Data Recovery

[lxskllr]

I have a problem I need worked out. I think the solution will be complicated, so I guess I'm looking more for learning resources than direct advice, but direct advice is welcome also.

I have the remains of a Win2000 server that had a bad RAID card of unknown make, and unknown RAID level, but presumably 5(three drives). It also had a Sony tape drive attached, and I have some of the tapes, but don't know how they were used, or what, if anything of value is one them.

My order of preference is easily browsing the tapes, and pulling desired files off. A distant second is trying to rebuild the RAID array, and getting the files that way. I have the tape drive hooked up to a Win2kpro computer, and it /seems/ to work, but some of the options in the utility software lock the program up, and requires a reboot.

I'm not familiar with RAID, or tape backup. Are there any good resources for learning? I have access to most versions of Windows for a test machine, and GNU/Linux if either of them are better than the other for recovery. Ideas?

 

[phis6]

There are professional data recovery services like WeRecoverData.com who can help advice you how to handle your RAID storage device and recover your data. They offer a free consultation which could help you point to the right direction.

 

[ForumMaster]

this link helps understand common failures.

from what i understand, the server had a single controller connected to 3 drives?
if you cannot get the backup to work (assuming it is good), then you must find out the make of your RAID controller.
certain cards keep the configuration on an onboard NVRAM chip. if the card goes, so does the raid configuration as well as your data.
other cards keep a copy of the configuration on the array as well, so if the controller dies, you simply replace it. but you must replace it with an exact model (drivers and things like that).

RAID is hardly a perfect solution. and as phis6 said, if this data is super important, and the tape backup doesn't work, be prepared to pay for a data recovery company...

 

[Mushkins]

Sounds like a familiar story. I have a closet full of tape "backups" from a company we acquired a few years back. They were sitting out in the light, and they kept re-recording the same tapes without ever maintaining the tape drive that was screaming alerts to be cleaned and that the tapes were expired/corrupted.

Personally, I'd focus on trying to futz the RAID into booting long enough to pull data to a USB hard drive. If the server is from any major brand like HP or Dell you should be able to put the service tag into their website or call someone at support who can pull the order records and identify the RAID controller that was put in it. Playing with damaged tapes could further damage them and increase data loss. Box em up and send them off to a professional as a last resort.

 

[wayliff]

How about this? You can give the trial a go.

http://www.runtime.org/raid.htm
http://www.runtime.org/running-raid-reconstructor.htm

You don't even have to connect the drives (tape drives?) in RAID to attempt recovery.

 

[lxskllr]

Sounds like a familiar story. I have a closet full of tape "backups" from a company we acquired a few years back. They were sitting out in the light, and they kept re-recording the same tapes without ever maintaining the tape drive that was screaming alerts to be cleaned and that the tapes were expired/corrupted.

Personally, I'd focus on trying to futz the RAID into booting long enough to pull data to a USB hard drive. If the server is from any major brand like HP or Dell you should be able to put the service tag into their website or call someone at support who can pull the order records and identify the RAID controller that was put in it. Playing with damaged tapes could further damage them and increase data loss. Box em up and send them off to a professional as a last resort.

It's a beige box special(black actually, but... :^D ). The repair shop they sent the box to ditched the RAID card. I have 3 numbered commodity grade drives, an Adaptec SCSI card, and a Sony tape drive that connects to it. I haven't had the time to work on it lately, but my general plan is to image the drives, and work off those. I'm thinking I can maybe mount them under a VM, and get something from that? I have a webpage bookmarked at work, with a Java utility a guy who had a similar problem wrote, but it's a bit technical, and I haven't had a chance to really get into reading it. I need to email to myself so I can read it at home without the constant distraction of having 10 things to do at a time :^D

There's no money for professional recovery. The really important stuff was backed up to a USB drive, but the person that did that neglected to get the U: drive. The data on it falls under the "would be nice to have" category, but isn't essential. This is a learning experience for me, and a little bit of money aside from what I usually get if I make a successful recovery, but I consider the knowledge more valuable than the money. It's just an interesting problem, and I like interesting problems :^)

Edit:

How about this? You can give the trial a go.

http://www.runtime.org/raid.htm
http://www.runtime.org/running-raid-reconstructor.htm

You don't even have to connect the drives (tape drives?) in RAID to attempt recovery.

Thanks for that. I'll give it a read through, and see if I can do something with it :^)

 

[ForumMaster]

It's a beige box special(black actually, but... :^D ). The repair shop they sent the box to ditched the RAID card. I have 3 numbered commodity grade drives, an Adaptec SCSI card, and a Sony tape drive that connects to it. I haven't had the time to work on it lately, but my general plan is to image the drives, and work off those. I'm thinking I can maybe mount them under a VM, and get something from that? I have a webpage bookmarked at work, with a Java utility a guy who had a similar problem wrote, but it's a bit technical, and I haven't had a chance to really get into reading it. I need to email to myself so I can read it at home without the constant distraction of having 10 things to do at a time :^D

There's no money for professional recovery. The really important stuff was backed up to a USB drive, but the person that did that neglected to get the U: drive. The data on it falls under the "would be nice to have" category, but isn't essential. This is a learning experience for me, and a little bit of money aside from what I usually get if I make a successful recovery, but I consider the knowledge more valuable than the money. It's just an interesting problem, and I like interesting problems :^)

Edit:


Thanks for that. I'll give it a read through, and see if I can do something with it :^)

sound familiar. the one drive you forget, and then disaster strikes. we had an oracle database (i think close to 40-50tb) and other the years, the storage guys allocated over 250 luns to the servers.

it was only when needed the backup, that we discovered that 4 of the 250 luns weren't synced with bcv clone, making it useless.

lessons are as usual, backups are irrelevant unless tested regularly.

 

[soldsoul4foos]

Good luck.