Disk Boot Failure with RAID 0 Array

[MrNosebleed]

Hi

I have two 500Gb SATA drives in a RAID 0 config set as my system drive 'C', and a 1TB SATA as a storage drive 'E'

Never had this problem until last night when I removed the storage drive. Tried the usual fixes with no luck, put the drive back in and the system boots normally.

The problem seems to be that I installed Windows on the RAID array while the storage drive was attached, and for some reason Windows decided to make 'E' the active partition.

Have attached a screenshot.

'E' also shows as System for some reason, even tho Windows is on 'C'.

What I want to know is can I fix this problem without reformatting/reinstalling, and what will potentially happen if I make the 'C' partition active? Dont really want to kill my machine right now!

All comments and advice appreicated.

 

[Jonathan_King]

No problem. First, mark the Windows partition as active.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71432-partition-mark-active.html

Then, run a startup repair.

That should do the trick.

 

[MrNosebleed]

That should do the trick.

Should?

 

[MrNosebleed]

Curious as to why E is showing as System as well. Any ideas on that?

 

[Jonathan_King]

I say "should" because I can't 100% guarantee it will work. However, I have a very strong suspicion it will.

At worst, it doesn't work. In that case, simply mark the E partition as active again, and you should be back to normal.

One thing I forgot to mention. In your BIOS, make sure the C drive is set to be the first one to boot.

 

[MrNosebleed]

Cheers for that, but my concern is that if it doesnt work, i wont be able to boot back in to mark the E partition as active. Bit of a catch 22 i suspect.

 

[MrNosebleed]

No go. I set the partition as active, booted from the install disk, used startup recovery, says it cant repair the disk and that no os is present.

I am now officially screwed. ANyone have any ideas how I can get back into my pc?

 

[MrNosebleed]

ps - I assume the windows setup disk is not seeing the os because it is installed on a raid set and it doesnt have raid drivers, if this makes sense. Any way of loading raid drivers prior to running startup recovery?

 

[MrNosebleed]

Oops. Answered my own question. Working now, touch wood. Was not quite as straightforward as all that - seems the biggest problem was Windows still insisting on assigning the drive letter C to the storage drive and not the raid set. Had to bludgeon it into submission by unplugging everything but the raid set and assigning drive letters manually. So far so good.

 

[theog]

Startup Recovery, looks for Boot files on Disk 0, which is your E: drive.

 

[Carl Lawrence]

I am glad that you managed to fix it yourself.

 

[MrNosebleed]

Startup Recovery, looks for Boot files on Disk 0, which is your E: drive.

It seems this problem probably came about because I did the install on the new raid set while the storage drive was still present. I usually disconnect everything, but this being about my millionth installI guess I was blase about it.

Is it possible to set up the raid set as Disk 0 now? Will it screw things further? Or will it always default to Disk 1?

 

[zzz2496]

MrNosebleed, you are one brave individual... I personally will NEVER EVER consider RAID 0 as OS volume... or for anything for that matter. The thought of someday somehow, either my controller went south, or one of the RAID member disk went to HDD heaven - I'll loose a running system... But each to one's own I guess...

Glad the problem is solved though

zzz2496

 

[MrNosebleed]

MrNosebleed, you are one brave individual... I personally will NEVER EVER consider RAID 0 as OS volume... or for anything for that matter. The thought of someday somehow, either my controller went south, or one of the RAID member disk went to HDD heaven - I'll loose a running system... But each to one's own I guess...

Glad the problem is solved though

zzz2496

Just slap me round the head a few times and call me stoopid. I meant to say RAID 1.

I had a system drive fail once many years back and I learned my lesson. Storage is cheap compared to critical data. Since then every OS I've installed has been on a mirrored set. Probably better ways to do it, like keeping all your data on a seperate drive and keeping a disk image up to date, but who has time for thet these days?

Maybe what I lose my bravery points I make back in common sense.

Cheers

 

[wangster]

I've always had my Windows installed on a RAID 0. I think it's mostly personal preference. I feel that if a RAID member drive goes bad, worst case scenario, I just have to buy another drive and install Windows again from the CD/DVD or a Ghost image. I'm personally more concerned about precious data. After all, Windows and all the programs can be re-installed but if you lose your data (for example, I had about 1,000 pictures from a vacation and lost it all), you're pretty much screwed.

 

[WindowsStar]

I've always had my Windows installed on a RAID 0. I think it's mostly personal preference. I feel that if a RAID member drive goes bad, worst case scenario, I just have to buy another drive and install Windows again from the CD/DVD or a Ghost image. I'm personally more concerned about precious data. After all, Windows and all the programs can be re-installed but if you lose your data (for example, I had about 1,000 pictures from a vacation and lost it all), you're pretty much screwed.

With hard drives being so big there is really no need for RAID 0 for the OS.

RAID 0 is typically used where you have a ton of data and need a lot of space. Especially before you could buy a 1TB drive. But if you need 8TB of space and only have enough space for 4 drives in your system you can install 4 drives 2TB each and use RAID 0. Giving you 8TB of space as one huge drive. You would be much better off using RAID 1 for your OS then you have a small bit of fault protection. Or if as you say that data is more important and the OS is an easy reload. Use 1 drive for the OS and 2 drives RAID 1 for the data. If the OS drive crashes, replace it and reload the OS. If 1 data drive crashes you just need to replace the drive and let the RAID rebuild.

 

[ChiefRA]

or WindowsStar, you could use RAID 01 - Raid 01 explained (at least 4 HDD's, pairs of 2) in which way, you gain both: fastest speed for your massive applications AND protection for your data. What do you say?

ChiefRA

 

[WindowsStar]

or WindowsStar, you could use RAID 01 - Raid 01 explained (at least 4 HDD's, pairs of 2) in which way, you gain both: fastest speed for your massive applications AND protection for your data. What do you say?

ChiefRA

Respectfully you missed the point of what the OP is requesting. He only has 2 hard drives and wants to use RAID 0. We have been explaining to him that USING RAID 0 is unsafe and that he should use RAID 1 if nothing else to protect his data. I then went on to explain theoretical scenarios with 3 and 4 drives; however he does not have those drives. Using RAID 0+1 would give the best of both worlds if he had 4 hard drives but since he only has the 2 that is not going to work for him.

Thanks -WS

 

[zzz2496]

If the OP have 4 (or more) disks, he'd probably use RAID-5 instead of RAID 01...

zzz2496