P55A-UD4P - Problem rebuilding RAID 1 on Marvell controller

[cadboroguy]

Hello,
I have been using my OS (Win 7 64 Ultimate) on a RAID 1 array via the Marvell controller on my P55A-UD4P (rev. 1 BIOS F10) using Caviar Green drives.  I set this up in complete ignorance of the problems with the 9128 chip and faster drives like the Caviar Black 6G. 

Many thanks to Dark Mantis, absic and Pierre for their posts on the 9128 topic.  I wish I had known this before I built my system as I am a new RAID user, but such is life. 

I also have a RAID 1 array for data, using the Intel controller and Green drives too.  The whole system has been working fine like this for many months.

In my ignorance and inability to refrain from experimenting, I swapped the Green OS drives, one by one, rebuilding via the BIOS with Caviar Black 6G drives, thinking that I might get a bit more speed and space.  Of course, this didn't work, and the Marvell controller treated the new drives as though they were like the old ones, but at least I learned something.  During this process, the OS and the array worked fine, even in the intermediate step with one Green and one Black drive.

It was about this time that I began reading Dark Mantis's posts on the issue, and realised I was in dangerously deep, murky water....

I thought I'd start to fix at least some of my errors and revert back to Green drives on the Marvell array, so as a first step I swapped out one of the Black drives with one of the original Green drives, and this is where I think I made a fatal mistake - the original Green drive was not reformatted and still had the OS installed.  I did not get an option to rebuild the array in the BIOS as I'd seen previously, so proceeded to boot but instead got a Disk error message. 

Now, even after removing the offending drive the OS will not boot.  With only the single Black drive installed, the BIOS shows the array as degraded but will still not boot.  I can see a BIOS option to "erase RAID config data?" but I don't know what this would do...

I still have one Green drive that I had removed earlier, and it has the OS still installed.  I am prepared to revert to non-RAID if necesary to get my system running again.  Is there any way to recover my OS in this circumstance?

My apology for this long post.

[Lsdmeasap]

I think you can revert to non RAID, then fix the disks and then create the array again and copy a mirror/backup back onto the array.

Not 100% certain, but that would be how I would first try to do it.   You do have a backup image of the OS right?

[Dark Mantis]

I too would agree with Lsdmeasap as that is the best way forward, although I haven't had this particular scenario before. In theory it should work so fingers crossed.

[cadboroguy]

I too would agree with Lsdmeasap as that is the best way forward, although I haven't had this particular scenario before. In theory it should work so fingers crossed.

I think you can revert to non RAID, then fix the disks and then create the array again and copy a mirror/backup back onto the array.

Not 100% certain, but that would be how I would first try to do it.   You do have a backup image of the OS right?

Lsdmeasap and Dark Mantis,
Thank you for your encouragement.  I have a drive with a good image on it- I had removed this drive from tha Marvell array during my unwise experiment and at the time all was working fine.  This is the best I have.  I am now being very cautious and will make a copy of this drive before doing anything further.  Hopefully this will be my image source. 

Could you suggest the most prudent method for me to revert to non RAID?

In the BIOS the GSATA RAID configuration menu shows the virtual disk as degraded and the single disk still installed shows no problem although it will not boot on its own so it is suspect until I learn otherwise.  The only option available for that disk is to "erase RAID config data".  I am not sure what this will do so I have not tried it.   There is no mention of this in my now very dog-eared mobo manual.  Is this command a way I can revert to non RAID?
Again, thanks for your replies!

[Lsdmeasap]

I would make a copy of your good image.  Then revert to Non RAID in the BIOS, then if that goes well image that drive.   

Then re-create your array disks as you want them, and then copy your single backup of the reverted to NON RAID disk back onto the array and then it should be good to go.   I have not done that myself, but my understanding of RAID 1 was that any single disk from within the array should be bootable, correct?  Sorry, I am really not sure as I've only used it a few times for testing. 

From this description it does look like that is correct
http://www.storagereview.com/guide/singleLevel1.html

Can you boot to either of the single drives you have with images on them now?   If you can that would be the one to backup, then revert to non raid (Or just backup then clear that drive) and rebuild your array and then image back to it.

Here is a good program for imaging
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

[cadboroguy]

I would make a copy of your good image.  Then revert to Non RAID in the BIOS, then if that goes well image that drive.   

Then re-create your array disks as you want them, and then copy your single backup of the reverted to NON RAID disk back onto the array and then it should be good to go.   I have not done that myself, but my understanding of RAID 1 was that any single disk from within the array should be bootable, correct?  Sorry, I am really not sure as I've only used it a few times for testing. 

From this description it does look like that is correct
http://www.storagereview.com/guide/singleLevel1.html

Can you boot to either of the single drives you have with images on them now?   If you can that would be the one to backup, then revert to non raid (Or just backup then clear that drive) and rebuild your array and then image back to it.

Here is a good program for imaging
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

Thank you, Lsdmeasap,
I have been able to get my system to boot as a degraded array after some mucking around with my drives, and I've made a clone using Paragon.  I am feeling a bit more confident now that I have access to my system, though still cautious!  I am going to recheck my drive copy (perhaps even make a second) and then I will go through the process of setting up drives for the array again and reimage.   I am planning to use Paragon with a recovery disk (USB or CD) once I've got the array sorted. 
I was a bit stymied at first when getting the system to boot again - the initial boot on the degraded drive showed up as a failure, with the normal options of safe mode or normal boot, but the next time I tried, it didn't work until I realised that the hard disk boot order had changed in the BIOS.  Once I figured that out, I have made sure that the BIOS settings are all appropriate each time I change anything.

Again, thank you very much for your advice and tolerance for newbie-type questions.  I will post my results once I've done the above.

[Lsdmeasap]

Good luck!

If Paragon fails, try this instead I find it much easier and better to use with SSD's
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

* you do want to "Use MBR from image" while restoring, this keeps the alignment.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes I use the Macrium Reflect as well. Excellent program.