Got Raided

[Dozernut]

Been without a tractor fix the last few days, the raid controller glitched on my computer and erased every file on my hard drives. Luckily I had most files backed up and copied on disks, but not all. Oh the joys of the blue screen of death! My computer was so stupid it could not read the recovery disks, so I had to swallow my pride and have the local computer shop load the basic recovery program on my hard drives so I could rebuild my system. I have never had a system that completely wiped the hard drives before so this is a new experience, and I have a dual, mirrored, redundant hard drive setup and it got both. That was not supposed to happen, but that is just my standard run of luck! Oh well, I am back up and running again and getting TBN so life is still good. Just had to rant a little!

 

[MossRoad]

The problem with mirrored drives is if they are on the same controller and the controller barfs, it barfs on both drives. That has happened to us, as well. We only use mirrored drives for the O.S. and programs. All data is stored on RAID 5 with a hot spare and backed up to tape nightly.

At home, I just make it a point to keep data backed up regularly to a different hard drive on a different controller and then to CD on a regular basis.

 

[Dozernut]

That makes sense, thanks for the advice! I think I will get an external hard drive as a back up.

 

[Slacker]

Been without a tractor fix the last few days, the raid controller glitched on my computer and erased every file on my hard drives. Luckily I had most files backed up and copied on disks, but not all. Oh the joys of the blue screen of death! My computer was so stupid it could not read the recovery disks, so I had to swallow my pride and have the local computer shop load the basic recovery program on my hard drives so I could rebuild my system. I have never had a system that completely wiped the hard drives before so this is a new experience, and I have a dual, mirrored, redundant hard drive setup and it got both. That was not supposed to happen, but that is just my standard run of luck! Oh well, I am back up and running again and getting TBN so life is still good. Just had to rant a little!

Little tip for the future:

When you configure the raid controller, if possible use all the default settings for stripe size etc. or write the settings down. If the raid controller fails, replace with a new one and use the exact same settings...99% of the time your data will be right where you left it. I've also had customers zeroize the raid config on perc cards and used the same method.

 

[Dozernut]

Thanks Slacker, will do, very good advice!

 

[texbaylea]

I am using a Netgear SC010 external drive enclosure running two WD 80 gig drives in a Raid 1 configuration for my backups. I have decided to add a second for insurance since the SC101 uses a unique format. I only take the most crucial files to CD since I am not running a business.

Vernon