Hello everybody!
Watch this video to find out how to recover data from a hardware RAID 50 based on an HP
P410 controller.
You’ll see how to build this array type, how to replace a faulty hard disk, and what
to do if the controller stops working.
It is well-known that RAID 5 is a quite reliable disk array type, but its performance leaves
much to be desired.
By striping data across a united body of several array groups, you get RAID 50, which gives
you a significant performance boost and increased disk space efficiency if compared with a conventional
RAID 5 system.
It takes RAID 50 closer to RAID 10 performance-wise, but its fault tolerance is going to be a bit
lower.
This RAID type can survive only one faulty disk in every subarray.
Within a few minutes, we’ll explore how to build a RAID 50 system, how to replace
a faulty disk, what to do if you accidentally removed some information or formatted a disk,
and how to fix a problem with a failing disk or controller that was used to build such
a disk array.
How to build a RAID 50 system in the controller’s BIOS and with the specialized software
To build a RAID 50 system you need at least six disks.
The HP P410 controller lets you build a disk array with the help of BIOS options and a
special utility.
To access the controller’s BIOS while booting, hit the F8 button after initialization.
If the hard disks are empty and they haven’t been part of other disk arrays, open the option
“Create Logical Drive.”
If these disks have been used before to build a RAID system, that system should be removed
because the controller may have issues with displaying them.
To do it, go down to find the option “Delete Logical Drive” and press Enter to open the
option.
Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to navigate the list of disks and select the ones you
don’t need, then remove them by pressing F8 and hit F3 to confirm your decision.
When you’re finished with the array configuration and it is saved, press Enter.
Now you can start building a RAID 50 array.
Jump to “Create Logical Drive,” use the Space key to select all disks that you would
like to include into the array.
Press the Tab key to access the next part of the configuration process; check the required
RAID type, and select how many groups you want in your array.
In my case, there will be two groups as I have only six hard disks.
When all settings are ready, press Enter, and you’ll see all the information about
the array, its size and type.
To confirm this configuration, press F8 and hit Enter to proceed.
Open the option “View Logical Drive” to have the array information displayed.
If everything is correct, press Esc to leave the settings menu and continue with booting.
After that, you’ll have to open Disk Management and format the disk array by assigning a drive
letter and choosing the desired file system.
How to build an array with the help of HP Array Configuration Utility
To build an array from the operating system which has booted and is already running, use
the proprietary utility for managing disk arrays - HP Array Configuration Utility or
HPE Smart Storage Administrator, which can be downloaded from the official website.
In the Configuration tab, select your controller and click “Create Array” on the right
side of the window.
Select the disks that your future RAID is going to include, and click Ok.
After that, click on “Create Logical Drive,” select the array type, the number of groups,
block size, set a specific disk size if necessary, enable caching, and finally click “Save”
to confirm.
Now that the array is built, the last step is to format it with the Disk Management utility.
How to replace a hard disk
To replace a faulty disk, just take it out and insert a healthy disk instead, and the
rebuild process should start automatically.
To find out which disk is out of order, use the utility to open the storage device tab
and check the list of disks by their serial numbers to see which one is missing.
If you have an extra slot for another disk, you can insert the new disk there and set
it as a spare one; the controller will automatically find the faulty disk and start the rebuild
process with the new disk you added.
A disk can be set as spare in BIOS, in the section “Create Logical Drive.”
Select this option here.
The rebuild process can be monitored in the utility we have mentioned before (HPE Smart
Storage Administrator).
How to recover data after accidental removal or after a controller failure
When the controller fails, you won’t be able to access the data on the disks without
replacing it.
If your attempt at replacing was not successful, use a specialized RAID data recovery tool
- Hetman RAID Recovery.
It can read all the information about the controller used to create the disk array and
will rebuild the damaged RAID system.
Connect the disks directly to the motherboard and launch the program.
By the way, before you start the recovery process, make sure you have a disk with the
same or larger capacity than the amount of data you’re going to recover.
While connecting hard disks, you may discover that you don’t have enough SATA ports and
power connectors.
This problem can be fixed with a variety of expansion cards and power adapters, and we’re
showing some of them on the screen right now.
As you can see, the program has built the RAID system without effort and now displays
all the information about the array.
Right-click on it and start “Fast scan.”
Select the files you want to recover, click Recovery, select where you want to save them,
and click Recovery again.
When the entire process is over, you will find the recovered files in the folder you
have chosen.
If “Fast scan” doesn’t help the program to find the lost data, then go for “Full
analysis.”
Recovery with two disks missing, and how to build an array in RAID Constructor
Even if the program failed to recognize and rebuild your disk array automatically, you
can still use the RAID Constructor, but it requires you to know all the information about
this specific disk array.
Select “Manual mode” and click “Next,” then select the RAID type, the block size
and order, the number of disks in the group, select the disks in the array and specify
their order; add empty disks instead of any disks that are shown as missing.
When all the properties are given, click “Add.”
The RAID system will appear in the Drive Manager.
Now the final step is to scan it and recover your data.
This array type remains operable if one disk within a group fails; that is, if two disks
are out of order (one disk in either group), the whole array is still able to work.
Our program can recover data even if two disks are missing, but if they were disks from the
same group, some of the files will be damaged.
Conclusion
Loss of data often occurs when hard disks are swapped over or placed into other storage
systems in an attempt to rebuild the disk array.
Be careful, pay attention to what you’re doing and don’t agree to initialize and
format the disks when the other operating system suggests it.
Formatting the boot disk or boot partition may damage or remove the striping which reduces
your chances for data recovery and may cause a permanent data loss.
Before taking any action, make sure you have backed up your disks.
Always remember to back up important information regularly to prevent data loss.
That is all for now!
Hopefully, this video was useful.
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Thank you for watching.
Good luck.