Hello,
I have used as home & accounting business user IRST in RAID1 for ... a long time.
I now try to use W7SP1 x64 on Asus board P7P55D with Intel ROM 10.5.0.1034 & IRST 11.7.0.1013
On it I have volume c: (OS only) in Raid1, d: (data) in Raid1. On Adaptec 6405e, I have e: (data2) in Raid1 etc. (an array contains only 1 volume).
I chose to restore full drive c: (not the partitions) using ATI 2013 (for OS/appli reasons, while hardware fine)
reboot
1) boot bcd error, I use Windows recovery disk to repair, to no avail. Not the 1st time with Acronis restore (the hidden partition is sometimes badly restored and when not hidden, there can be problems also with bcd) but the previous times, Windows recovery repaired it fast. This time not, as Windows couldn' find the OS partition, although visible & complete in command mode. No problem, I disconnected the Volume c: (2 disks). Replace them with a functionnal backup OS c: drive at hand.
reboot.
2) my mistake! At reboot in bios, I didn't notice Asus board switched itself Storage Config parameter from RAID to IDE (for the new sata disk connected & the other drives...). I should have known better & checked, yes.
3) reboot, notice the issue and back to correct bios from IDE to RAID & boot, but too late.
4) in IRST, the ex-volume 2 (data) shows as 2 disks "in Raid" (from memory) so no longer in a single volume, one of the 2 hard drives accessible by the OS, the second greyed with exclamation mark (not accessible at all) in diskmgmt.msc
5) go back in bios with ctrl-I and see 2 non-raid Disks. Yes, I know, Intel cannot rebuild a volume in such circumstances (just wish it could be more adequately documented though...).
NB: I have plenty of external BUs, so no real data loss risk but a lot of user time lost, which is the issue.
My remarks & suggestions:
1) in the written doc supplied by Intel, nothing indicates how the user must get himself out of this situation the fastest & securest way (I mean, Raid 1 broken volume), so one must be erased and rebuilt based on master, but how (I have done it but not my daily cup of tea, so simple reassuring guidance would be appreciated))
2) on line (Intel� Rapid Storage Technology (Intel� RST) — Troubleshooting RAID volume issues), Intel does not describe this case of broken volume (for instance following an OS restore that turns sour), which happened to me alone 3 times.
3) unless mistaken, I could not find thougthful guidance anywhere else when such problems occurs (eg. delivered with the IRST soft pack). All is supposed to work flawlessly for ever?
The forums on internet mention many occurrences of Intel broken volumes for whatever reason, with finger pointing sometimes on top. Surely these days, ROMs & soft are safer than 5 yers ago. But in the end, what clear protocol Intel recommends to follow to get user out of mess in clear & safe way. It is the key thing that matters to most users. Intel Technologists show impressive engineering capability and of course Intel support cannot be expected to be behind every Customer but surely, when releasing such technology, the minimum expected from Intel by user community is top notch user doc & guidance for self help when the poor guy that meet this kind of incident every 2-3 years or so gets into trouble. Part of it exist on-line on Intel wsite but I find it a bit quickly put together & inadequate for me.
4) I haven't experienced a problem yet with the Raid1 volumes on the Adaptec 6405e not embarked in the motherboard (thus not easily recognised in recovery operations either ...). Anyway, for the naive user, the undesired & damaging interactions (ie. switching automatically Raid to IDE in storage bios configuration when new sata drive added) between Asus board (an old P7P55D), the Bios, the Intel ROM & the IRST soft may be worth a second visit between parties concerned. This auto switching to lower status should never happen. Could Intel responsible take a driving seat here if not done yet as such problem in the chain affects everyone?
5) Why can't the Intel soft (when OS launched & bios enabled) scan & rebuild the volume in such an apparently simple instance (just a suggestion, it would be nice)?
6) in the ROM menu, there is an open possibility to create a RAID1 volume. In the doc http://download.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/irst_user_guide.pdf it is indicated to do this (non raid 0 volumes) when OS up via the IRST software. But then, the consequences of creating a Raid1 through the ROM route should be better clarified. They are no prewarning in ROM menu, unless mistaken (I didn't try for good as scary). This doc could be improved for this important user aspect (also, I suggest not to start by Raid 0 but by Raid 1 or 5 or 10, then to tackle speed).
NB: Just for anecdote, I received 10 years ago a 2 drives Linux based SAN from Western Digital (called World-marvel something) terribly slow although configured by default in Raid 0! I didn't change the config immediately to Raid1 & forgot. But I learned from it. One of the WD drive failed within 6 months while having to retrieve data. All data lost. Then, retrieving from my second external BU failed just after (7 years old single drive accuator hit plate). Murphy's law. From that point on "belt & braces"! Yes, disk fail for sure but we just don't know when.
I don't count on any help here.
In conclusion, the user shouldn't have to count on forums to find acurate answers but on Intel site.
Just thanks for providing this great IRST and also for any future improvement you can contribute to in terms of servicing it.
Brussels
