think i have 2 hard drives set up using raid. what to do?

[unwashed potato!]

sorry if that isn't a correct sentence in the title not sure how you'd say it.

anyway got a problem on a friends computer where is has completely stopped working. I took it all apart cleaned it and it worked randomly again but only for a day and now has gone back to not turning on again.

He needs his files from his hard drives pretty urgently so i said ill put them into my computer and then transfer them across to my external drive.

i have already tried putting on into my computer but when windows finally says the new hardware is ready for use, when i try viewing the hard drive i get a message saying it isn't formatted correctly so i am thinking they have been set up using raid. I'm worried though that this may cause data loss. would it have doing this?

how would i go about getting the hard drives set up in raid again but so that they are not the main hard drives? i am guessing just plug in the raid controller (if of course it is a raid controller) and then set it up in bios so my hard drive is the main one.

Sorry if these seems little silly questions i'm just really worried about loosing his data as he hasn't backed up the information ever

 

[semi-pro waster]

This unfortunately sounds rather like a hard lesson in the making for your friend.

But that aside do you have any clue why his computer won't turn on at all? The problem here is that Raid arrays are very infrequently transferrable so if it is/was a Raid array your best bet is to reconnect them and backup from his computer. If you can get it working then obviously start backing up immediately with most vital files first.

Does your friend know if it was a Raid array or not? I'm guessing he didn't set it up if he is unsure. You could try something like GetDataBack but it probably won't work at all if you've got a Raid0 array due to the files being split across two drives.

 

[unwashed potato!]

This unfortunately sounds rather like a hard lesson in the making for your friend.

But that aside do you have any clue why his computer won't turn on at all? The problem here is that Raid arrays are very infrequently transferrable so if it is/was a Raid array your best bet is to reconnect them and backup from his computer. If you can get it working then obviously start backing up immediately with most vital files first.

Does your friend know if it was a Raid array or not? I'm guessing he didn't set it up if he is unsure. You could try something like GetDataBack but it probably won't work at all if you've got a Raid0 array due to the files being split across two drives.

no clue why it wont start up. The computer is a dell dimension 8400 (or 8300 not exactly sure which the second digit it) and the problem is when you click the power up button the cpu and gpu fan spins for a split second and stops then all you get is a flashing yellow light on the power button. been googling and googling checking everything they say (although we haven't replaced any parts yet).

it's very odd as it started working again after i cleaned it all out but then decided to randomly completely stop, this time though turning itself off rather then not turning back on after being switched off. My thought is that is it the gpu and the fan is in an extremely bad condition making a horrible noise as i get very dusty at one point, however i see no reason why this would stop the device from startin up at all. Would it? i have tried unplugging it which makes no difference.

 

[semi-pro waster]

I'm not sure if that is one of the ones with a non-standard PSU but have you tried connecting up a spare PSU if you have one? At the moment there could be multiple causes for the problem, have you tried dismantling everything and then reconnecting?

 

[unwashed potato!]

I'm not sure if that is one of the ones with a non-standard PSU but have you tried connecting up a spare PSU if you have one? At the moment there could be multiple causes for the problem, have you tried dismantling everything and then reconnecting?

yes dismantling everything then reconnecting one by one, connecting some when some others aren't etc. Luckily i have another dell dimension in the house, though it's a different number like 5200 or something like that, we will be trying the parts from that tomorrow and praying it starts again.

thanks for the help.