Striped dynamic disk failure: one missing, one reverted to basic(?)


  1. Posts : 3
    Windows 7 Professional x64
       #1

    Striped dynamic disk failure: one missing, one reverted to basic(?)


    I am not sure how to begin to describe my problem, so I will recount my experience in chronological order and describe the problem as I go. I have provided a couple of images for reference as well.

    Last night, I only had one hard disk in my computer, a Seagate. It is Disk 0 in the Disk Management screenshot below. I installed two more hard disks (both Western Digital), converted them to dynamic, striped them, and created a volume (G:). I moved some data to the new G: volume. If it's relevant, then it may help you to know that one of them already had a Windows installation of its own. Reformatting it should have deleted all that information, though. Then I went to bed.

    When I woke up, my computer had restarted because Windows had automatically updated. This is where things start to go wrong. My computer was stuck at boot-up on a blank screen with a flashing underscore. I restarted a couple of times, and Windows would try to boot but fail and stop at the same screen. I went into the BIOS, and while I could manually select my Seagate from a boot list, it was not showing up in my BIOS' boot order settings. I removed every other device from the boot order, and my computer will now boot normally. So, I have actually resolved this issue but am telling you about it in case it may be relevant to my current problem.

    Afterward, I noticed that my G: volume was not appearing in Explorer. I checked Disk Management and discovered that one of my disks has failed (screenshot below). Here is what is perplexing me: I only have three hard disks in my computer, and last night, I had striped Disk 1 and Disk 2. Now, with no other hardware changes, Disk 1 is displaying as a basic disk while Disk 2 is online but failing, and there is another disk listed as Missing. I'm not sure what went wrong or why my disks are displaying this way. Disk 2 and Missing would have to be the same disk, but is it normal for a failed disk to be displayed twice like that? And why would disk 1 have reverted to a basic disk, and a recovery partition no less?

    Right-clicking and selecting "Reactive disk" accomplishes nothing. Diskpart isn't helping either (screenshot also provided). I feel like the only thing left that I can do is reformatting the two Western Digitals again and starting over, but if it's possible, I would really like to not lose the data that I put onto the G: drive.








      My Computer


  2. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #2

    Two questions to start:

    1: Why is Windows set to update automatically?

    2: Why are you using dynamic disks at all?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 4,049
    W7 Ultimate SP1, LM19.2 MATE, W10 Home 1703, W10 Pro 1703 VM, #All 64 bit
       #3

    Software RAID 0


    ignatzatsonic said:
    2: Why are you using dynamic disks at all?
    Doesn't software RAID 0 require Dynamic Discs?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #4

    lehnerus2000 said:
    ignatzatsonic said:
    2: Why are you using dynamic disks at all?
    Doesn't software RAID 0 require Dynamic Discs?
    I have no idea.

    It's just not clear to me from the original post if dynamic disks were actively sought out, arrived at mistakenly, or whatever. I'm not clear on the OP's intent based on what the OP typed--as is often the case.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 3
    Windows 7 Professional x64
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Windows updates automatically because I just have it that way for no particular reason. I was using dynamic disks to combine them into a single volume. Lehnerus2000 is correct - you must use dynamic disks to stripe them. Neither of those questions are relevant to understanding or resolving the situation, though. Finally, I quite clearly did state, in my second paragraph, that I converted and striped the Western Digitals and even put data into the afterward.

    Anyway, as it turns out, the boot-up problem is affecting several individuals after updating Windows, so it wasn't related to begin with. As for the failed disks, I'm chalking it up to just plain bad luck. Still have no idea why one of my disks would just revert to a basic and become a recovery disk, though.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 4,049
    W7 Ultimate SP1, LM19.2 MATE, W10 Home 1703, W10 Pro 1703 VM, #All 64 bit
       #6

    Did you get hit by a failed W10 auto-upgrade attempt?

    I read comments claiming that W10 can have issues when multiple drives are present during upgrades.
    I run a W10 VM so I've never experienced any HDD issues myself.
      My Computer


 

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