RAID 0 Failure But Still Boots Up Fine Mystery

[DEvan4]

Shorter version:

My Intel Rapid Storage control panel says there's a RAID 0 failure which, I've read, should mean I have a total system failure as one of the hard drives isn't responding. However I am able to boot up normally (most of the time), play video games, and access all of my files. All seems normal. What is happening? How can I fix this or make sure I'm not about to lose everything?

Note: i have backed up recently and have created a windows boot USB with all system files just in case.

Longer Version:

I've had my Acer Predator Triton about 6 months now and it's been mainly fine (though has trouble waking from hibernation every now and then). However about a week ago I got the BSOD while playing a game. After doing a soft reset (holding power button for a bit), the machine got through the BIOS screen and suddenly said the dreaded words "No Bootable Drive". So I did another soft reset. Surprisingly, it just booted up fine and everything was back to normal. Crisis averted, somehow. I went on with my life and all was well.

...but lo and behold, a week later, it did it again. no bootable drive. This is when I checked the Intel Rapid Storage control panel as stated in the short version. Please see screenshot below of the exact error message. How can a hard drive fail in a RAID 0 config and yet still boot up and be able to play games? Shouldn't half the data be missing? Obviously something bad is happening since the PC is telling me no bootable drive some of the time. I have a dreaded feeling that this is the canary in the coal mine, and something awful is going to happen soon. Really hoping someone can help shed some light on this and find a solution. Thanks all.

Basic Specs (all drivers/files up to date):

2018 Acer Predator Triton 700

Windows 10

i7-7700HQ CPU

32GB DDR4 RAM

GXT 1080 Max-Q GPU

2 x 256GB SSD in RAID 0 config

Status Window 1:

Status Window 2:

[idata]

Hello dresoccer4,

Thank you for posting.

When a RAID 0 volume fails, the data on the hard drive is no longer accessible.

• Where did you install the operating system partition?
• When did install the operating system? Was that before creating your RAID 0?

Amy C

Intel Customer Support Technician

Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[DEvan4]

Hello Amy -

1) Here's a screenshot of my partitions (Dan's Big T5 is an external SSD, don't mind it). Everything else is on the two internal 256 GB SSDs with the RAID 0 config.

2) The operating system came pre-installed with my laptop and the hard drives are also in RAID 0 config out of the factory. I have an Acer Predator Triton 700 that is 6 months old.

My machine seems to be working fine except for the issues stated in my original post. So I don't understand how the RAID 0 volume has failed...

Thanks,

Daniel

[idata]

Thank you, Daniel.

I cannot provide a reason why a RAID 0 config can fail, it could a lot of things related to restarts, bad sectors on a drive, virus attacks, and the list goes on. I can confirm that the reason why you are able to access all your information is because the operating system was installed prior to the creation of the RAID 0 config, and since you already had information before creating the volume you are able to access some or most of that information.

Amy C

Intel Customer Support Technician

Under Contract to Intel Corporationñ

[DEvan4]

Hi Amy,

Thanks for your response. Yes my hard drive (both of them in RAID 0 config) is about 85% full, and I am able to access all of my data, play games, watch movies, etc. just fine. However the warning that one of the RAID 0 drives has failed has me worried. Does it mean the entire thing could randomly fail at any time and I'd lose all of my data? Is there a way to scan the hard drive to locate the failure? Is there a way to repair the failure? What do you recommend as the best course of action?

Thank you for your help.

- Daniel

[idata]

Please, see below:

Does it mean the entire thing could randomly fail at any time and I'd lose all of my data?

Yes, it is possible. Your data can be corrupted.

Is there a way to scan the hard drive to locate the failure?

Not from my end, and in your case it could have been anything. You can try checking with your computer manufacturer to locate a possible failure.

Is there a way to repair the failure? What do you recommend as the best course of action?

You could try this: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000006437/technologies.html Recovering a RAID 0 Volume Failure Using Intel® Rapid Storage... Remember to back up your information, as I mentioned before data can be corrupted.

Amy C

Intel Customer Support Technician

Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[idata]

If you need further assistance let us know.

Amy CIntel Customer Support TechnicianUnder Contract to Intel Corporation