How to recover/mount RAID 0 array, dmraid?

Robutux · 07-20-2009, 07:20 AM

Hi,

my PC with RAID 0 (nvidia sw "fake raid") died and I would need to recover my data from the disks in raid. Is it possible to mount the disks into raid array even when the MB doesn't support said "fake raid"?

What I would need is to set up sw raid with same parameters as my original in dmraid, or possibly autodetect settings from the HDD because as I understand the configuration is written there somewhere (and I do not know what it is really)

Is this possible? I would like to be extra careful with this so there is no chance that data is further corrupted. If it's not going to work I'm going to take it to professional data recovery company and I do not want to ruin my chance at getting the data back. But if it can be done in "read-only" mode or there is no chance at corrupting it I would like to try myself first

Thanks

monsm · 07-20-2009, 09:58 AM

Try with some live CDs, e.g. systemrescucd. You might be lucky, although I must say, I don't think chances are very high unfortunately.

Mons

Robutux · 07-20-2009, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monsm

Try with some live CDs, e.g. systemrescucd. You might be lucky, although I must say, I don't think chances are very high unfortunately.

Mons

I do not need live CD. I have it connected to PC with multi-boot kubuntu/windows so I can easily switch and try whatever software I want. So far no luck in windows with DiskInternals Raid Recovery software. It recognizes the array but can't read from it for some reason. It's probably mildly damaged by the shut down, but I do not think that partition table or anything else should be damaged to the extent that it couldn't be revived. HDD didn't fail, MB did as far as I know so HDDs should be largely undamaged. I just need to regenerate RAID setting on it or rescue whatever is left from ext3 partiton table.

What I need is to know whether I can use dmraid to mount it in the same sw configuration even without BIOS support for it (without actuall "fake raid") with no risk of corrupting the disk further.

monsm · 07-20-2009, 01:47 PM

Far as I know dmraid need those hardware chips (like Silicon Image 3112 that I have here). The question I guess is whether mdadm and the kernel software raid0 support can recover this raid setup without the use of dmraid.

I am not sure, but I would try that. I.e. combination of mdadm and lvm2. Good luck.

Mons