RAID 10 failure help please

[emradguy]

Hi, new to the forum...

I am (maybe should say was) running a RAID 10 array with 4 Hitatchi drives (2-750 GB, 2-1 TB) in Intel ICH9R. Have an ASUS P5K64WS mobo. Intel Quad Core 6600 processor and 4 GB DDR3 RAM.

My RAID array failed for the second time and shows now as non-bootable with disks in Port 0 and 2 (no longer array members) and disks 1 and 3 as member disks. Between failures I installed the latest mobo BIOS from ASUStek and replaced two 750GB disks with the 1 TB disks. (All disks show healthy, so I know it was RAID that failed, not intrinsic HD failure).

I have since (like, last night) taken disk in Port 0 and reinstalled Vista 32 ultimate (my initial OS on this machine). My main goal now is to recover data that I had not yet backed up (like Outlook for instance). Second goal is to use my current disk in Port 0 as the basis for a RAID 1 array with the disk in Port 3 (these would be the two 1 TB disks). I have the system running with SATAs set to ACHI. When I try to change to RAID to get to the two remaining member disks, I can't boot with my newly installed OS (since it's ACHI and non-RAID).

I realize this is more advanced than my current skill set, but hey, how else does one learn? Any help would be appreciated. The data is not important to me enough to pay for the service, and again, I won't learn anything that way. I would be willing to pay for good software, though, if necessary.

Thanks!

[BlackST]

Knowledge has a cost as everything else. No software will disclose you its secrets, so what's the point ? Rebuild the array, reformat, reinstall, done. The problem will likely re-appear because integrated controllers (on motherboard) are usually crap. OR, something else doesn't work properly in combination with the other parts of the system.

[emradguy]

Sorry, but I was asking for help. Did you miss that part? I would appreciate something constructive.

I have learned my controller is "crap", so I am now running a single disk. I still want the option of backing it up and would still like to try to recover some of the lost data.

Please post something if you have useful suggestions.

Thanks!

[BlackST]

To recover some of the lost data : image each drive then rebuild array on another known good machine and use some RAID analysis / reconstruction software - you can enter the RAID parameters if you still have them. If no joy, it's beyond your possibilities (would be impossible to guess what to do without having analysed the drives).
To backup : if your controller (integrated) is crap, use another GOOD PCI / PCIE card.
I don't see anything else.

[emradguy]

Thanks very much!

[emradguy]

Someone suggested using Acronis to try to recover my data. Any thoughts anyone?