Raid Failure, Need Another Box!

[Sidewinder]

OK,

I have a RAID1 software controlled, storage file system is NTFS, data is intact, I can prove this all.

Trouble is the "box" is goosed.

Any suggestions for a cost effective temporary home for the current RAID pair which are 2TB, and are SATA, I have > 1.5TB storage used on them, I "NEED" to ensure that I don't loose anything as I have no where else to put this stuff, I am looking for a cheapo tempo solution as I have a better idea in the pipeline, it's going to happen, it's just lacking a little cash at the moment!

I can pull & access a single disk, but have nowhere to put the data to give me redundancy, and it is important, both personally and business wise.

Looking for minimum cost as it is a sticking plaster repair until I can sort their replacement which is already ongoing!

 

[Steve3948]

Oddly had a similar problem last week on my Linkstation 1TB Raid 1, warning light flashing, checked and Disk had failed on the raid array, before trying a rebuild I copied contents onto onother 1TB external single drive.

Rebuild went ok and all was good however being 5 years old I decided to buy another Linkstation 2TB configured Raid 1 and moved everything onto new unit.

How old is your unit, can you not buy a new drive, this was my first thoughts but then with mine being 5 years old and the new Buffalo 2TB from CPC was only £160, I decided on new.

 

[Steve3948]

What I did read was not to put a drive loaded with information into another NAS due to the array being unique to the unit is was built on.

You could use my old linkstation but as above I don't think it will work and would most likely rebuild wiping everything.

 

[Sidewinder]

Disks are fine, data is fine, it is the controlling device that is goosed, & I don't have anything else that I can rebuild it on to here.

Plus if I buy another box, and fit the existing disks it will blank them when I build the array, thus loosing all my data!

 

[Steve3948]

Interesting catch 22, so you need a spare external 1TB Drive to copy to, then new box and put both drives in build new array then copy back from spare.

 

[Sidewinder]

Not quite, I need at least a 2TB disk as the original is RAID1 not RAID0.

That is 2x2TB mirror.

Thing is I am already working on a solution, but, it is financially a little way off yet!

Just fishing for ideas and suggestions TBH.

 

[NozSpark]

Not that I know much about such things,, but do you need to keep it RAID1 until your solution is in place ??

I'm guessing that you can read the drives individually in a caddy right now??

 

[Sidewinder]

Yes I can read the disks Noz, thing is the data is quite important, both personally and business wise.

So, IF I copy the data to a single disk and then rebuild the raid in another box, IF the single disk fails in the meantime, it will be a find a branch and some rope job!

 

[NozSpark]

But doesnt raid 1 duplicate the data onto both discs... therefore if one failed as a single disc, then you'd still have a copy if it on its twin??

 

[Sidewinder]

Yes it does, but, as soon as I put the disks into another enclosure it will wipe both of them clean.

IF I copy the data off onto another single disk, then put the two from the RAID into another enclosure, and build them into a RAID1 then IF the single disk containing my data goes FUBAR in the time the raid is rebuilding, or the data is corrupt on the single disk I'm goosed big time.

 

[NozSpark]

Then I'd say you should be looking at a completely new RAID box (inc. discs) if your data is that valuable

 

[Sidewinder]

I am, Noz, but, the 2Tb is too small, I already have another 1TB RAID1, a 250GB RAID1, & a 500GB RAID1 to supplement if, so, I have nearly 4GB of data that I need to get onto a single RIAD1 or safer really.

I have a solution, I just don't have the funds for it at the moment, I was fishing for ideas!

 

[Steve3948]

Upload to a Cloud, and keep both existing drives.

Once you have new box build new array and copy back from cloud.

 

[Sidewinder]

Yes Steve, I had looked at that I just don't have a 4TB cloud!!!

Thing is IF I pay for cloud space, it takes away from the funds I have for the "final" solution as it were.

It could be an option though, across several cloud servers, I may have enough storage!

 

[steptoe]

is your FUBARd box HW or SW RAID,,?

 

[Sidewinder]

Combination, Raid Steps, data is OK.

 

[Sidewinder]

Decided to sort the original box.

3.3V d.c., bus smoothing caps for the processor were goosed, changed same, machine booted better.

Found a faulty RAM stick in slot 1, removed, for now.

Sorted OS driver issues, now seems to be more stable.

Just rebuilding bare bones machine, then I will start adding bits until I can access the RAID.

I have found the cheapest source for the unit I want to replace this, hence my other thread asking if anyone has used them?