hard drives, taking out and using as external on laptop ???

[olson]

It depends on how those drives were setup in Windows. If they were a RAID array then they probably won't work in the USB enclosures, but if they were setup as a dynamic disk span in Windows then all you have to do is import the dynamic disks and enable them (right click My Computer and select Manage, then click on the disk section, right click drives and select Import). Cheers!

[everlite]

So they were probably set up as a raid ..and i no longer have access to the original PC ..

Any options left? :)

Dave.

[olson]

So they were probably set up as a raid ..and i no longer have access to the original PC ..

Any options left? :)

Dave.

Most of the time the proprietary RAID information is consistent from one device to another from the same manufacturer. So if it was on an Intel RAID controller chances are it would work in another Intel RAID controller, same thing goes for other brands like Promise, Broadcom, HighPoint, Adaptec, etc.

If the RAID was on the motherboard chipset then you'll have to look for another motherboard with the same chipset manufacturer. Any information about what the RAID controller was or what the motherboard was if it was onboard? Cheers!

[everlite]

Nope, i no longer have the work station and it came custom built so wasnt familiar with the hardware myself. I pulled out the HDs and the PC was sold for parts so no longer have access to that information ...

All i have now is my laptop and the HDs. All i want to do is get access to the files that hopefully are still on there.

I guess it aint as easy as that :(

Dave.

[olson]

Nope, i no longer have the work station and it came custom built so wasnt familiar with the hardware myself. I pulled out the HDs and the PC was sold for parts so no longer have access to that information ...

All i have now is my laptop and the HDs. All i want to do is get access to the files that hopefully are still on there.

I guess it aint as easy as that :(

Dave.

That sucks. You can try them assuming they are Windows software RAID or dynamic disks as a span (worth a try) but if they were in a hardware RAID array and you don't know what it was then you're pretty much out of luck. If they were really important files you can follow the path of the old parts and figure out what they were and then buy the same controller again, maybe contact the new owner(s) to determine the hardware. There are data recovery services also but they are very expensive and even more expensive for RAID array recovery.

Not that it helps your situation right now but for others that read this thread. Know your hardware (even if someone else built it) because of situations like this and countless others, and always make at least two backups of everything you don't want or can't afford to lose. Cheers!

[imashination]

If I were you, call the company that made it and ask for the specs of the machine. Specifically, was a separate raid controller card used or was it just the onboard one? If no card was used then the chances are reasonably high that it will have been the intel ICH7, 8, 9 etc controller or something else reasonably common like a Jmicron.

Once you know which it was, go seek out the closest card you can find, stick it into a friends computer along with the drives and see what you can get from them. But Olsons right, just sticking them into an external case has virtually zero chance of working.

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