But i cant get over why it auto added my two data disks

They were raided themselves agessss back but both have been formatted since - could that be why these two got added as well?

edit: will I need to run something like boot and nuke to clean my hard drives fully of raid config or will a low level format cure it?

 

[Sihastru]

So, we should forget about the Raptors, they are working properly now.

By any chance, the other two disks that you now have problems with, were RAID-ed using this same controller? I am not sure that formatting a disk will also completely reset it from the point of view of the RAID controller (but I might be wrong here). I always reset the drives before I take them out for another purpose.

Simply resetting the two disks (unassign them from the RAID array) should work. But can't be sure about it since it sounds stranger by the minute. At this point I'm only guessing.

 

[mrapoc]

they were raided on a p5b deluxe

im now on a maximus rampage (may use the same raid controller?)

the raptors with the previous owner was also on a maximus rampage

The "data disks" should have been reset as I was using them for about a year not in raid...unless i literally just turned raid off in the bios but i doubt that (cant remember)

So i should be ok if

Backup everythin on data disks

Unraid them in the raid menu

See if they auto raid themselves (then what?)

but if they dont, then there should be no reason for other disk to do the same

reps for helpin

 

[Sihastru]

will I need to run something like boot and nuke to clean my hard drives fully of raid config or will a low level format cure it?

Low level format seems like overkill. If after you unassign them they work fine, then I see no reason for a low level format. But that would cure almost anything except physical bad sectors.

 

[mrapoc]

Well i deleted the "wrong raid" and my one data disk is fine - untouched!

The one which had the old OSes on is being formatted but still IDC!

Hoping after formatting them both it wont happen again xD

 

[Sihastru]

Happy to hear all is fine in the world tonight.