RAID Array Failure :(

[TW]Fox · 17 Mar 2011 at 23:20

Hi guys,

Powered my PC down this morning - no issues. Powered it back up and it wouldnt boot. Then I realised one of my 750Gb WD Black Series drives was showing as 'Failure(0)' in the Intel RAID bios.

Any ideas why this has happened and if its recoverable?

Thanks/

[TW]Fox · 18 Mar 2011 at 10:09

Yes, it stops at that point. It's RAID 0.

[TW]Fox · 18 Mar 2011 at 18:12

I'm not concerned about the fact I've lost my Windows install.

What I'm trying to do is work out what has happened and why its happened. Is pretty much the only outcome here a drive failure?

[TW]Fox · 18 Mar 2011 at 18:34

The drive in question is a WD7501AALS-00E8B0.

It was purchased as a WD Black Series.

OcUK have a Black Series but it is a WD7502AAEX.

What is the difference between the two drives and can I use the newer one as a replacement? I beleive the other drive in the array is also an AALS.

[TW]Fox · 18 Mar 2011 at 18:40

Hmm, WD do an Advanced RMA. This is probably the way forward. Trouble is I am not home until Tuesday and wish to get the ball rolling. All I've had so far is the error on the RAID Bios.

Is it certain the drive has failed? Is there anything else that would cause this? I don't want to set up an advanced RMA unless I am certain I have a failed drive, but I cannot test it until Tuesday

The error message on the RAID BIOS is 'Error Occured (0)'

[TW]Fox · 21 Mar 2011 at 18:00

Hi guys,

Back home now. Turned the machine on - Error Occured. But Windows booted perfectly. Once I was into Windows the Intel Storage Manager popped up to tell me one of my discs had failed, was not accessible and all my data was lost.

In reality, everything is perfectly accessible and working fine - except for the fact it's reporting this error.

Any ideas what is going on here?

What does 'Reset disk to normal' do in the storage manager?

[TW]Fox · 21 Mar 2011 at 18:38

Well it's all gone wrong again - it wont boot now - back to showing 'Error Occured'.

Still, managed to save the few files that were not backed up in the random period it did work.

It boots past the RAID bios screen but sits on the Asus motherboard splash screen immediatly after.

[TW]Fox · 21 Mar 2011 at 19:08

'No Drive Found'

Thanks WD Diagnostics. Very useful.

[TW]Fox · 21 Mar 2011 at 19:49

Joy.

Back in Windows, all working - moved to another SATA port. RAID bios still reports an error on one drive, and the Intel storage manager still reports that one drive has failed.

Not sure what to do at the moment, as I cannot get the diagnostic tools to work.

[TW]Fox · 21 Mar 2011 at 20:23

I was initially connected to Ports 0 and 1..

[TW]Fox · 4 May 2011 at 08:48

Well, I thought I'd seen the back of this. After getting into Windows some 6 weeks ago and resetting the array status, everything was fine.

This morning I was confronted with a blank screen. Hit reset - and the problem is back. Exactly the same as before - 'Error Occured'. I did manage to almost boot Windows - once - but it hung and then BSOD'd on the splash screen.

I am guessing this is a drive failure rather than a controller issue?

I wonder why it went away for 6 weeks then came back?

[TW]Fox · 4 May 2011 at 18:36

I've now tested both drives using the WD Quicktest and they both came up as fine. Just before I disabled the array it had started reporting Unknown Error(0) on BOTH drives!

I'm now installing Windows onto a single drive...