Recovering data from software raid 0 hd's

[whyrichard]

Dear mac peeps,

question for you all... my '09 ac pro may be a bit dead, but I would like to extract the info from a pair of hard drives in it that were in a software raid configuration.

How most easily and cheaply can i do that? What is the simplest way to set up the internal hd's into a software raid config so that my new macbook pro can see it?

Thanks,
Richard

 

[Juicy Box]

Sticking them in another Mac should work.

I never tried it, but maybe connecting both drives using an USB adapter for each might work.

How dead is your Mac Pro? Maybe it works enough to use target disk mode and connect it to another Mac.

 

[HDFan]

software raid config

What software were you using?

"I never tried it, but maybe connecting both drives using an USB adapter for each might work."

If you can use the same software to RAID 0 the 2 enclosures maybe ....

 

[DoFoT9]

Interesting question, I can't recall which RAID card (physical or software based) that this model used. The HDDs should in theory work by themselves?

 

[whyrichard]

What software were you using?

"I never tried it, but maybe connecting both drives using an USB adapter for each might work."

If you can use the same software to RAID 0 the 2 enclosures maybe ....

It was a software raid 0 setup in disk utility.

r.

 

[Fishrrman]

A good feature of RAID is that it's fast.
but
A BAD feature of RAID is that it can make data recovery difficult... or impossible.

OP:
You had best go to your backups for this.

If you can't do it, a data recovery firm MIGHT be able to do it, but it's going to cost you thousands of dollars to find out...

 

[chabig]

I would like to extract the info from a pair of hard drives in it that were in a software raid configuration.

Next time make sure you have a backup of your data. RAID is not a backup.

 

[Juicy Box]

I think some people are a little confused about the situation of the OP, or maybe I am.

To the OP, is this correct?:

You have a Mac Pro with two HDDs in a software RAID0 using the Mac Disk Utility.
The Mac stopped working.
The drives are working fine.
You want to access the data on the RAID0 setup, but are unsure how to go about doing it with the Mac Pro no longer working.

Is this correct?

I agree with other posts about backing up data, especially with HDDs in a RAID0, but people are acting like the drives are bad, and I don't think that is the case based off of what OP has stated.

I think if the drives are good, there shouldn't be a reason they would work in another Mac, or if you can manage to get your non-working Mac Pro in target disk mode, this would work.

I think I might try the theory of using USB adapters in the next few hours just to see if it will work. I will let you know.

 

[Juicy Box]

I never tried it, but maybe connecting both drives using an USB adapter for each might work.

If you can use the same software to RAID 0 the 2 enclosures maybe ....

The HDDs should in theory work by themselves?

I have tested my theory and I was correct, you CAN use two different SATA to USB adapters and the RAID0 will still be intact.

Also, they don't have to be both the same adapter, I also tried it with one SATA to USB adapter and one SATA to Thunderbolt I adapter, and the RAID still worked.

This is how I tested it.

I put two HDDs in my Mac Pro 1,1.
Made a RAID 0 with the both of them.
added some files for testing.
Removed the two drives, connected them to a different Mac using two different USB adapters.
They mounted on the different Mac.
I transferred the files, just to make sure they worked.

To the OP:
If you cannot use Target Disk Mode on your Mac Pro containing the RAID0, removing the drives and using some type of adapter would work to access those files.

 

[DoFoT9]

^^ It is a Drobo RAID device, which uses (from memory) proprietary software RAID.

 

[Juicy Box]

^^ It is a Drobo RAID device, which uses (from memory) proprietary software RAID.

What is?
What the OP is using? The OP stated that that their software RAID was created with Disk Utility.

Or are you saying the Drobo makes the software used by Disk Utility?

 

[DoFoT9]

What is?
What the OP is using? The OP stated that that their software RAID was created with Disk Utility.

Or are you saying the Drobo makes the software used by Disk Utility?

I interpreted '09 ac pro' as a Drobo model, if it is a typo and indeed meant to be Mac Pro, then my point can be rendered moot.

If it is indeed a Mac drive formatted with Disk Utility in RAID0, one drive can be put into a (any) Mac and be read without too much hassle, basically plug and play.