RE: Data Recovery Question

["Morton, Christopher" <CMorton -at- caiso -dot- com>]

Hmmm...that might work... booting from a WinXP CDR and seeing if I can't
see the data on the drives. Also liked the idea of booting from a
Knoppix CDR.

The OS is W2K and the RAID was offered by way of an ASUS mobo (HW)
option. It was a #$ -at- %^& piece of software that came with my HP PPC that
begat the difficulties, but I have a feeling that RAID2 is nothing more
than a "house of cards," just begging for an ill wind.

> Chris 

-----Original Message-----
From: doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com [mailto:doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com] 
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 4:35 PM
To: Morton, Christopher
Subject: Re: Data Recovery Question

One thing to consider:

The boot order in your BIOS.  If, for instance, you revised the order to
boot 
from floppy or something, you might need to put it back the way it was
when 
the ERAID booted correctly.  FWIW, I had a couple of MCI-brand
motherboards 
that wouldn't boot from the onboard hardware raid unless the CDROM was 
configured as the first boot drive.  The RAID, seen by the BIOS as SCSI,
had 
to be a boot option after the CDROM.  Industry standard RAID?  I think
not!

I've run ito weird things with RAIDs, hardware or soft.  You didn't say
what 
OS, or what hard/soft RAID you're using, but if you google that info,
you 
might come up with a thread on this problem for your setup.

Good luck/ 

On Friday 27 January 2006 07:40, you wrote:
> While this thread is running, I have a pair of RAID 2 (mirrored)
> drives-Maxtor 160s-that all of a sudden lost their ability to boot.
The
> drives themselves are physically OK, but the MBR apparently got
> clobbered.
>
> I like the idea of hooking these up in another box as a single slave
> entity, but how to go about this? This is presuming Win2K as the OS
and
> a handle on M$ NT/W2K drive mgmt methods.
>
> Thanks
>
> > Chris Morton
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+cmorton=caiso -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+cmorton=caiso -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf
> Of doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com
> Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 1:59 PM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Data Recovery Question
>
> On Thursday 26 January 2006 10:48, Martin Bosworth wrote:
> > Later on his drive got fried (I don't know how, though I've been
> > trying to find out), and won't boot up.
>
> Here are a few ideas that I always try on my equipment when a drive
goes
>
> astray. Neither of these techniques has ever made things worse when I
> use
> them, and both can produce a satisfactory recovery, but of course, the
> usual
> caveats and stamdard disclaimers etc. Try them in order--#1 first, ...
>
> BTW Martin, your IT department (assuming an IT dept) may want to do
> these, and
> the Windows Recovery Console things (assuming Windows), instead of
> having you
> prowling around in the equipment. I dunno about you, but I've had IT
> people
> get pretty territorial (and even scary) when I open a company owned
> machine
> or mess with configurations.
>
> 1.  Disconnect the drive and boot the machine, go into the BIOS and
> check that
> everything looks OK as far as drives are concerned.
>
>     BTW, not all BIOSes manage hard drives the same way, so check
around
> for a
> screen that shows installed drives, a screen that sets drive priority,
a
>
> screen that sets the boot drive...
>
>     Save the BIOS settings (they should all show no references to the
> missing
> drive), then shut down, reconnect the drive, and boot again, look at
the
> BIOS
> settings for evidence that the drive is detected and set up to boot
(or
> not,
> whatever you need), and then proceed to boot up into the OS. Back it
up
> immediately if you get results!
>
> 2.  Note the manufacturer and model of the drive, and go to the
> manufacturer's
> web site and download the utilities they provide for your drive.
>     The useful utility you're looking for will be a free download--get
> the
> latest version, read the instructions, make the diskette or cd as
> directed,
> and then boot the utility disk (with the fried drive in the machine).
>     Spend the time needed to test the drive media and perform all of
the
>
> diagnostics.  DON'T do any format things or boot sector or master boot
> record
> writes unless you understand what you're doing (and/or your IT says it
> is OK,
> OK?).  Just do the media tests and diagnostics.
>     Note any error codes emitted by the diagnostics and tests, you
might
> find
> something to explain what went wrong with the drive.
>     As with the other procedure, back up immediately if you get
results.
>
> Good luck, hope this helps.
>
> Ned Bedinger
> doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com
>
>
>
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Now Shipping -- WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word! Easily create online
> Help. And online anything else. Redesigned interface with a new
> project-based workflow. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
>
> Doc-To-Help includes a one-click RoboHelp project converter. It's that
> easy.  Watch the demo at
> http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as CMorton -at- caiso -dot- com -dot- 
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/cmorton%40caiso.com
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
> http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Now Shipping -- WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word! Easily create online
Help. And online anything else. Redesigned interface with a new
project-based workflow. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Doc-To-Help includes a one-click RoboHelp project converter. It's that easy.  Watch the demo at http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com

To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.