recovering data from a failed raid 5 array...

[Brad Pears]

We have a windows 2000 file server with a 3 drive raid5 hardware array...

Over the weekend one of the drives failed on channel 1. The server kept
running ok because the other 2 drives were still running. Then the
unthinkable happened... Before I had a chacne to replace the drive the
power went out and the server went down. Guess what??? It would not boot
when it came back up and when I check the RAID setup utility that you can
access on boot up - it is showing two drives as failed... not jsut the one
it was showing before. It doesn;t take arocket scientist to figure out that
2 or of 3 drives spells disaster. Now, I can't believe that another drive
failed just because it went down, but obviously something happened...

I was able to restore alomost everything from a full backup which took place
over the weekend (thank heavens) but unfortunately there was one very
important directory that for soem reason was not checked off to be backed
up.... This is very important and I wonder if there is some way I can search
these drives and somehow assemble the data??? Are there any good file
recovery utilities someone might recommend that would allow you to recover
data from a failed raid5 array?

Thanks!

Brad

[SuperGumby [SBS MVP]]

I do not know of any 'simple and afordable' program which will do this for
you but a data recovery service (such as OnTrack) can almost certainly do
it.

Post by Brad Pears
We have a windows 2000 file server with a 3 drive raid5 hardware array...
Over the weekend one of the drives failed on channel 1. The server kept
running ok because the other 2 drives were still running. Then the
unthinkable happened... Before I had a chacne to replace the drive the
power went out and the server went down. Guess what??? It would not boot
when it came back up and when I check the RAID setup utility that you can
access on boot up - it is showing two drives as failed... not jsut the one
it was showing before. It doesn;t take arocket scientist to figure out
that 2 or of 3 drives spells disaster. Now, I can't believe that another
drive failed just because it went down, but obviously something
happened...
I was able to restore alomost everything from a full backup which took
place over the weekend (thank heavens) but unfortunately there was one
very important directory that for soem reason was not checked off to be
backed up.... This is very important and I wonder if there is some way I
can search these drives and somehow assemble the data??? Are there any
good file recovery utilities someone might recommend that would allow you
to recover data from a failed raid5 array?
Thanks!
Brad

[Larry Struckmeyer [SBS-MVP]]

very long shot... very long, but I have recovered stuff with this that I
would not have thought possible. Realize that the more you let those drives
spin the less chance you *might* have of recovery, depending on what went
wrong.

http://www.runtime.org/

you can talk to them first, and IIRC the trial will allow you to see what
can be recovered.
--
Larry
Please post the resolution to your
issue so that others may benefit.

Post by SuperGumby [SBS MVP]
I do not know of any 'simple and afordable' program which will do this for
you but a data recovery service (such as OnTrack) can almost certainly do
it.

Post by Brad Pears
We have a windows 2000 file server with a 3 drive raid5 hardware array...
Over the weekend one of the drives failed on channel 1. The server kept
running ok because the other 2 drives were still running. Then the
unthinkable happened... Before I had a chacne to replace the drive the
power went out and the server went down. Guess what??? It would not boot
when it came back up and when I check the RAID setup utility that you can
access on boot up - it is showing two drives as failed... not jsut the
one it was showing before. It doesn;t take arocket scientist to figure
out that 2 or of 3 drives spells disaster. Now, I can't believe that
another drive failed just because it went down, but obviously something
happened...
I was able to restore alomost everything from a full backup which took
place over the weekend (thank heavens) but unfortunately there was one
very important directory that for soem reason was not checked off to be
backed up.... This is very important and I wonder if there is some way I
can search these drives and somehow assemble the data??? Are there any
good file recovery utilities someone might recommend that would allow you
to recover data from a failed raid5 array?
Thanks!
Brad

[Brad Pears]

Thanks so much for that - I will definately check it out...
I'll let you know how I make out...

Brad

Post by Larry Struckmeyer [SBS-MVP]
very long shot... very long, but I have recovered stuff with this that I
would not have thought possible. Realize that the more you let those
drives spin the less chance you *might* have of recovery, depending on
what went wrong.
http://www.runtime.org/
you can talk to them first, and IIRC the trial will allow you to see what
can be recovered.
--
Larry
Please post the resolution to your
issue so that others may benefit.

Post by SuperGumby [SBS MVP]
I do not know of any 'simple and afordable' program which will do this for
you but a data recovery service (such as OnTrack) can almost certainly do
it.

Post by Brad Pears
We have a windows 2000 file server with a 3 drive raid5 hardware array...
Over the weekend one of the drives failed on channel 1. The server kept
running ok because the other 2 drives were still running. Then the
unthinkable happened... Before I had a chacne to replace the drive the
power went out and the server went down. Guess what??? It would not boot
when it came back up and when I check the RAID setup utility that you
can access on boot up - it is showing two drives as failed... not jsut
the one it was showing before. It doesn;t take arocket scientist to
figure out that 2 or of 3 drives spells disaster. Now, I can't believe
that another drive failed just because it went down, but obviously
something happened...
I was able to restore alomost everything from a full backup which took
place over the weekend (thank heavens) but unfortunately there was one
very important directory that for soem reason was not checked off to be
backed up.... This is very important and I wonder if there is some way I
can search these drives and somehow assemble the data??? Are there any
good file recovery utilities someone might recommend that would allow
you to recover data from a failed raid5 array?
Thanks!
Brad