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Need to restore logical drive from RAID5 Cluster

I had two logical drives. one 173GB logical drive -(3x72.8GB) Raid5- which holds the data and another free 100mb sitting there for nothing. I deleted the 100mb logical drive and that action deleted the other important 173GB drive. I tried restarting the controllers and connect to them using "CR3500 Configuration Utility" but I still can't see my 137gb logical drive. The cluster is connected by a scsi cable to the server.

I used "Array Diagnostic Utility 7.30.6.0 " and it generated the attached txt report. It seems to have seen the logical drive..or so I think.

" LOGICAL DRIVE IDENTIFICATION:

Logical Drive 1:
Sector Size: 512
Sectors Available: 17756160
Fault Tolerance Mode: None
Logical Param Table: cyl=2176 heads=255 sec/track=32 xlate sig=0x0
BIOS Disabled: No

LOGICAL DRIVE CONFIGURATION:

Logical Drive 1:
Configuration Signature: 0xa9826bbe
Mapping Scheme: Multiple Block
Physical Drives: 1 (number not valid after drive movement)
This Logical Drive: 1 (excluding spare drives)
Fault Tolerance Mode: None
Logical Param Table: cyl=2176 heads=255 sec/track=32 xlate sig=0x0
Distribution Factor: 256
Operating System: 64768
Controller Order: 0
Additional Information: 0
Offset to Data: 0
Int 13h Support Enabled: Yes
Sectors on Volume: 17756160
Sectors per Drive: 17756160
Big Drive Assignment Map: 0x0000 0x0001 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000
Big Spare Assignment Map: 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000
Array Accelerator is enabled for this logical drive.

LOGICAL DRIVE STATUS:

Logical Drive 1:
Drive Status: OK
Blocks to Rebuild: 0
Blocks Re-mapped:
Spare Status Flags: 0x00
Spare to Replaced Map: See Big Spare to Replace Map:
Media Was Exchanged: No
Cache Failure: No
Expand Failure: 0x00
Unit Flags: 0x00
Big Remap Count: All Counts Zero
Big Drive Failure Map: 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000
Big Replacement Drive Map: 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000
Big Active Spare Map: 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000
Big Spare to Replace Map: No spares have replaced any drives
Big Spare Marked OK Map: 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000 0x0000
"

I can afford to lose the whole logical drive, except a 10mb file of data on that cluster. If there's no way to extract or recover the data file itself. how can i restore the logical drive back to gain access to the data again ?

Thank you.

Frank McCourry

Acronis Disk Director Suite may be your answer. The trial version will at least tell you if the partition is recoverable. To recover, you will need to purchase it: http://www.acronis.com/

Malli Boppe

I still can'y understand how deleting one logical drive would delete another.
Also never heard about RAID 5 Cluster.

Their are lots of tools on interent which can help you restore data from a disk if its been accidentely deleted.But remember not to format the disks.
Do a search for undelete in google

Einshtain

ASKER

Thank you guys. I did research for many days before posting here. The 3 disks are forming a logical partition. With fault tolerance Raid 5. This is what I meant.

and I can't understand myself how would deleting one partition delete the other. It seemed to me as if that partition held the configurations ? (does that even make sense ?)

I'll install the acronis Disk Director Server 10.0d and see what I can get out of it. (that was the only product holding the name disk director in acronis I found for trial download).

Einshtain

ASKER

Ok, so I've installed two recovering programs...only they can't see the physical disks in the first place to reconstruct back the configurations. Windows 2003 is listing my CR3500 Array Device in the device managment as unrecognized devices. They need drivers which seem have never existed before as I read many requests dated back to 2002 for the drivers.

However, the system was working previously fine seeing only the logical drive through the serial scsi. Also, I'm finding this 100mb hidden partition everywhere when there's a raid array for a logical drive. so I'm guessing I did delete the partition where the quorum files reside, if any.

I've got another working booting proliant DL380 server and I was thinking if I should install my three scsi disks in it and run the recovering program on that server to see the physical disks. But i needed advices and things to take care of from you guys before I do this. I'm afraid if I install the disks the controller will initialize them and erase all hope of restoration. also if I should take certain consideration about the disks order when I install them.

Thank you

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Frank McCourry

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Einshtain

ASKER

Restoration seems to recover deleted files or formatted disks maybe. but in my case, I have raid5 array with lost logical partition. hoping that the physical stripped data on the three scsi disks are still healthy and intact. this is why I'm not sure if plugging those disks into another machine with local array controller will allow me to access the disks physically and therefore the acronis disk utility can reconstruct the logical drive or at least allow me to extract the 10 mega byte folder that I care for.

does it matter if I hotplug the disks online or should I turn off the machine first ? will I still gain physicall access on the disks if plugged online ?? I'm backing up the Dl380 server where I'll be plugging the disks on..just incase murphay's law kicks in and I lose both :)

Frank McCourry

Moving to anoter machine could be disasterous. Do all of your work from the machine and controller the array originated with.

I would suggest sending the drives out to Ontrack Data Systems. www.ontrackdatarecovery.com

Einshtain

ASKER

I've found a a backup file of the array configuration. I used the utility to restore the array configuration from the configuration file. Both partitions appeared again and the hardisks started lighting and all. I checked the utility and it showed me that it is "Initilizing ......." and then I freaked out. There was no stop button no nothing. I had no choice but to wait and hope that it was only checking the integrity of the residing data. I left it doing the long process and left home.

Today, I came to check on it this morning and found that windows now can see the logical disks. only no partitions. I used the acronis program to restore any lost partitions.. it toke another three hours scaning ...and found nothing. so I guess I'm stuck now with completely deleted disks :(

correct me if I'm wrong. and I hope I'm wrong. if not ... then maybe its time to write to my boss and close this ticket :(

thank you.

Frank McCourry

Sounds like your done man, sorry to say. I feel your pain.

Frank McCourry

Two words - Tape Backup

Frank McCourry

Man, no points, even for the effort? So it didn't solve your problem, but your deleting the question? I'm sure that some advice was taken and tried here. Besides, there is valuable information from your experience that may help someone else. Bummer.

Einshtain

ASKER

You're right. I did actually try acronis. and also I got some knowledge from you about not moving the disks out of the original hosting controller. 250 ? but how can I assign the points partially to you ? if i accept multiple solutions I'll have to assign a total of 500.
and how can I close the ticket unsolved without deleting ?

Frank McCourry

a little help from the moderator is needed.