Intel Matrix Lvl 5 Raid w 4 discs

[praktit]

Hi, have managed to create images of the four drives. At the 2nd to last sector the drives in the array are identified with their serial number, so I guess the order of the discs is revealed there.

But when imaging, disc 0 had 16 bad sectors, and disc 1 had many more; disc 2 and disc 3 were intact. Most likely the array has been degraded for a longer time. Would this mean that I´m better off leaving out disc 1 as missing disk?

Also, does anyone know the block level layout of Intel Matrix raid?

/Peter

[Alt]

But when imaging, disc 0 had 16 bad sectors, and disc 1 had many more; disc 2 and disc 3 were intact. Most likely the array has been degraded for a longer time. Would this mean that I´m better off leaving out disc 1 as missing disk?

Yes, that looks so. I'd rather turned the disk off by un-checking it on the Parents panel. If necessary, it can be quickly turned on by checking it.

Also, does anyone know the block level layout of Intel Matrix raid?

I'd try to reach the Intel support. Although usually that's useless.

[praktit]

Found the layout, it's left asynchronous. But since the raid-set is degraded, parity sectors are plain code.
Will see if a complete scan finds the mfts and complete files.

/peter

[praktit]

Hmm, typical, after a days forensic work, I finally found the paper: http://www.intel.com/assets/pdf/appnote/310855.pdf

In any case, I've created identical physical discs, and on the 2nd to the last sector the raid config is written, as the disk serial nbr. A crazy idea - I can't access the discs from r-studio, since they are reported as unknown by the matrix controller, but what if I edit the serial on disk, to match the copy serial nbr? - Problem is I can't access this directly, only through r-studio emergency, and there the hex editor is read only. How do I access the disk and edit this info?

cheers / peter

[Alt]

I'd connect the disks to a common IDE/SATA controller.
R-Studio Emergency needs to be activated to be able to write data on disks.

[praktit]

Ok, have faxed an order for the technician version, so I can try that, and hopefully recover files. The scan is now 41% (after 16 hours) into the raid-set, and have a few complaints about unexpected MFT records (most likely from the degraded parity blocks) - so it remains to see if we can get the most cruical parts out of the system. In the meantime when I get the license keys, I'll give the long shot a try.

/peter

[praktit]

R-Studio Emergency needs to be activated to be able to write data on disks.

How? - I got my technician key, downloaded and created the TUI emergency version. I can only view the first sector, not scroll, not go to a sector, and certainly not edit anything on the disk - what am I doing wrong?

/peter

[Alt]

R-Studio Emergency needs to be activated to be able to write data on disks.

How? - I got my technician key, downloaded and created the TUI emergency version. I can only view the first sector, not scroll, not go to a sector, and certainly not edit anything on the disk - what am I doing wrong?

/peter

Sorry, I don't realize you've got a Technician license. Why do you use the TUI? GUI is much more powerful. Actually, it's almost the same as the Windows version.