Rapid Storage Technology
Intel® RST, RAID
2047 Discussions

Raid 1 volume locked/missing

SLame2
Beginner
1,653 Views

I had created an issue back in November. Then as quickly as it came it went away and had not seen the issue in about 4 months. It is now back and I am really concerned about how I can either get this working of recover the data and scrap the machine I am using.

 

At boot up - sometimes I see both of my drives that should be raid - but they both show as 'Non-Member-Disk'. When I get Windows booted (which is thankfully on an SSD that is not running RAID) and launch Intel RapidStore - I have had mixed results. Sometimes both drives show as locked. Sometimes only one drive shows (the other is missing) but is shown as locked.

 

My original post was at:

https://forums.intel.com/s/question/0D70P000006YgMy/weekly-my-desktop-loses-the-raid-1-group?s1oid=00DU0000000YT3c&s1nid=0DB0P000000U1Hq&emkind=chatterCommentNotification&emvtk=DdJcetuIh4ZBeClIN7bF4dh9c8O1KbZQY71K.UNYnRA%3D&s1uid=0050P000008wmb8&emtm=1576178890946&fromEmail=1&s1ext=0

 

0 Kudos
8 Replies
DaisyJ_Intel
Moderator
1,562 Views

Hello SLame2, 

 

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities. 

 

We will be glad to continue assisting. We have seen similar scenarios in which the system can boot but the RAID disappears due to chipset issues. Please share the details below so we get a better understanding of the issue reported. 

  • You mentioned in the previous thread that the issue was solved. Please let us know the steps you followed to stop the issue at that time. 
  • Is there any Utility or program running in the background? 
  • You mentioned that the issue is experienced sporadically. Have you made any changes either in the software or hardware that might have triggered this situation again?
  • Do you see the RAID volume detected on your system? If so, please attach a picture.
  • Please confirm if the SSD installed in the system is the bootable device.
  • Do you get any error notification when this issue is experienced?
  • Please contact Dell and verify if they might have any BIOS updates for your system.

 

Feel free to reply at your earliest convenience.

 

 

Best Regards, 

 

 

Daisy J. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

0 Kudos
SLame2
Beginner
1,562 Views
  • In regards to previous resolution. I simply tried multiple options of unplugging and replugging in the drives. At one point it recognized both of them on boot up as member drives, opened windows, logged in, and they started to rebuild the volume. I have tried variants of that so far and nothing. Both show at bootup but sometimes only one drive will show within the Intel app. I believe in all cases they are shown and noted as being locked.
  • I have a number of utilities like Google Drive, Corsair options, and others. I can get a list, but might need better direction.
  • I applied the Windows 1909 update. I had moved some fans around and tweaked my corsair settings. Nothing that seemed out of the ordinary.
  • I will reboot and attach what I am seeing. At this point in the Intel software I don't see the raid volume, I see 1 or 2 drives as locked.
  • I have two SSD. One is an on board msata that is my 'c' drive and is what I boot to. Thankfully no issues there. The other is my 'scratch disk' that is a normal 2.5" SSD where I do my active photo editing. I use the spinning RAID array for backup of the SSDs along with inactive photo editing so that I have it for fast reference. I also use the spinning RAID as the source for my Google Drive synch.
  • Error - not exactly. On boot up BIOS I see the drives as non member drives. if I do the CTRL-I - I can select from only 2 options - create array or exit. Within Windows I see that some apps (like Google Sync) looking for that drive/folder cannot find it. But no, The intel software say's its running normally (which is of course misleading)
  • I had updated the BIOS last July (2019). There are no newer versions available as of checking yesterday.

 

At this point I would even be willing to remove a drive, plug it into another machine just to recover the data. Given that I didn't specifically patch or do anything to fix this I am reluctant to continue to use the RAID option on this computer.

 

Thank you.

0 Kudos
DaisyJ_Intel
Moderator
1,562 Views

Hello SLame2, 

 

Thank you for your response. 

 

Based on the details provided, everything seems to indicate that this behavior expected might be related to a system issue since the Intel® RST tool is functional. 

 

We suspect that the issue might be related to the CTRL I or the Option ROM. We would suggest you contact Dell and confirm if there might be a way to update the option ROM.

 

We will do further research in this matter but it is quite likely it might be a hardware issue. 

 

Any questions, please let me know.

 

Best Regards, 

 

 

Daisy J. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

0 Kudos
SLame2
Beginner
1,562 Views

I will give that a try. Given that I am out of warranty, all options seem blocked.

 

If I take this drive and put it into another machine can I recover the files that are on it?

0 Kudos
SLame2
Beginner
1,562 Views

The best dell has to offer so far is to download and install Intel Rapid Start. I can't find it on the dell downloads and when I go to Intel I end up at the Intel Rapid Storage Technology. I do see there is a version 17.8.0.1065 from January 2020 - that I had downloaded when I was troublehooting last week, but after installing did not make a difference so I went back to the version I have installed - which is 17.7.0.1006.

 

Is there an option to remove one of the drives in my RAID, connect to another machine and recover my files? If not, then that seems to be a pretty big flaw in how RAID is setup and configured. At this point I just want my files.

0 Kudos
DaisyJ_Intel
Moderator
1,562 Views

Hello SLame2,

 

Thank you for your patience.

 

We have been doing further research on the issue reported. Please find below our findings:

 

  • This does not seem to be a problem with Intel® RST.  The occasional disconnection looks like a drive prone for failure. May be a drive or a port connection issue.
  • If RAID is seen in BIOS: see the drives as non-member drives. If you do the CTRL-I - and can only select from only 2 options - create array or exit indicates that there is no RST RAID on the system. RST writes metadata on the drives that are part of the RAID array. You should have more options.
  • CTRL-I - can select only 2 options - create array or exit. This is also an indication that there is no RST RAID1 on the system or the drive has some issues to connect.
  • If you had a RAID 1 and you can set the drivers as Non-Raid in the CTRL I o in the Option ROM you might recover the data otherwise, the only option would be to contact a data recovery company to get assistance in this matter. 

 

Feel free to reply if you have any additional questions or comments.

 

Regards, 

 

 

Daisy J. 

Intel Customer Support Technician  

0 Kudos
SLame2
Beginner
1,562 Views

Obviously this is what has me concerned. I do only see two options from CTRL-I - create or exit. Seems to be a gap in the whole point of having a RAID array.

 

On bootup they both show as non member drives - I would think if just one drive is going, it would show one as a member and one not.

Since I don't have any other options from CTRL-I - could I put one drive in another machine?

 

I welcome any other feedback.

 

0 Kudos
DaisyJ_Intel
Moderator
1,562 Views

Thank you for your response.

 

We understand your concern, however, as mentioned in the last post, the way to get the data from the drive would be if you can set the drive as Non-Raid in the CTRL I o in the Option ROM if you had a RAID 1, otherwise, the other recommendation would be by getting assistance from a Data recovery company. 

 

Best regards, 

 

Daisy J. 

Intel Customer Support Technician  

0 Kudos
Reply