[Help] Windows cannot recognise hardware RAID drive after a reformat +

[yong2579]

I have a hardware RAID - ACS7630, from Accusys. There are 3 drive bays for 3 hard disks, and that piece of hardware will configure them as RAID 5. The hardware is connected to the motherboard through a normal IDE cable and power is supplied by a normal power cable. To the BIOS or OS, that hardware RAID is identified as just a single hard disk. OS is installed on another hard disk. Let's label them as :

HD-OS : Hard disk containing the OS

HD-R5 : The 3 Hard disks in the hardware RAID that is identified as a single hard disk

I have a few scenarios which I had tested, and before these were tested, (NTFS)HD-OS already has WinXP Pro running, and (NTFS)HD-R5 already contains a lot of data which I have been reading from and writing to for months.

Scenario A

Format HD-OS

Install WinXP Pro

Open Explorer, couldn't display HD-R5 drive letter (is just a single drive letter)

Start Disk Management Service; it's there but status is "Unallocated".

Conclusion: I cannot read the data from my HD-R5.

Scenario B

After Scenario A, format HD-R5 as NTFS.

Copy backup data back to HD-R5. (Can read/write at this point)

Image HD-OS to ImageFileA. (using cloning tools)

Reboot and image ImageFileA back to HD-OS.

Conclusion: I can read the data from my HD-R5 still.

Scenario C

After Scenario B, format HD-OS.

Install WinXP Pro.

Open Explorer, couldn't display HD-R5 drive letter (is just a single drive letter)

Start Disk Management Service; it's there but status is "Unallocated".

Reboot and image ImageFileA back to HD-OS.

Open Explorer, couldn't display HD-R5 drive letter (is just a single drive letter)

Conclusion: I cannot read the data from my HD-R5.

From Scenario B and C, I am showing that with the same ImageFileA, I get different results.

I need to know why I am experiencing such a problem. Not able to read the data from HD-R5 in this way defeat the purpose of having such a RAID system.

Please NOW, in Microsoft Windows XP section, use [TAGS] in your topic's title.

See rules.

--Sonic