I had a "server" with 1 main hdd with the OS/software etc, and 2 3tb drives i merged into one volume, using windows disc management. The main hdd has failed, the pc will not boot into windows. How do i retreive the data on the 2 3Tb drives? I have put them in a usb caddy and they cant be read ( hopeful i know). I know i shouldnt have merged them without a proper backup solution, but is there a way out of this. I have other drives i can copy data too if i can get them read as one vllume again, in another pc or in this one with a new HDD and install of windows. Help
Hmmm if you had a backup I'd certainly advise restoration before any repair attempt. Did you really not have any backup of the bootable OS or the data on the 6tb volume? If you put both halves of the volume into a compatible machine (both together!) then 'in theory' your merged volume should appear. I've never done it myself on this exact setup, but others have: http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/wi...-won-t-re-integrate-missingdisk-t4055423.html Also read this. It may help, but I doubt it. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753750.aspx
As Guinivere points out, how they were merged [be it RAID, Storage Space, LVM or whatever] will affect if and how data is recovered... But whatever method was used both drives need to be connected to the same PC [ideally the same way as they were connected to the previous PC] before you can try and get data off the storage pool. If they were merged using anything other than Storage Spaces [so if it was RAID or LVM], try booting off a linux live image and see if it picks the drives up...
i have a backup of the critical data, what is left is stuff i can afford to loose but would rather not. its was one of those "next month" purchases due to needing a minimum of 4tb backed up. i did backup the OS drive to a spare drive, the initial problem being that was before the 2 SATAs i beleive, as the machine has 2 SATA ports and the 2 3tbs are using both, the OS drive is IDE. i could try putting the OS backup in an enclosure and booting from USB to see...i'll try that tonight. i 'll also give your links ago too. i dont think a level of RAID was used, mainly as i did the merge in windows 7 Disc Management, and i cant remeber being asked, and it used the full space thanks for the help
I'd probably be trying to get hold of a direct replacement for the IDE OS drive and restoring the OS back up to that. That way you can basically restore the system to the way it was before.
You should be able to mount them in another Windows machine (or on a fresh install) and be able to access them as before. As long as they are connected via sata and with an OS version that is same or better there shouldn't be any issues. Occasionally you may have to visit disk management and enable them if they are showing as 'foreign disk' or something similar, manually assign drive letter and so on. I had to go through some of those extra steps when I moved a storage spaces array to a different machine recently.
