RAID(0) Stripe Error

[Brusilov]

Today my Dell XPS730X decided it was time to be vindictive.

I saw an error message that indicated that my RAID(0) drive had some errors on it. I was prompted to open an Intel application which really didn't tell me very much at all apart from the fact that there was an error.

There was a message that told me the disk was still useable but I should back it up ASAP.

Now, I do have an external 250Gb Hard Drive that I use to back up my documents but there is no way it can handle the 567Gb of space that I've used on my C drive.

My system does have a 75Gb SSD (that I retrieved from a PC I had to scrap) but that is used for PC games (well, some of them anyway). The model of this is: WDC WD740ADFD-00NLR5 - which I believe is a SATA device.


I believe once there is an error on a RAID(0) device then it's time to replace the thing.

Back in the days when Microsoft supplied it's software on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM this would not be any great concern as I could always start from scratch after I reformatted my hard drive.

I currently have a single HD drive bay free for a new HD.

I've attached a current DxDiag if it's of any use.

As it's a PC from Dell (delivered in December 2009) I don't know what the model of the mother board is let alone the models of the pair of HDs that are used for RAID(0).

I presume the new HD will have to be SATA and not SATA II?

I won't be making any new disk(s) into a RAID(0) system as it appears it's just asking for trouble - if one goes then both are just scrap.

Advice on how to proceed is appreciated.

Edited: I was looking at this as a possible replacement.

[irishron]

The model number is not even showing up in the dxdiag.

Have you tried running dskchk on it?

The drive linked should work.

[PoleCat]

...[snip]...I saw an error message that indicated that my RAID(0) drive had some errors on it. I was prompted to open an Intel application which really didn't tell me very much at all apart from the fact that there was an error.

There was a message that told me the disk was still useable but I should back it up ASAP.

Did you by chance notice anything about the error message that stood out? The thing I'm looking for is a SMART error but I could be wrong....

I believe once there is an error on a RAID(0) device then it's time to replace the thing.

Just because you're getting an error doesn't mean both drives are bad - it may mean one or the other is dying. Have you tried reinstalling the drives as separate drives? That might help you lock down which drive is on its last legs.

Back in the days when Microsoft supplied it's software on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM this would not be any great concern as I could always start from scratch after I reformatted my hard drive.

Looking over the general specs of your system it looks like it won't react too harshly to an OEM install of Windows even though it came from Dell. You can always buy your own OEM disc to start from scratch.

As it's a PC from Dell (delivered in December 2009) I don't know what the model of the mother board is let alone the models of the pair of HDs that are used for RAID(0).

It seems your model has it's own Wiki page. It looks like the model number is Dell P/N P270J. That may be the base for you to start your future searches on. Good luck!

[GrnEyedDvl]

On a personal note, a RAID stripe is pretty much useless for the average user. Sure you get the flexibility of mapping everything to the same drive, instead of putting things on different drives, but as you just found out a problem on a RAID stripe is a real problem as there is no parity in RAID 0 so absolutely no fault tolerance. If you had your OS on one drive, and your data on the other, you would probably be better off since you dont lose everything if one drive fails. Just my 2 cents on that.

The error is a RAID error or a SMART error? There is a difference. If its a RAID error it can probably be fixed, if its a SMART error then the drive is most likely going to fail (or at least have block errors) sometime in the near future.

You are using software RAID (as opposed to a dedicated piece of RAID hardware) and software RAID has its issues. It runs and is controlled by the OS, so all kinds of things can happen. Registry errors, stuff like that. We use it on the TWC servers too as dedicated RAID cards are fairly expensive, but you should read up on it and see what its shortcomings are.

Also, you didnt specify which drive has the problem. Somewhere on one of those drives is a recovery partition with the Windows install on it. That is how Dell does it now as opposed to the DVD as you mentioned. If this is the drive that is failing, you can get software from Dell but it might cost you $20 or so.

I also have no idea what the data is or how important it is, which makes a difference. But I will throw a few ideas out there.

Buy a new hard drive in the 1000 gig range. Copy all your important stuff to that. Figure out which of your current drives is failing, remove it, and do a clean install of Windows on the other one without RAID.

If the stuff you saved is truly important, and you want to use RAID for fault tolerance, then buy a second hard drive that matches the 1st one you just bought, and set that up as a RAID mirror. Save all of your stuff to that drive from now on, and if your operating system drive fails its not a huge deal.

[Brusilov]

OK thanks guys.

The drive that was failing was the second one.

Having watched some videos on YouTube it was not a SMART error that was flagged (like this one: here).

I've downloaded a trial version of HD tune Pro and will run it's diagnostics and see what happens.



"Just because you're getting an error doesn't mean both drives are bad - it may mean one or the other is dying. Have you tried reinstalling the drives as separate drives? That might help you lock down which drive is on its last legs."

If I reinstalled the drives as separate drive would it mean that I need to reinstall Windows?

This is what I see when I run the Intel Matrix Storage Console - the Status on Post 1 was shown as an error but I changed that (may have been a dumb thing to do).

Port 0

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Port 1

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: