[sparsons6183]

Hello,

This is a long story, so please accept my apology on the front. I recently had a drive go down, and took my comp. to a repair shop. They sorta fixed it, but now I have to start my comp in fail-safe mode every time I boot. Furthermore, the bad drive is still in the comp. I'm wondering if it's because this is a raid-0 array and both drives need to be in there for the computer to work right. I want to replace the drive with two new drives that I bough, but I don't want to lose all my data. Is it possible to "clone"(I don't know how to do this, btw) the drive over to my new drives and just install them. I don't really want to have the new ones raid config. because I don't have a raid card. And this has def. been a pain in the arse. I saw where I can buy a external drive enclosure and hook up the new drives via USB which looked good for cloning the exsisting drive over...Any ideas for a total beginner tech support gurus?

[4xjamie]

If a drive in raid 0 dies then you lose the lot as half the data is stored on each drive..... sorry =(

[Compiler]

If you still have access to your DATA, you need to COPY the data to another drive - either a USB external (if possible) or use another IDE/SATA port to copy the data.

RAID 0 is dangerous that way... a simple failure can corrupt all your data. A single drive failure will destory your data. RAID-1 helps protect your data in case of drive failure.

So don't have that PC up and running unless your coping data to a new drive.

[managed]

I'm confused, you say you had a Raid 0 set up then you say you don't have a Raid card, are you sure it was Raid 0 before you took it to the shop ?

I would take it back anyway, booting up in Safe mode means it isn't fixed properly.

[sparsons6183]

I honestly am very ignorant about everything hardware wise. A friend set it up "for speed" about 5 years ago so it's all very foggy. Based on what I've read on the sticky in this forum it was raid-0. How do I tell which raid set up I'm in? Both drives set up as one, and even with one failed my comp works but only in "fail-safe mode". As I said before, I have two new drives and have looked at options to set them up in my computer, but I don't know how to proceed. I would like to do it myself so I can learn more about building computers. ps. I also have an external big enough to hold all the info on my c: drive. Advice? Need more info? Let me know! Thank you!!!

[Compiler]

Depends what your plans are for your new drives (are they the same?) Do you want to do another RAID 0... or do a real RAID-1? Creating a new RAID on a 5year old PC isn't the best thing to do. We don't know what you have in hardware (mobo/ drives / New Drives) - There is a chance your 5year old system is problematic... (Not saying it).

Steps for recovery
1 - Copy data to external drive - if USB is operational at full speed to do so, otherwise:
2 - Plug in one of the new drives into the data/power connector of your optical (DVD) drive
3 - Then copy your personal info to the drive (internal or external)
4 - When done... remove OLD HDs... (removal of RAID adator may or may not be applicable)..
5 - Disable RAID.... plug in Optical drive again.
6 - Install #2 new drive into Primary Master slot... Boot with your WindowsXP CD-ROM and install Windows.
7 - Install drivers and programs
8 - Reconnect the backup drive (EXT or Internal) to the system and copy your data to the new HD.

[crjdriver]

I highly doubt it is raid0. With raid0, files are split between the two drives. If one drive fails, it does not boot. You may have raid1.

It would help if you posted your exact system specs ie make and model of mb, brand, speed, interface, and size of hard drives, etc

[Compiler]

When turning on your computer - you SHOULD have a RAID screen. Something that says RAID. This is between when you first turn it on with the BIOS (checks your memory, etc) and WindowsXP/Vista whatever. It'll flash on what key(s) to press to enter setup. Such a CTRL-A or CTRL-R

From in there, it'll give you the status of your RAID (yes, no, RAID 1 or RAID 0) and perhaps errors.

[sparsons6183]

-JUST PC Gazelle JPC899TI Titanium/Silver Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply - Retail
-CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
-Ultra 1024MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz
-ABIT AG8 LGA 775 Intel 915P ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
-Intel Pentium 4 540 Prescott 3.2GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
-LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE Combo Drive - OEM
-SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model MPF920 Black - OEM
-Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (X2)
-KFA2 GeForce 8600 GT Video Card - 512MB DDR2, PCI Express, SLI Ready, DVI, VGA, HDTV, Video Card
-Windows XP Pro OS

The drives listed above are currently installed with one bad one. The drives below are the new ones.

-Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (X2)

I don't really want a raid setup anymore, just in case all this happens again. Considering my level of expertise I would be better off with a couple extra drives just backing each other up. Maybe I can save up for a drobo :P Anyhow, I am work now and cannot reboot my comp. to let you know what kind of RAID is set-up right now, but this is part of the puzzle. Thanks!

[crjdriver]

OK, it appears you have an onboard intel controller. To access the intel raid, you hit ctrl>I. See what your current setup is and post the result.