Inaccessible Boot Device on RAID 0
The bottomline is that when I try to boot Win2000pro following a power cut I get BSOD Inaccessible Boot Device (stop 0x7B).
To my mind the file system (NTFS) has been corrupt in some way. When I try to boot safe mode it starts doing all its stuff OK and then fails during the loading of drivers (the last shown is rseb.sys)
If this were a 'normal' system I'd simply try a recover-install to get things back to normal but it isn't.
The main disk is a RAID 0 stripe comprising 2 maxtor 200GB SATA drives. There is a third similar drive which is used as a backup device. The Mobo is a GA-K8NXP-9 which is running hardware RAID. When POST runs it states that the RAID stripe is healthy.
I've used BartPE UBCD to boot the system and (having loaded the SATA drivers - SiI3114) I was able to see the backup drive and all looks OK there. From this I was able to run File Scavenger which let me define the RAID volumes and it LOOKS like the file system is pretty much intact and I've been able to copy various files from the RAID to the backup dive.
Next I wanted to do a repair-install of Win2K so loaded the SATA drivers during the process but the installation could find no existing Win2K OS to repair!
Using various utilities and tools (as described above) I've been able to see it but the installation process can't get at it.
I've got all the data backed up but it would be hugely useful if I could restore the OS without having to reinstall all the programs and settings.
Any ideas?
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-9
SATA: SiI3114
Drives: Maxtor 6B200M0 (189GB)
CPU: Athlon 64 XP3500+
RAM: 1GB DDR
OS: Windows 2000 Professional
To my mind the file system (NTFS) has been corrupt in some way. When I try to boot safe mode it starts doing all its stuff OK and then fails during the loading of drivers (the last shown is rseb.sys)
If this were a 'normal' system I'd simply try a recover-install to get things back to normal but it isn't.
The main disk is a RAID 0 stripe comprising 2 maxtor 200GB SATA drives. There is a third similar drive which is used as a backup device. The Mobo is a GA-K8NXP-9 which is running hardware RAID. When POST runs it states that the RAID stripe is healthy.
I've used BartPE UBCD to boot the system and (having loaded the SATA drivers - SiI3114) I was able to see the backup drive and all looks OK there. From this I was able to run File Scavenger which let me define the RAID volumes and it LOOKS like the file system is pretty much intact and I've been able to copy various files from the RAID to the backup dive.
Next I wanted to do a repair-install of Win2K so loaded the SATA drivers during the process but the installation could find no existing Win2K OS to repair!
Using various utilities and tools (as described above) I've been able to see it but the installation process can't get at it.
I've got all the data backed up but it would be hugely useful if I could restore the OS without having to reinstall all the programs and settings.
Any ideas?
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-9
SATA: SiI3114
Drives: Maxtor 6B200M0 (189GB)
CPU: Athlon 64 XP3500+
RAM: 1GB DDR
OS: Windows 2000 Professional
gravit9
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884574
ASKER
That article is all about using sysprep which, to the best of my memory, has not been used witrh this machine. It was installed directly from a Win2K CD, allbeit one which had SP4 combined into it.
One other thing I forgot to mention was that when I boot using BartPE UBCD it shows the 'C' drive as unrecognisable despite having loaded drivers for the SATA and RAID.
One other thing I forgot to mention was that when I boot using BartPE UBCD it shows the 'C' drive as unrecognisable despite having loaded drivers for the SATA and RAID.
OK, so the parttion got scrambled.
I would pull one of the RAID drives, and save it as a backup, and turn off RAID, or move the other DRIVE to a NON-RAID SATA connector.
Then look a the following
I haven't used Bootitng myself, but have heard it mentioned in other forums. One piece of software that I have used and purchased myself (and saved myself once) is Partition Table Doctor. It's very simple and even has a free demo mode to analyze your partition layout, boot sector, and mbr to see if there are any problems.
http://www.ptdd.com/
also
SO I downloaded Paragon HDD Manager.
http://www.paragon-software.com/hdm/
http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm NT bootpart partition control. Dual boot
MBR and sector backup/restore
command line fdisk
http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/
fdisk explanatin and other format and partition recovery tools
http://www.fdisk.com/fdisk/
http://www.freedos.org/freedos/software/lsmtable.cgi?dir=base
Free DOS version
also
http://www.itechs-systems.com/pages/software.htm
I hope this helps !
I would pull one of the RAID drives, and save it as a backup, and turn off RAID, or move the other DRIVE to a NON-RAID SATA connector.
Then look a the following
I haven't used Bootitng myself, but have heard it mentioned in other forums. One piece of software that I have used and purchased myself (and saved myself once) is Partition Table Doctor. It's very simple and even has a free demo mode to analyze your partition layout, boot sector, and mbr to see if there are any problems.
http://www.ptdd.com/
also
SO I downloaded Paragon HDD Manager.
http://www.paragon-software.com/hdm/
http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm NT bootpart partition control. Dual boot
MBR and sector backup/restore
command line fdisk
http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/
fdisk explanatin and other format and partition recovery tools
http://www.fdisk.com/fdisk/
http://www.freedos.org/freedos/software/lsmtable.cgi?dir=base
Free DOS version
also
http://www.itechs-systems.com/pages/software.htm
I hope this helps !
ASKER
Thanks for your comments; there's a pile of stuff for me to study there!
I don't think the partition is actually scrambled - as I said I'm able to get at it all using File Scavanger and defining the RAID members to it... it's just that neither Win2K installation nor BartPE UBCD can recognise the RAID partition even though I've given it SATA and RAID drivers. I may twell be that I've just not given it the right combination of drivers, though I've tried a LOT of combinations.
I'm reluctant to scrap it yet until I'm certain that I can't get it all working; there's a lot of convenience in getting the programs back as they were. Having said that, I can't be wasting too much time on this; I need a working machine!
I would also add that if I do get it all back (or even if not), I'll be moving away from RAID 0... it's just too complex to recover from!
I don't think the partition is actually scrambled - as I said I'm able to get at it all using File Scavanger and defining the RAID members to it... it's just that neither Win2K installation nor BartPE UBCD can recognise the RAID partition even though I've given it SATA and RAID drivers. I may twell be that I've just not given it the right combination of drivers, though I've tried a LOT of combinations.
I'm reluctant to scrap it yet until I'm certain that I can't get it all working; there's a lot of convenience in getting the programs back as they were. Having said that, I can't be wasting too much time on this; I need a working machine!
I would also add that if I do get it all back (or even if not), I'll be moving away from RAID 0... it's just too complex to recover from!
My bad, RAID 0, not RAID 1.
So you have a single 400 GB drive/ volume, and not a mirrored 200 GB
.
First backup whatever you can !
So you have a single 400 GB drive/ volume, and not a mirrored 200 GB
.
First backup whatever you can !
ASKER
"My bad"???
It's deffo a RAID 0 - a striped 400GB volume comprising 2 x 200GB members
As for backups; I've got about 3 of those; the last one of around 50GB of *everything* I could get off!
It's deffo a RAID 0 - a striped 400GB volume comprising 2 x 200GB members
As for backups; I've got about 3 of those; the last one of around 50GB of *everything* I could get off!
IS all the important stuff off ?
If not, look at data recovery - RAID reconstructor
http://www.runtime.org/raid.htm
Regular data recovery
From war1
1. Data Recovery: GetDataBack is good at recover data from formated drive.
Free:
PC Inspector http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm
Restoration http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html
Active Undelete http://www.snapfiles.com/get/activeundelete.html
Flash Recovery http://www.snapfiles.com/get/smartrecoverontracky.html
TestDisk & utilities http://www.cgsecurity.org
Paid:
GetDataBack http://www.runtime.org/
FreeUndelete http://officerecovery.com/freeundelete/index.htm
Recovery My Files http://www.recovermyfiles.com/
Stellar http://www.stellarinfo.com/
Restorer 2000 http://www.bitmart.net/
Ontrack http://www.ontrack.com/
Easy Recovery http://www.ontrack.com/easyrecoveryprofessional/
Zero Assumption http://www.z-a-recovery.com/setup.exe
2. You may need to unhide hidden files to see them. Open Windows Explorer folder and select Tools > Folders Options > View. Check "Show hidden files and folders". Click OK.
3. You may need to take ownsership of folders and files to access them.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421
If not, look at data recovery - RAID reconstructor
http://www.runtime.org/raid.htm
Regular data recovery
From war1
1. Data Recovery: GetDataBack is good at recover data from formated drive.
Free:
PC Inspector http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm
Restoration http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html
Active Undelete http://www.snapfiles.com/get/activeundelete.html
Flash Recovery http://www.snapfiles.com/get/smartrecoverontracky.html
TestDisk & utilities http://www.cgsecurity.org
Paid:
GetDataBack http://www.runtime.org/
FreeUndelete http://officerecovery.com/freeundelete/index.htm
Recovery My Files http://www.recovermyfiles.com/
Stellar http://www.stellarinfo.com/
Restorer 2000 http://www.bitmart.net/
Ontrack http://www.ontrack.com/
Easy Recovery http://www.ontrack.com/easyrecoveryprofessional/
Zero Assumption http://www.z-a-recovery.com/setup.exe
2. You may need to unhide hidden files to see them. Open Windows Explorer folder and select Tools > Folders Options > View. Check "Show hidden files and folders". Click OK.
3. You may need to take ownsership of folders and files to access them.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421
ASKER
As I said, I've got all the data (and programs, settings, etc) backed up... that's not the problem.
What I want is to be able to get the disk AS IS back up and running so that I don't have to reinstall everything. It's not so much the basic reinstallation that's the major headache but reinstating all the various components (eg. how exactly do I duplicate my old Thinderbird profile?; how do I reinstate all my firefox extensions?; where is my PGP keyring stored? etc, etc. (I'm not asking for answers to these - I can find out but it'll take a lot of time to get evcerything sorted!))
So the basic thing is...
File Scavenger can put the RAID members back together and see the contents OK.
WindowsXP (from BartPE) and Windows2000 (from the installation), can't.
If Win2K install COULD see the RAID disk then I'm confident I could repair the installation and get things back as they were.
(From there I could take my time at migrating it to a non-RAID-0 system!)
What I want is to be able to get the disk AS IS back up and running so that I don't have to reinstall everything. It's not so much the basic reinstallation that's the major headache but reinstating all the various components (eg. how exactly do I duplicate my old Thinderbird profile?; how do I reinstate all my firefox extensions?; where is my PGP keyring stored? etc, etc. (I'm not asking for answers to these - I can find out but it'll take a lot of time to get evcerything sorted!))
So the basic thing is...
File Scavenger can put the RAID members back together and see the contents OK.
WindowsXP (from BartPE) and Windows2000 (from the installation), can't.
If Win2K install COULD see the RAID disk then I'm confident I could repair the installation and get things back as they were.
(From there I could take my time at migrating it to a non-RAID-0 system!)
You need one of the recovery programs to find and fix any errors on your drive, including directories, bad files etc.
Other option is to do a repair install into the same directory, and that should resolve most issues.
I hope this helps !
Other option is to do a repair install into the same directory, and that should resolve most issues.
I hope this helps !
ASKER
I guess the original post was a long way back but I can't do a repair install. That's what I WANT to do but the installation process doesn't recognise an existing installation!
It also follows that since I can't boot the machine, I can't use 'ordinary' methods to fix the problem (if only I knew what it was!) although I can use BartPE UBCD and run programs across the network or from another HDD. That's the way I was able to run File Scavanger to make yet another backup of the system. File Scavenger allowed me to define the RAID members and get at the data. Windoze installation does not.
It also follows that since I can't boot the machine, I can't use 'ordinary' methods to fix the problem (if only I knew what it was!) although I can use BartPE UBCD and run programs across the network or from another HDD. That's the way I was able to run File Scavanger to make yet another backup of the system. File Scavenger allowed me to define the RAID members and get at the data. Windoze installation does not.
I would then try the following.
1) Rename the WIndows and program files directories, as well as te Documents and settings folder.
Do a FRESH install of windows into a different directory !
Then at some point you can rename the directories back.
I always use at least two bootable partitions on any critical machine, so if one gets messed up, I have another that can be used for repairs.
I hope this helps !
1) Rename the WIndows and program files directories, as well as te Documents and settings folder.
Do a FRESH install of windows into a different directory !
Then at some point you can rename the directories back.
I always use at least two bootable partitions on any critical machine, so if one gets messed up, I have another that can be used for repairs.
I hope this helps !
ASKER
I like the idea you suggest of rename and fresh install... if nothing else, it may yield some useful extra info like CAN I reinstall a fresh copy?! Mind you, I've still to discover if I can rename those folders and whether install would avoid reformatting the disk!
Some of the other folks gave you advice for trying to recover the drives, if anything works please post it here, but it is not likely that the will work.
RAID 0 is a bane to computing, and should not be used under any circumstances.
You will, suffer at some future time if you use RAID 0
If you do a fresh install without installing new drives, then you are just lighting a fuse that will cause you future data loss. The RAID failed for some reason, and will fail again if using the same drives.
In the process of reinstalling the system you should replace the existing drives with 2 drives that are each twice the size that you think you fill up, and use RAID 1
Good Luck!
RAID 0 is a bane to computing, and should not be used under any circumstances.
You will, suffer at some future time if you use RAID 0
If you do a fresh install without installing new drives, then you are just lighting a fuse that will cause you future data loss. The RAID failed for some reason, and will fail again if using the same drives.
In the process of reinstalling the system you should replace the existing drives with 2 drives that are each twice the size that you think you fill up, and use RAID 1
Good Luck!
ASKER
As I've said before, recovering the files isn't the problem; running File Scavenger under BartPE UBCD allows me to reconstruct the RAID 0 and get the data from it. My hope was to find out WHY the RAID 0 was not being recognised by Win2K installation process, even though it was being reported by POST as a healthy array.
This had been my first use of RAID-0 and it will be my last! I agree with your sentiments; it's just too tricky to untangle when things go wrong!
What I'm now going to try doing is a clean Win2K install onto a single new drive, replace all the created folders with those from my original disk(s) and see if it all boots up OK. Hopefully if there are any problems, I'll then be in a state to be able to have a chance at a repair install.
If that all works then I'll have the original two drives spare which I'll probably set up as a data area in RAID-1.
I'll let you know how it all goes!
This had been my first use of RAID-0 and it will be my last! I agree with your sentiments; it's just too tricky to untangle when things go wrong!
What I'm now going to try doing is a clean Win2K install onto a single new drive, replace all the created folders with those from my original disk(s) and see if it all boots up OK. Hopefully if there are any problems, I'll then be in a state to be able to have a chance at a repair install.
If that all works then I'll have the original two drives spare which I'll probably set up as a data area in RAID-1.
I'll let you know how it all goes!
>>If that all works then I'll have the original two drives spare which I'll probably set up as a data area in RAID-1.
>>My hope was to find out WHY the RAID 0 was not being recognised by Win2K...
One of the drives has a higher level problem that is not recogonized by the POST. That is why I suggested that you replace BOTH drives with new one.
You could use the same drives again, and it might work for a day or a week or even a few months, BUT you will have a problem, the drive(s) will fail again...
>>My hope was to find out WHY the RAID 0 was not being recognised by Win2K...
One of the drives has a higher level problem that is not recogonized by the POST. That is why I suggested that you replace BOTH drives with new one.
You could use the same drives again, and it might work for a day or a week or even a few months, BUT you will have a problem, the drive(s) will fail again...
ASKER
When (if) I get the system back the way I want it I'll run the Maxtor diagnostics which, hopefully, will identify any existing and potential problems. At the moment the rebuild is looking possible - I've installed the new drive, installed W2K and replaced it with my original copy. The system then rebooted in a recognisable manner. There were a number of strange things that happened along the way which I'll enumerate when things have settled down a bit. For the present I want to get the new drive onto the other SATA controller. I also need to know what a 10GB partition containing WinME is all about... I'm not sure where that comes from!
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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Glad to hear that you are mostly up and running.
Good hardware RAID controllers cost more $, but write the config data to the actual drives, so that you only need to buy a similar controller.
The built in Mobo RAID is generally not that good.
I hope this helps !
Good hardware RAID controllers cost more $, but write the config data to the actual drives, so that you only need to buy a similar controller.
The built in Mobo RAID is generally not that good.
I hope this helps !
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