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 Post subject: PCIE SSD Raid0 not bootable but everything's OK on it
PostPosted: November 12th, 2021, 18:47 
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Hi everyone,

I have a MSI GT72S 6QE laptop where the OS (Windows 10) is installed on a PCIE RAID0 SSD (I know, Raid0 sucks, I won't make that mistake again when buying a laptop). One of the two SSD's in the RAID kept getting not detected at all, the room temperature seemed to be the reason (I know how it sounds but everytime my room got under 20°C the SSD wasn't detected) but it also happened seemingly at random. I then would have to reboot my computer a number of times for the SSD to be found and then everything would work absolutely fine. Then it started doing it more and more.

I got tired of it so I opened the laptop and reseated the SSD's in the RAID structure and booted my computer. One of the disks was marked as "Error Occured" in the "Intel Rapid Storage" section of my BIOS but besides that every test I could find told me the RAID was OK. I installed another windows on an HDD that was also in the computer so I could mark the drive as normal in "Intel Optane".

Here is the drive that was marked as error:

Image

Here is the other :
Image

Here is the raid, and when I do "Verify volume", it passes 100%:
Image


Now in the BIOS both SSDs are marked as "RAID member" and the RAID is in status OK and Bootable "Yes". After that I did every volume test available, TestDisk can see EVERY file in the Windows partition and the boot manager still sees a Windows boot on that volume but when I try to boot on that Windows, I just get a black screen.

Here is the disk in TestDisk:
Image

What's in the RAID looks all OK, Windows is in "OS_Install", obviously (to note, in diskpart that partition shows no filesystem or volume name, but it shows OK on testdisk)
Image

And here are the contents of OS_Install (I've already copied most of it with testdisk with 0 Failed, and I can see every file in the partition)
Image

Chkdsk finds no error at all. TestDisk doesn't see any lost partition and tells me the boot record and backup boot record are fine and yet I can't neither boot on that windows nor repair it, when I try the "Startup Repair" the laptop reboots and MSI tells me "checking drive for errors, this could take hours" but stops after a few minutes and reboots. If I try to reinstall windows from the Cloud ou local image it says right away that there is a problem without saying more and goes to the previous screen. I'm at my wit's end. If the SSD was really dead, could I do everything I did above? I don't think so but I'm not a pro.

In the other windows installed on the HDD, the drive appears as the letter "D" and isn't accessible, it tells me "access denied" if I try to go in, but TestDisk can with no problem and chkdsk can find and test every volume in the RAID.

What is maddening is that both SSD's seem absolutely fine, the RAID too, Optane, testdisk, chkdsk, etc. find no error and the boot manager sees my windows install on the RAID but cannot boot or repair it, I'm at a total loss. I can't believe that the SSD is dead and yet I can acess and copy every file on the volume with TestDisk, but I don't know what to do next.

I need help guys, I feel like it's a little stupid thing like remaking the boot record or something (but it's GPT, not MBR, and I don't know much about either) like that and I would be able to boot on it no problem.
When I boot my computer it sees both windows boot though, the problem seems to be on the OS_Install partition being locked or something, but I can't find the problem.

I've tried to fix the windows install on that partition with sfc /scannow with offbootdir=D:\ and offwindir=D:\Windows\ from the Windows Boot USB command prompt, it told me that it fixed errors successfully but I still get a black screen when trying to boot on that Windows.

So I tried DISM to fix the install, with a DISM /Image: D:\offline //Cleanup-Image /Restorehealth with the install.esd from the USB as source but I get an error 2 (or 5 depending on the command) telling me "Unable to access the image", so then again the drive seems OK but can't be accessed by "elevated" tools, but "low level" tools can see every file and doesn't find any errors... It's maddening seriously.

Is there a disk attribute (diskpart doesen't see it as readonly, I checked) or something that I missed?

Please anyone, help! I just can't get over the fact that the disk seems OK with every tool I use, it has to be something small that's wrong with it.

PS:

When I first opened the laptop I didn't note the order of the SSD's in the RAID0's controller "structure", and I switched them from their ports several time, so I don't remember at all in which order (there are only two ports where the disk can fit on that "structure") they where. If I have put them back in the wrong order, could I still access the files on the partition like that, could that be the problem?

Furthermore, and I think it's the whole problem, from the command prompt when I boot on the windows USB, I can do dir d:\windows and it shows me the files, but if I do dir d:\ it tells me "access denied", and finally, if I type dir d: it marks:

Volume in drive D is OS_Install
Volume Serial Number is XXXX-XXXX (hidden by me)

Directory of D:\
File not found

Does that means anything to you guys?


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 Post subject: Re: PCIE SSD Raid0 not bootable but everything's OK on it
PostPosted: November 13th, 2021, 16:44 
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Joined: November 12th, 2021, 18:33
Posts: 5
Location: France
PS2:

I just used MiniTools Partition Wizard on the other Windows installed on the HDD, it sees the RAID perfectly, sees all the partitions OK like testdisk does.
I did a surface test on the whole disk and on individual partitions, it passed with flying colors. Re-did a chkdsk on the OS_Install partition just in case but 0 errors again.
I can explore the partition also with MiniTools and I can see everything where it's supposed to be.
TestDisk tells me the boot record and mft are both OK and perfectly matched to their backup/mirror.



DiskGenius sees both TOSHIBA SSD's OK, the SMART info is all marked Good and when I compare all the infos on both disk they seem to match except for the "Total Host Read/Total Host Writes" values, is that normal (I'm presuming it's the amount of data written on each disk right?)
I did a bad track search that gave me all Excellent, Good or Normal tracks/cylinders. (Most of them Excellent, around 10K good and 3 Normal, no bad tracks found).
Again it also sees every file in the main partition and can even explore the SYSTEM and WinRe partitions and they look OK to me.



That's one hell of a headscratcher! If one of the SSD's or the RAID are really damaged then could I do all this?
But then if they're OK, what the hell is locking the main partition like that?


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 Post subject: Re: PCIE SSD Raid0 not bootable but everything's OK on it
PostPosted: November 14th, 2021, 8:45 
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Joined: November 7th, 2020, 5:31
Posts: 1084
Location: The_UK
None of this looks like there are problems with the drives themselves.
Did you put them back on the same channels as you took them out from? There are lots of reasons why the array might not boot anything from from the bios to the windows install.

If your files are ok why not clone to an image on another drive, reinit the array and make sure it's working and then clone them back? That should rule out both hardware and windows install at each step.

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 Post subject: Re: PCIE SSD Raid0 not bootable but everything's OK on it
PostPosted: November 14th, 2021, 10:23 
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Joined: November 12th, 2021, 18:33
Posts: 5
Location: France
First thanks for answering!

Quote:
None of this looks like there are problems with the drives themselves.

From your mouth to God's ears my son! But if the problem isn't hardware, why can't that partition be accessed by the Windows boot, by DISM, by the other Windows, etc and yet no drives/files errors are detected? That's what is making me nuts.

Quote:
Did you put them back on the same channels as you took them out from? There are lots of reasons why the array might not boot anything from from the bios to the windows install.


As I said in my first post I have no idea, the RAID thing has 4 ports but the SSD's I have fit only into two of them (the ports are labelled differently, two of them are "1535" and the other two "1539" or something like that, I haven't reopened the laptop to check) and idk at all which was the original order.
But I did try to switch them ports before doing all the tests and it had the same result, black screen when trying to boot on that Windows, but I haven't done it again since. Furthermore if the order was important or wrong, could I still access all the files like that on the different partitions of that RAID? I don't want to reopen the case but I will try to switch them up again if I come up dry on software solutions.


Quote:
If your files are ok why not clone to an image on another drive, reinit the array and make sure it's working and then clone them back? That should rule out both hardware and windows install at each step.


It's a laptop, so I have no other ports to put another SSD in. I've been thinking about cloning the whole RAID into a single external SSD and then putting in place of the RAID but idk if that's possible, are there external USB SSD "enclosures" with m2 ports where you can remove the drive?


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 Post subject: Re: PCIE SSD Raid0 not bootable but everything's OK on it
PostPosted: November 14th, 2021, 14:05 
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Joined: November 7th, 2020, 5:31
Posts: 1084
Location: The_UK
I've not used intel's raid offering personally but my money would be on some sort of weird driver issue / bug stopping the raid being visible at boot. What does a linux livecd made of it? Drive order is important , but the screen shots do indicate it's correct or at least the system thinks it is. You may be able to see the structure, have you check a few of the data files to see if they're actually valid.

Assuming you have valid data you can make an image of the raid onto any external usb drive you have hanging around, it's only 250GB. Once you have an image you can work freely on the raid without worrying about killing stuff. Double check your bios isn't in legacy or usb boot mode etc, if still no go. Delete and recreate the raid 0 and check if it's visible then, I have a feeling it will be.

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 Post subject: Re: PCIE SSD Raid0 not bootable but everything's OK on it
PostPosted: November 14th, 2021, 15:26 
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Joined: November 12th, 2021, 18:33
Posts: 5
Location: France
Lardman wrote:
I've not used intel's raid offering personally but my money would be on some sort of weird driver issue / bug stopping the raid being visible at boot. What does a linux livecd made of it? Drive order is important , but the screen shots do indicate it's correct or at least the system thinks it is. You may be able to see the structure, have you check a few of the data files to see if they're actually valid.

Assuming you have valid data you can make an image of the raid onto any external usb drive you have hanging around, it's only 250GB. Once you have an image you can work freely on the raid without worrying about killing stuff. Double check your bios isn't in legacy or usb boot mode etc, if still no go. Delete and recreate the raid 0 and check if it's visible then, I have a feeling it will be.



I tried an Ubiuntu live USB to use GNOME disk utils but it didn't see the RAID at all, I think it was a missing driver or something, I had to use that USB drive to put a WindowsPE on it so I didn't try further.
Yes the data is valid, everything I copied is good, I opened PDF documents, executed portable apps, I couldn't find something that didn't work, even in the Windows folder everything I check is in order and the folder is the right size.

I'm probably going to clone it to a single SSD if I can't fix it but I'm trying my damnedest to fix it.


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 Post subject: Re: PCIE SSD Raid0 not bootable but everything's OK on it
PostPosted: November 15th, 2021, 7:04 
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Joined: November 12th, 2021, 18:33
Posts: 5
Location: France
UPDATE:
Hey something I just noticed: in DiskGenius it shows the Windows I installed on the HDD as GPT, but it didn't create a SYSTEM or MSR partition on the SATA HDD, it's using the ones on the RAID to boot right? So at least those partitions are accessible, why then the main partition isn't?
I want to try to pull the HDD from the laptop and see what happens when I boot, could it have mixed the main partition and try to boot on the wrong one even when I chose the SSD in the boot manager?


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