How to access offline drive? (IRST)

[Dimensionic]

So here's the thing -
I did some cleaning to my PC, disassembled it in process.
When re-assembling I decided to switch around some drives and reformat to run a fresh windows on a fresh system.

Now the problem comes in:

I use Intel Rapid Storage Technology - Meaning I use a tiny SSD to accelerate my main HDD.
It creates a RAID0 config, but as far as I'm aware it doesn't work like one - it's more like RAID0.5 where it uses the SSD as cache drive, placing most used files on the SSD for faster access.
So this should mean - all files should still be on the disk main disk. Or at very least, only the most used files which were cached on small SSD are lost - which would be 28gb out of... more.

Either way - it shows me the "ex-main HDD" that I used to accelerate as offline member and wont let me access it. Since it's technically RAID0, it tells me I need to clear metadata and erase all the files while doing that.
That's something I definitely don't want to do.

WHAT DO?
Since (most of the) files are still there, there's surely a method to access them?

 

[xentropa]

Usually, clearing RAID meta data will not erase the drive.  However, whether the data remains usable after doing so depends on the kind of raid.

 

Example, if you clear the RAID meta data on two drives in RAID 1, the two drives will just become independent standalone drives.

 

If you clear the RAID meta data on drives in RAID 0, or RAID 5, that will render the data unusable since, the meta data holds the information on how the data is striped.

 

In your case, I don't know what exactly is the raid configuration when you use an SSD as a cache drive.  If the "offline drive" was originally a normal drive, then you converted it into a raid drive, I would bet that most likely, simply deleting the raid meta data will not affect the data if the raid conversion didn't erase the data itself.

 

However if you are really worried, I would advise you to consult a computer or data recovery expert first.

[Dimensionic]

17 minutes ago, xentropa said:

Usually, clearing RAID meta data will not erase the drive.  However, whether the data remains usable after doing so depends on the kind of raid.

 

Example, if you clear the RAID meta data on two drives in RAID 1, the two drives will just become independent standalone drives.

 

If you clear the RAID meta data on drives in RAID 0, or RAID 5, that will render the data unusable since, the meta data holds the information on how the data is striped.

 

In your case, I don't know what exactly is the raid configuration when you use an SSD as a cache drive.  If the "offline drive" was originally a normal drive, then you converted it into a raid drive, I would bet that most likely, simply deleting the raid meta data will not affect the data if the raid conversion didn't erase the data itself.

 

However if you are really worried, I would advise you to consult a computer or data recovery expert first.

Thank you for the rapid reply

Switching between the "Accelerated RAID" and normal drive modes in IRST application is really fast. Like.. 5-15 second range? Hardly enough time to write 28gb of data back to the HDD drive.
What I'm saying is - I do believe the cache drive works more like RAID1 instead RAID0 - in a sense that there is no striping involved, it simply duplicates some of the most used data to SSD for accelerated access (and it actually does make considerable difference to boot time and overall system responsiveness), but since you cant duplicate ALL the data you can't call it RAID1 either.

IF that's the case - are you saying that all of the files will be there and intact after I clear the metadata? Even after the scary looking dialogue box?

There are a lot of files that I would hate to lose. But there's nothing that I wouldn't be able to recover or recreate (the annoying part). Like some PSD's and video projects etc. It would be annoying AF, but it's not like it contains the only set of baby photos from 1920's or something.

[xentropa]

If we were making a bet for like 20 bucks, I would put money on that deleting meta data will not clear all your data.

 

Please do not follow my advice, if you are even slightly unsure, consult an expert.

[Dimensionic]

17 minutes ago, xentropa said:

If we were making a bet for like 20 bucks, I would put money on that deleting meta data will not clear all your data.

 

Please do not follow my advice, if you are even slightly unsure, consult an expert.

How about this then.

 

I will wait and see if anyone else answers as well. If someone can agrees with your best guess, I will go ahead and clear the metadata.
If it deletes all the files - it's not only your advice, but communities advice - and I can blame Linus.

Or maybe someone can chip in with some other methodology to retrieve the files.

If no one else answers - I will probably still go ahead and clear the metadata, hoping for the best. Wouldn't be the first time I lose a ton of files I thought to be useful. I've gotten over it in the past, I will again if I have to.

[xentropa]

A long time ago, I had two drives in raid 1.  Through the intel rapid storage technology, I deleted the raid volume (metadata), because I didn't need those drives anymore.  The same warning came up about losing all the data, but all that happened was that the two drives in raid 1, just became two independent drives.

[Dimensionic]

I just wanted inform anyone facing the same situation that clearing the metadata to release the drive from this "accelerated RAID" configuration did not delete any files for me.

[Sniperfox47]

48 minutes ago, Dimensionic said:

I just wanted inform anyone facing the same situation that clearing the metadata to release the drive from this "accelerated RAID" configuration did not delete any files for me.

Just to be clear, in the normal configuration it won't delete any data. Things are written to the cache and your hard drive at the same time, which is why write speeds with IRST can be really slow.

 

If you enable the "advanced performance mode: warning may cause file corruption and data loss" this turns it from a write-through cache to a write-back cache. This means data will be written to the SSD really fast and then transfered to the HDD "eventually". In this config, if you remove the metadata, any data that had been recently written to the SSD, but not yet the HDD, would be lost.