[sdiy] OT: how to save a dead Raided Drive?

[Adam Schabtach]

Not all striped RAID controllers format and control the drive in the same
manner. My business partner found this out the hard way by moving two drives
in a striped RAID from one PC to another after a motherboard failure. The
motherboards both had onboard RAID support, but were from different
manufacturers. He lost ALL of the data on the drives as a result.

In other words, there's no guarantee that plugging them into that "sometimes
working Vista machine" will help any. I'd also be a little surprised if a
Mac could do anything with them.

Sounds to me like your best bet is to pay that $285 for the same unit that
you have. How much is this data actually worth to you? Less than $285?

You could also try contacting LaCie.

--Adam

> -----Original Message-----
> From: synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl 
> [mailto:synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl] On Behalf Of Dan Snazelle
> Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2009 8:39 AM
> To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> Subject: RE: [sdiy] OT: how to save a dead Raided Drive?
> 
> 
> at this point it looks like sourcing an exact replica of my 
> LACIE drive is going to be impossible
> 
> it is the model number lacie 300794u  (500 gig extreme) and 
> it is from around 2006 or 2007.
> 
> no one has it for sale (well one person for 285
> 
> SO i think i will get 2 external IDE to USB enclosures, hook 
> em up to my MAC and try to get the RAID decoded with 
> software? or i have a sometimes working Vista machine...
> 
> once i buy the enclosures I will report back
> 
> Thanks To everyone for the help
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > From: prof at electrotoys.fsnet.co.uk
> > To: subjectivity at hotmail.com
> > Subject: Re: [sdiy] OT: how to save a dead Raided Drive?
> > Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:26:30 +0100
> >
> > Dear Dan
> >
> > I think it is a dead controller, or at least in part.
> >
> > The Xilinx bit is definitely not good news: they mainly make FPGA 
> > chips, so there could be anything in there. Replacing the 
> chip would 
> > be a bit difficult, (SMT rework is for serious heroes), but getting 
> > the data to program it might be even harder.
> >
> > If there are no nasty clicking noises, then I think there 
> is an better 
> > than even chance that the drives are good.
> >
> > What state the controller failure has left the data in is a 
> different 
> > problem.
> >
> > I think the best strategy would be to find or borrow a 
> working Lacie, 
> > and put your drives, (in the same order), into it, and then 
> spool off 
> > all your data. For now, a cheap basic drive could be used 
> to hold it 
> > all, and I'd buy a decent after market external box to put 
> it in. The Western digital 'green'
> > series drives run cooler than most, and if you buy the 
> 'raid edition' 
> > model, they have a 5 year guarantee.
> >
> > Hope you get it all back. Backup is getting harder and harder these 
> > days, and an external hard disc seems the nest option. Have 
> you seen 
> > the cradles that take bare SATA drives? - use a bare drive 
> as one big storage module.
> >
> > Here's an example from my local supplier: http://snipurl.com/kzien 
> > [www_scan_co_uk]
> >
> > Best wishes
> >
> > Mike
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Dan Snazelle" 
> > To: 
> > Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2009 2:01 PM
> > Subject: RE: [sdiy] OT: how to save a dead Raided Drive?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > thanks
> >
> > i had another lacie psu on hand and switched it this morning
> >
> > now the drives are spinning up, i can hear them and feel the 
> > vibrations
> >
> > which is good
> >
> > BUT it is still not showing up on the computer
> >
> >
> > dead controller?
> >
> >
> > the chipset uses 2 Texas Instruments chips and a xilinx (sp?) chip
> >
> > thanks for any help
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --------------------------------------------
> > check out various dan music at:
> >
> > http://www.myspace.com/lossnyc
> >
> > (updated monthly)
> >
> > http://www.soundclick.com/lossnyc.htm
> >
> >
> >
> > http://www.indie911.com/dan-snazelle
> >
> > (or for techno) http://www.myspace.com/snazelle
> >
> > ALSO check out Dan synth/Fx projects:
> >
> > AUDIO ARK:
> >
> > www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJRpvaOcUic
> >
> > www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqIa_lXQNTA&feature=channel_page
> >
> > www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4nJPjGgOcU&feature=channel_page
> >
> > and soundtrack/design work:
> >
> > NEW: check out Dan's sound design from the 1998 award winning film 
> > SAFARI by catherine chalmers
> >
> > http://www.catherinechalmers.com/videos.cfm
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------
> >> From: prof at electrotoys.fsnet.co.uk
> >> To: subjectivity at hotmail.com
> >> Subject: Re: [sdiy] OT: how to save a dead Raided Drive?
> >> Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:10:10 +0100
> >>
> >> Dear Dan
> >>
> >> I might be able to help with this.
> >>
> >> Sad to report, the Lacie external drives don't have a very good 
> >> reputation in the UK. Lacie is a popular brand amongst pro 
> >> photographers - the make very good, photo quality, colour graded 
> >> monitors, and so the photographers also used to go for their hard 
> >> drives as well. I've had to fix 3 or 4. In
> > 3
> >> cases, it was actually the power supply, not the drives 
> box. The PSU 
> >> runs quite warm, and seems to last less than 2 years. These things 
> >> are very dangerous - they are mains driven switch modes.Don't try 
> >> fixing it
> > yourself,
> >> you can easily get a mains shock. They used to be fairly 
> cheap to buy.
> > I've
> >> forgotten the rating of the supply - it's on the label, so 
> you could 
> >> try another supply to see if the drives boot up. It must 
> be exactly 
> >> the same voltage rating, and the same or higher current 
> rating. You 
> >> could test the original supply with a dummy load, and your test 
> >> meter. Might be worth putting the scope across the load: a 
> bad supply 
> >> often has a lot of High Frequency ripple.
> >>
> >> I never did find out the drives configuration: if it's a 
> stripe, and 
> >> one drives has failed, I'm afraid you've lost the lot, as 
> the data is 
> >> divided 50 - 50 between the two drives. If they are set up 
> as 'JBOD', 
> >> (Just a
> > Bunch
> >> of Discs), then some stuff may be recoverable. If it's the 
> PSU, then 
> >> you should get it all back.
> >>
> >> If it's not the power supply, then I'd email Lacie and ask 
> if they do 
> >> recovery, they will at least know exactly what the disc format is.
> >>
> >> Sadly I'm in the UK, if you were here I'd get you to send 
> the drive 
> >> box
> > over
> >> and take a look.
> >>
> >> If you really want to go it alone, first of all, find out 
> the name of 
> >> the chipset in use. There are only a few IDE/USB sets out 
> there and 
> >> that would let me know what to look for - it's quite probable that 
> >> another external drive case uses the same set, and for a 
> reasonable 
> >> cost you could check if it was a drive or the interface that had 
> >> failed. If it's the drives, you coudl 're-engine' the box 
> with another couple of drives.
> >>
> >> Hope this helps
> >>
> >> Mike
> >>
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Dan Snazelle"
> >> To: "sdiy"
> >> Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2009 2:28 AM
> >> Subject: [sdiy] OT: how to save a dead Raided Drive?
> >>
> >>
> >>>
> >>> I am asking on this list because I know that many of you 
> have a lot 
> >>> of
> >> experience with computers:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> tonight i had the worst possible thing happen to my computer
> >>>
> >>> my 3yr old 500 gig lacie ext hard drive died. (and no, i had not 
> >>> backed
> > it
> >> up...money for a new drive had been non-existent)
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> this had three years worth of Logic song projects (many 
> unmixed) ALL 
> >>> My
> >> datasheets, schematics, etc, as well as all my family's 
> photos, etc.
> >>> and over 100 gigs of itunes.
> >>>
> >>> now since it is 2 WestDigital 250gig drives in the box, i am 
> >>> assuming it
> >> is a raid setup with a disk controller card of some kind
> >>>
> >>> one thing i see happen a lot with my clients is that the disk 
> >>> controller
> >> dies,
> >>>
> >>> BUT then i wonder, if i get these drives into their own new 
> >>> enclosure,
> >> since they were in a RAID array, how do i get the
> >>> computer to read them properly? does the raid system 
> split the data 
> >>> among
> >> the 2 drives, or is it really just 2 separate drives that could
> >>> be read separately?
> >>>
> >>> it is very unlikely that both drives would mechanically 
> fail at once
> >> right?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> anyway.....
> >>>
> >>> at least i got my OTA problem solved
> >>>
> >>> :(
> >>>
> >>> any help, thoughts , appreciated
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> thanks
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Synth-diy mailing list
> >>> Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> >>> http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> 
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