Reading RAID5 parition...

[JeffPaul07]

I am posting the complete scenario in order to assist with what I hope is a solution:

I replaced a RAID5 set of hard drives (3- 72GB)in a client's file server with 3 - 146GB drives. I had performed a full backup prior to installing the new drives. After installing the new drives the server's 532 array controller detected the new drives and I proceeded to create a new logical partition. After booting the server I formatted the new parition with the Windows 2003 OS and then restored all data/shares. Everything appeared to be working fine until a few days later a user asked about a SQL database that was no longer working. To my surpise the SQL database was no longer there mainly because they did not have the SQL Agent for their Backup Exec software. The backup passed over the mdf/ldf files like they did not even exist.

So my question is how can I read the old data from he drives I replaced? I tried to insert them back in the original server along with another server with the exact same hardware but both times the logical drive was not detected. My only choice on the ACU utility is to create a new array but I assume if I do that all the data will be lost.

Any advice would be appreciated

[Uwe Zessin]

Did you put the old drives into the server while the power was off?

A SmartArray controller supports drive roaming only to a certain extent, but it will only read the configuration information from the disk drives when it is starting.

[JeffPaul07]

Yes, I had powered down the server completely before installing the old drives