RAID says its offline

[giyad]

Ok, so I stupidly installed Vista Premium after setting up and getting a RAID to work. I hooked up two 1TB WD Caviars and set them up in a RAID 1 configuration. After getting it all working and serving all my media, I decided to change Vista Business to Premium. I installed the OS on a separate hard drive than the RAID, but now when I boot up the RAID doesn't show. When I go into Disk Management, the RAID shows up but "Offline." What do I do?????

When I right-click it gives me the option to change it from Dynamic to Basic, but that would wipe out all the data.... any suggestions???

 

[kimsland]

Go into RAID BIOS menu and check its status (Online/Offline ?)
If it states Online, then you may have a faulty HardDrive

 

[giyad]

Go into RAID BIOS menu and check its status (Online/Offline ?)
If it states Online, then you may have a faulty HardDrive

The BIOS menu doesn't say whether its online or offline, but under status it does say Healthy.

It says Boot = Yes, Status = Healthy, Vendor = NVIDIA, Array Model Name = MIRROR 931.51G... if any of that helps

 

[kimsland]

The Raid BIOS Menu...

On Intel Motherboards press <CTRL-I> to enter RAID Configuration Utility, on bootup


http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-020811.htm#ctrli

 

[giyad]

The Raid BIOS Menu...

On Intel Motherboards press <CTRL-I> to enter RAID Configuration Utility, on bootup


http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-020811.htm#ctrli

Its not an Intel Motherboard, its NVIDIA...

Also, once I installed the NVIDIA system tools its detecting the RAID and saying its healthy, but the OS just says its offline... whats the deal?

 

[kimsland]

Its not an Intel Motherboard, its NVIDIA...

Thanks ! the more info the better.

I'd say check cables.... all the rest. It sounds like hardware issue (ie my first post to you)

 

[giyad]

It can't be a hardware issue, its passing all the tests. The only problem is in windows, I think its most definitely a software issue...

 

[kimsland]

To confirm hardware you must eliminate all the software first (ie remove Raid)
Or test each drive with a Diagnostic disc

 

[giyad]

if i remove the RAID i lose all content... no?

 

[DelJo63]

Breaking a RAID-1 (mirror) will not loose any data -- that's the whole point of mirrored
disks.
Getting the mirror reconnected may be another matter, as you're using the onboard
raid chip instead of a real raid controller.

 

[giyad]

Breaking a RAID-1 (mirror) will not loose any data -- that's the whole point of mirrored
disks.
Getting the mirror reconnected may be another matter, as you're using the onboard
raid chip instead of a real raid controller.

well what do you suggest i do?

That makes sense, so maybe if I format one of the drives so that it shows up again and then rebuild the RAID? would that work?

 

[tengeta]

I'd just say rebuild the RAID and let it mirror the data again, given the first drive is working fine and the data isn't messed up.

 

[giyad]

ok, I formatted my drive (OS) again and installed Vista Business... guess what, the drive shows up!! So I need an explanation. I know that I can just copy all my stuff onto an external, then re-install Vista Premium, initialize the RAID again and then put everything back on the RAID. But, I want to know what the F*** is going on???