Harddrive failure

I have a raid 1 setup that I was using,everything ran fine for about a month.Then I had a boot up failure, it stated that I had corrupt or missing
windows\system32\config\system message.
I tried the recovery consol option but I'am a noob at that and gave up.
I than entered the raid array setup option and I chose to delete the array,than I was able to boot up into windows.
I had a similar problem before this when I was using a raid 0 setup,but it wouldn't bootup period so than I choose the latter setup.
I think I have a bad hard drive???????????????

Most of the boot failure problems I've had have been caused by corrupted files. After reformatting the drive things usually work. That doesn't mean there isn't a problem with the drive though. Most hard drive manufacturers have diagnostic utilities available for their hard drives. Heres a link where you can find diagnostic programs for most brands of hard drives. HD DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS There is also a link to each manufacturers web site at the top of each section. I would check there to make sure you get the latest version available.

I've also notice you've had a few problems since you've been running the raid configuration. You might consider dropping the raid and going with the basic master/slave set up. Is the performance gains you get from running raid worth the headaches and hassles you seem to be having getting it to work right. It might be worth the time to see if all the hardware works correctly with a standard configuration. If everything works correctly like that you can always try the raid set up later.

Another thing to consider is getting some disk imaging software. Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image to name a couple. After you do a new instal you create an image of the hard drive and save it to DVD, CD or even an external hard drive. If you have any problems later on you can use the image file to restore the drive. Would save you from having to set the raid up again. Just mount the image and everything is in place. I've seen a guy take a hard drive with a bad OS and restore it and be gaming on his PC in less then 45 minutes.

Not exactly sure if this was any help to you. If you have any other questions give me a shout.

:waving.gif:

I've not had any problems with my Raid0 yet (knock on wood), so I can't be of any assistance here. Sorry.

I ran the Seagate desktop tool and below is the report that was filed with regard to the one hard drive that had a problem,the other checked out fine.
( I have 2 80 gig sata segate hard drives that I was using in a raid 1 setup with a pci host controller card that I installed,my motherboard doesn't have any sata ports,I used the raid driver that came with card)
You will notice as you scroll down the report that there was one error detetcted.
(File structure test)

SeaTools Desktop v3.02.04
Copyright (c) 2005 Kroll Ontrack Inc.

5/24/2006 @ 8:20 PM

The following information has been generated by SeaTools Desktop. Use
this information to help you recognize and resolve potential data access
problems.


System Information:
BIOS Date 08/19/03
Conventional Memory size 638 K
Extended Memory size 58532 K
IO Channel type PCI



Drive Information:
SIZE MODEL
--------- ---------------------
80 GB ST3808110AS


Serial Number = 5LR04NTQ
Int13 Num = 80, PHYS CHS = 16383x16x63.
ParmTable CHS, Rsvd = 9729x255x63

PARTITION CYLINDER SIZE
---------- ------------ ----
# Type Start End MB
PRIMARY
1 NTFS 0 9727 80020


Diagnostic Results:

ATA Full Test Result: Passed



Results from Seagate's DiagATA/SCSI:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

DIAGATA.EXE Version 3.08.50629ML
Copyright (c) 2002-2005 by Seagate Technology LLC. All rights reserved.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Timer Resolution: 0.000122
Long Test Begin: 24-May-2006 19:56:57
Cable Test - 0 Errors
Buffer Test - 0 Errors
Identify Data
Model Number: ST3808110AS
Serial Number: 5LR04NTQ
Firmware Revision: 2AAA
Default CHS: 16383-16-63
Current CHS: 16383-16-63
Current Capacity: 16514064 Sectors
Total Capacity: 156301488 Sectors
ID Method: Unknown
SMART Check: Passed
Full Scan (0 to 156301488) - Passed
Elapsed Time: 22.83 Minutes
Estimated Internal Transfer Rates
Min: 36.39Mb/s Max: 4276.29Mb/s Avg: 492.31Mb/s
PIO/DMA Data Compare
Total Bytes = 11654656
Estimated PIO Transfer Rates
Min: 1.24MB/s Max: 1.25MB/s Avg: 1.24MB/s
Estimated DMA Transfer Rates
Min: 86.36MB/s Max: 143.94MB/s Avg: 108.20MB/s
Long Test Passed: 24-May-2006 20:19:57


-----------------------------------------------------------------
End results from Seagate's DiagATA/SCSI



File Structure Test Result:

Partition 1 (NTFS (80 GB) ) Result: Failed with critical Errors

The following errors were found while scanning the volume:
- One or more errors were found in metadata file records


NOTE: Any report of possible errors in the file system tests are for
informational purposes only. We suggest you should consider testing with
the official file system diagnostic utilities for your operating system.
Seagate is not able to assist with troubleshooting or reviewing
file system test results.



******************************************


Recommendation:
All selected physical diagnostics passed.

If you are not experiencing data loss and SeaTools reports File
System Structure errors, they may be caused by a lock-up or
failure to shutdown Windows correctly. Many times, these errors
may be repaired through normal system maintenance which
includes using the Windows provided "Defrag" and
"Scandisk / Chkdsk / Error Checking" utilities.

If you are experiencing a hardware error, you should isolate
the cause and replace the failing component. If you are unsure how
to proceed with repairs, contact a computer professional. After
completing any maintenance tasks, run SeaTools again to
verify that all errors have been repaired. If errors continue to
occur, the system may not be stable. Again, contact a computer
professional.




================================================== ======

From what I see the harddrive itself checked out OK. The error with the NTFS file structure seems like it would be a corrupt file or files. If you had a Raid 1 set up, which is a mirrored array, you should be able to do a direct copy of the good drive and be back up and running again. Atleast thats what I was reading here. http://www.acnc.com/04_01_01.html Thats the advantage of running a Raid 1. All the information is written to both drives. If it were a Raid 0 then the information would be split between the two drives. Loose one drive there and you have to reformat completely. With your Raid 1 you might be able to save your set up now.

Rgr rgr, gotta read up on how to do that:wink1:

Use your 2nd PC and slave both hard drives on it. Then just copy from the good drive and paste to the other. I'm pretty sure that will work. If not you said you have the Nero back up utility. With the good drive slaved to your 2nd PC use that to copy the drive. Then slave the 2nd drive and put copy on it. I've never use the Nero before. You might be able to use it to copy from one drive to the other in one proccess.

When I would boot up my pc a window popped up stating that a chkdisk option should be done, so I did it.Now I don't remember the first part of the process but the second part was something about " orphaned files recovered with a fat number. it took about 20 minutes o do this process.Than after I rebooted it reconized the raid array that I previously deleted. I should have wrote down the first part of the process. Let state that I havn't followed your advice as yet Rab with regard to copy the hard drive from my newer PC