Reinstalling Windows with seperate RAID 5 Array

[WA7ER]

Sorted!

Thanks everyone for your help :)

[articuno1au]

Thank **** for that D:

I was worried I'd buggered up D:

What was the answer in the end?

[WA7ER]

Sorry, it ended up being remarkably simple:

I used the Intel RST CLI, ran the get info command, saw that the array was recognised, ran the flush cache command, restarted, and voila :)

[+BudMan MVC]

Good thing you didn't do "re-initialization" - that wipes the disks clean ;)

I'm not sure the details of your controller - not sure what a flush cache command does on this specific controller. But if disk is seen offline, normally you would have to force it back online when it was seen again.

Glad you got it sorted. In the future - the only reason you would disconnect disks when installing, if you want to make sure you know which one your installing too because say you have 2 disks of the same size or maker, etc. Windows is not going to just pick some disk to install the boot or system too.. Its going to use the one you say to use. While I agree with the nature of the suggestion of removing the other drives during install -- you have to be careful in a case where controller of an array might think its drives died when it turns on and does not seem them ;)

[+PeterUK MVC]

Good thing you didn't do "re-initialization" - that wipes the disks clean ;)

If done right it does not wipe the disks as I show for recovering a RAID at the end.

http://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-6004

[+BudMan MVC]

And in that doc it clearly states in the very start.

"In the Advanced set the strip size you had before and do not check Initialize volume or do any Initializing just yet."

Which was my point. Once the array is back online, and you want to do a verification of the data, which according to the intel raid ui under verification.

Initializing a volume is the process of synchronizing all redundant data on a volume prior to verifying or verifying and repairing that data. If you attempt to start a verification process for a volume that has not been initialized, you will be prompted to do so.

Initialize a disk/array is normally what you do when you create - normally it means WIPE!! I would be very careful to understand exactly what your controller or software means when it says init.

examples

Q: What exactly is initialization (the RAID controller is prompting to do this to my new array)?

A: Initializing a logical hard drive erases all data on every hard drive included in the logical RAID array and effectively resets the array. The process of initialization places zeros in the data fields of a logical RAID drive and creates the parity information necessary to allow the logical drive to successfully pass a consistency check.

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/ss4000-e/sb/CS-026151.htm

If you decide to initialize you will lose all existing data on the RAID array. It may be prudent to try other steps first to repair the failed array.

Without fully understanding the exact controller/software user was using and exactly what the user was doing - telling them to init something could very well lead to data loss.. Which was something the user was adamant about avoiding

[+PeterUK MVC]

And in that doc it clearly states in the very start.

"In the Advanced set the strip size you had before and do not check Initialize volume or do any Initializing just yet."

Thats when you re-create the lost array and then you recovery the partition and then you do a verify to which it asks you that you have to Initialize before you can run verify.

If you Initialize with the wrong strip size when you re-create the array then it wipes the data.

I should know because who do you think did the doc?