Is my RAID 0 data lost?

[celegansium]

I have a system based on ga x58a-ud3r rev 1.0 board. I have Windows 7 installed on dual RAID 0 SSD drives. A problem with my UPS caused power to machine to fail. (Plus surge?) Would only reboot to a point where I get message saying something like: remove disks and press any key to start. Couldn't get past that point. In setup I tried Load Default Bios or similar. That made RAID go away, so now I can't boot from Raid array. When I set disks to raid and then choose rebuild RAID array (or similar wording--I'm on another computer now) it seems to show the array. But I'm afraid to choose Rebuild Array (or similar wording) because I'm afraid that will wipe out everything on the previous array. I don't know whether anything is fried (and it's time for a new system anyway), but I'd like to save existing system and data if I can (Yep, I was lazy with backup.) . Any ideas?

[celegansium]

Better phrased version of question

Have fever, can't think well, sorry.


I have a system based on ga x58a-ud3r rev 1.0 board. I have Windows 7 installed on dual RAID 0 SSD drives. A problem with my UPS caused power to machine to fail. (Plus surge?) Would only reboot to a point where I get message saying something like: remove disks and press any key to start. Couldn't get past that point. In setup I tried Load Default Bios or similar. That made RAID go away, but I made BIOS alterations that seemed to bring it back. BIOS seems to show array now. But system will not boot from it, wants to boot from system disc. I'm afraid to choose Rebuild Array (or similar wording) because I'm afraid that will wipe out everything on the previous array. I don't know whether anything is fried (and it's time for a new system anyway), but I'd like to save existing system and data if I can (Yep, I was lazy with backup.) . Any ideas?

[TicTacToe]

Re: Is my RAID 0 data lost?

If the drives have an issue or the raid is damaged then naturally you'll have to be 'unlazy' with the recovery and massively patient as well. I understand the popularity of RAID 0, relatively fast write access, but personally, I just cannot live with the low fault-tolerance levels. More so, when sensitive data is not being backed up. If either one of the drives is ailing, the raid is in trouble. You can recover raids with software tools, some free, some paid for ( google search). I think it may be the path you could take here since you still want to get back your data. There are manual ways too but that requires a lot of patience and knowing several parameters of your raid design including block sizes.
ReclaiMe tool is one I've used before, amongst others. Just patience, careful reading of instructions since you want as little writing/reading to the damaged system as possible to enhance amount of data recoverable.

You said it boots up to a point, is this a point where the windows OS is loading up or a point where the PC goes to access the raid on the drives ( before it starts loading windows 7).

[celegansium]

Re: Is my RAID 0 data lost?

I felt safe putting the SSDs into RAID 0, since these drives were SSDs and from a quality brand. I've since seen advice against doing that, and intended to undo RAID with the next OS install. My backup habits are usually very good, but was I sick and sloppy, so of course that's when the problem hit. My last backup isn't SUPER-old, so if I can't fix this it will be more of a bad inconvenience than a tragedy.

The boot stops before Windows 7 starts to load at all.

Here is what has me confused: the RAID array shows up, apparently unharmed, when I press ctrl-I (if I remember the key correctly). Under Setup, Sata 3 Raid Mode Control lists RAID.
But when I select Sata 3 RAID Configuration, a window shows up saying that the disks are in IDE mode, that I should switch them to RAID, then reboot and configure the RAID array. But the disks weren't in IDE mode ever before, and Setup seems to be telling me that they're both in RAID mode *and* IDE.

[TicTacToe]

Re: Is my RAID 0 data lost?

Assuming the problem is a glitch-y bios and your disks were always in RAID MODE before the initial OS install, as a way of troubleshooting, you could first save the 'under setup, sata 3 raid mode control listing as RAID' save the bios info and reboot. Then try to access Sata 3 Raid Config info. This is what the prompt info is probably requesting you to do. Else, as a last option, you could even try a bios refresh by reinstalling the current bios firmware.

Perchance, do you know if the main bios is working as normal, I believe this board has dual bios technology. Did your system have to load from the back up bios after the initial power surge glitch?

This is all if the bios is the problem, maybe a simple CMOS reset of the bios( removing the battery for 30mins and letting the unplugged system sit for a while)and re-configuring might even set it right again. You should try that before trying to re-flash the bios firmware. Bios flash should be a last resort. Please list full system spec in case you have some other drives installed on system.