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Xraidissues · Feb 12, 2007, 03:45 AM

The Setup...
Xraid @ RAID 50.
10 drives @ 500 GBs.
5 on each side.
3.64 in RAID 50.

The short version: Within Disk Utility I accidentally "erased" one side of my RAID. I essentially did a quick erase on one of the RAID volumes. I now see one side of my Xraid as "untitled" within my drives. The XRAID volume is still visible within Disk Utilities.

The long version....

We were out of space on our Xraid. We use it for video editing, DVD creation, etc. We needed to max it out with four more drives. I rented another Xraid to use as storage during the transfer. I bought four more drives to add to the RAID. I plugged in the rented Xraid and opened Disk Utility. LOTS of partitions showed up. I started clicking and "erase"ing. The third partition I erased was one half of my Xraid configuration. This drive was erased and a new volume showed up as "untitled" on the desktop. My heart beat faster, thoughts of all the hours of video, audio, projects and man hours surged through my head in an instant. I realized what I had done.

So far I've talked to Apple support who says to call DriveSavers.

I've talked to DriveSavers. They quoted between $9K - 86K, depending on turn around time, ease of the fix, etc.

I talked to another company who quoted $3500 - $18,000.

I have Disk Warrior, Norton System Tools, and Tech Tools in house.

I am afraid this is going to either cost a huge amount of money or more than likely, we'll need to opt to rebuild everything from scratch. Either way... This *****.

My fault completely. I know it and I don't know what to do.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this working or others who could solve this issue for a lesser price?

Peter · Feb 12, 2007, 04:30 AM

Backups are great really

phantomdragonz · Feb 12, 2007, 04:32 AM

is this ANOTHER one of those dudes trying to plug his stupid website???

Zach

Peter · Feb 12, 2007, 04:33 AM

he doesn't link a website?
or does he come back later and post a url to it?

phantomdragonz · Feb 12, 2007, 04:36 AM

I have seen both... I think

I donno smells really fishy to me...

not to mention it's in the wrong section to begin with...

Zach

Peter · Feb 12, 2007, 05:01 AM

it was moved here by a mod. From the PowerMac forum. Which is even weirder.

OreoCookie · Feb 12, 2007, 05:10 AM

I thought he'd get more traffic here since it's really about data recovery companies … there was no link to a company, so I figure it isn't spam.

And yes, Peter is quite right, backups are great. In any case, don't touch the RAID. I'm not sure DataRescue can handle broken RAIDs …

IceEnclosure · Feb 12, 2007, 06:03 AM

86k OLY SHTS.

Xraidissues · Feb 12, 2007, 02:59 PM

Guys, I'm not a spammer...

Just a stupid S O B who took his eye off the ball for 11 seconds and screwed the last 2 years of work by our media department.

My name is Shaun, I work in the silicon valley and should not be allowed to touch such things in the future.

Xraidissues · Feb 12, 2007, 03:02 PM

Yeah man, backups are really great. Thanks for rubbing it in!

But it's 3.64 TBs of space.

I work for a small company. Not likely that I'll get the money needed to do data recovery.

RAILhead · Feb 12, 2007, 03:07 PM

Should someone insert a HAHA! Guy pic?

memory-minus · Feb 12, 2007, 03:11 PM

http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php

Can't hurt to try Data Rescue II... you can download it and see what it's able to recover before purchasing it.

But... if you have 3.64 TBs of data to recover and no backup... where are you going to put it as it is being recovered?

mdc · Feb 12, 2007, 03:13 PM

Didn't he say he rented another XRaid to use for space during the transfer?

zerostar · Feb 12, 2007, 03:13 PM

We recently had a few spams that sounded suspiciously like this so thats where the hostility comes in.

Did you not have ANY backups? Sure it was 3.64TB but when we had video work (on just 1TB x-raid) I would run out a beta tape of every Final Cut timeline "just in case" then if I lost it or needed to dump it I would just pull it back in from tape and get my master art (screens, transitions, art pieces, alphas, etc.) off the client backup DVD (do you at least have that?!)

If you do not have this and can't afford recovery I would just face the cold reality and get going on the rebuilding.

I would also start backing up! RAIDS can fail, even setup for fail safe. You need redundancy and unfortunately you needed it before today.

besson3c · Feb 12, 2007, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by Xraidissues

Yeah man, backups are really great. Thanks for rubbing it in!

But it's 3.64 TBs of space.

I work for a small company. Not likely that I'll get the money needed to do data recovery.

We backup 7 TB of data nightly...

Not trying to sound like a prick, nor am I rubbing this in, but once you get things sorted out I would suggest pushing the company to invest in a backup solution. A good option might be to offload some of the older stuff into a tape archive.

Data loss happens to everybody, and likely would have happened eventually regardless of this incident.

memory-minus · Feb 12, 2007, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by RAILhead

Should someone insert a HAHA! Guy pic?

besson3c · Feb 12, 2007, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by RAILhead

Should someone insert a HAHA! Guy pic?

No, that would be pretty rude, wouldn't it?

memory-minus · Feb 12, 2007, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by mdc

Didn't he say he rented another XRaid to use for space during the transfer?

So he did. Glossed right over that part.

besson3c · Feb 12, 2007, 03:17 PM

Man, you guys are tasteless... as if you've never been in his shoes before.

memory-minus · Feb 12, 2007, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Man, you guys are tasteless... as if you've never been in his shoes before.

I back up all systems I'm responsible for -- twice before making major changes or doing an upgrade, so no, I haven't.

Xraidissues · Feb 12, 2007, 03:36 PM

To memory-minus... I forgive you for being a prick.

I'm sincerely looking for any help you guys may have.

I didn't do a low level format.

I did a quick erase and am astonished at the fact that 11 secs of stupid clicking may have screwed that last two years of work.

We do have almost all of the DVD's we've ever created on DVD.

We also have an EXTENSIVE video library of all of our raw footage.

Still, the man hours to recapture and recreate are painful, time consuming and expensive.

besson3c · Feb 12, 2007, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by memory-minus

I back up all systems I'm responsible for -- twice before making major changes or doing an upgrade, so no, I haven't.

You've never in your life lost any data on any machine you've worked on? Wow...

besson3c · Feb 12, 2007, 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by Xraidissues

To memory-minus... I forgive you for being a prick.

I'm sincerely looking for any help you guys may have.

I didn't do a low level format.

I did a quick erase and am astonished at the fact that 11 secs of stupid clicking may have screwed that last two years of work.

We do have almost all of the DVD's we've ever created on DVD.

We also have an EXTENSIVE video library of all of our raw footage.

Still, the man hours to recapture and recreate are painful, time consuming and expensive.

I'd plan your attack very carefully with the data recovery software available. Don't just run random software or you may decrease your chances of recovering data.

I"m not sure what software is good these days, perhaps try to find some reviews?

OreoCookie · Feb 12, 2007, 03:40 PM

As you've seen, having a backup is much, much cheaper than any professional data recovery service. Each day without being able to work costs money, so I bet it's cheaper to have backups. Furthermore, according to statistics, about a third of the companies who are in a similar setup in Germany go belly up, because they have no backup scheme.

Also, you should compare the costs of retrieving the data to redoing your work. Perhaps that'll help you make a decision either way.

Peter · Feb 12, 2007, 03:46 PM

there is no excuse not to have a decent backup strategy.
Live and learn

besson3c · Feb 12, 2007, 03:48 PM

I wish Marden had a backup, I miss that guy.

memory-minus · Feb 12, 2007, 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by Xraidissues

To memory-minus... I forgive you for being a prick.

Dude, I told you to download and try Data Rescue II. It will take FOREVER but it will likely help. How much help from us do you expect given your circumstances? No backup and no budget. DriveSavers can pretty much assure you all your data back since you did an initialize instead of a low-level format, but you've already stated it's pretty much out of the question. It all comes down to how much the data is worth to your company. Maybe your salary will pay for the recovery?

memory-minus · Feb 12, 2007, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

You've never in your life lost any data on any machine you've worked on? Wow...

No. Never. Partly because in the beginning when I was first getting into computers I was just lucky. But now I back up my personal machine at home once per week to an external hard drive. Once per month I back it up to a SECOND hard drive which gets taken to work and locked in a cabinet until next month. Email, "priceless" documents and photos, etc., get backed up a third time to my iDisk regularly. The most data I will ever lose, even if my house goes up in flames, is 1 month's worth.

My ~125 Macs at work are backed up to tape every night. I image to an external HDD each computer before performing an OS upgrade or making other major changes just in case. It absolutely pays to be dilligent. I have had machines crash hard and the most my users lose is a few hours worth of data. So I'll correct myself and never say never, but my track record is near impeccable.

memory-minus · Feb 12, 2007, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

I'd plan your attack very carefully with the data recovery software available. Don't just run random software or you may decrease your chances of recovering data.

Data Rescue II locks your drive read-only and does not make any changes to it at all. No chance of overwriting data.

OreoCookie · Feb 12, 2007, 04:20 PM

Yes, I agree. DataRescue has worked for me once and it performed flawlessly. Unlike DiskWarrior, it's a read-only tool, i. e. you need a second volume which is large enough for all the data. I'm not sure it works on RAID volumes, in particular nested RAID volumes.

memory-minus · Feb 12, 2007, 04:29 PM

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

I'm not sure it works on RAID volumes, in particular nested RAID volumes.

http://www.prosofteng.com/support/da..._2.php?faq=255

Since it was just an init, it should be fine.

OreoCookie · Feb 12, 2007, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by memory-minus

Support ~ Data Backup Rescue and Recycler to Recover Lost Data files pictures and images for Mac OS and Data Rescue for PC

Since it was just an init, it should be fine.

According to the link, the answer is no as the RAID is also striped. Or am I missing something?

Xraidissues · Feb 12, 2007, 04:40 PM

Appreciate everyone's efforts in providing advice.

Sadly, as this system was a RAID 50... We were ready for several massive hardware failures.

We were not prepared for the admin to be an idiot.

I will give DataRescue a spin once I work with my IT guy (new guy, so he wasn't in charge of the RAID yet).

I talked to Drive Savers again... 5-7 days will be between $12-13.5 for a successful rebuild.

I'll talk to my CFO and try to pull the $ out of him, but frankly... I don't see it happening.

Thanks to everyone for their advice.

memory-minus... The "ha ha" hurt my soul down deep

Maybe this will be a good catalyst to change careers.

OreoCookie · Feb 12, 2007, 04:42 PM

**** happens, human error is nothing out of the ordinary. You're not to blame that there were no backups whatsoever.

memory-minus · Feb 12, 2007, 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

According to the link, the answer is no as the RAID is also striped. Or am I missing something?

FAQ sez:

If your RAID drives or file system is in good enough shape that the system can still make them appear as a single logical drive, then Data Rescue should be able to scan that composite drive and recover files from it

OP sez:

Originally Posted by Xraidissues

The XRAID volume is still visible within Disk Utilities.

OreoCookie · Feb 12, 2007, 04:51 PM

@memory-minus
He also said that the other half of his RAID shows up on the desktop as an empty drive. I've assumed that his RAID volume is just the half he didn't touch and hence that it won't work.

turtle777 · Feb 12, 2007, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by Xraidissues

I talked to Drive Savers again... 5-7 days will be between $12-13.5 for a successful rebuild.

I'll talk to my CFO and try to pull the $ out of him, but frankly... I don't see it happening.

How is 14 grand out of the question for 2 years of work ?

If it's not even worth that amount of money, you shouldn't even think about backups. It means your data is junk or worthless.

-t

besson3c · Feb 12, 2007, 05:04 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

How is 14 grand out of the question for 2 years of work ?

If it's not even worth that amount of money, you shouldn't even think about backups. It means your data is junk or worthless.

-t

*Sigh* MacNN has become absolutely famous for its judgmental absolutes. Comon everybody, let's see how big a dick you have!

14 grand in one lump sum that wasn't budgeted for is a very big deal, you don't just pull this money out of thin air.

Xraidissues · Feb 12, 2007, 05:09 PM

$14k is a small amount, agreed. Plus the two weeks of having our edit suite down. I'm just flabbergasted at the pain this 11 secs of taking my eye off the ball has caused.

Our data isn't junk, it's just replaceable with several months of hard work... Which they're already paying us for.

Peter · Feb 12, 2007, 05:10 PM

hes right though.
14 grand is pennies for 2 years work.

turtle777 · Feb 12, 2007, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

*Sigh* MacNN has become absolutely famous for its judgmental absolutes. Comon everybody, let's see how big a dick you have!

Huh ?

Originally Posted by besson3c

14 grand in one lump sum that wasn't budgeted for is a very big deal, you don't just pull this money out of thin air.

Whatever. It's relative. 14 grand can be a huge amount of money, or a really small amount of money.

Compared to 2 years of work, it's a small amount of money.
Let's just assume several months of work to restore it is 6 months. That would give you an average monthly price of $ 2,300.
Not really that much, unless an unqualified or underpaid person can do it. Plus, factor in the time value of money, days versus 6 months.

Originally Posted by Xraidissues

$14k is a small amount, agreed. Plus the two weeks of having our edit suite down. I'm just flabbergasted at the pain this 11 secs of taking my eye off the ball has caused.

Well, please don't delete teh intarwebs. Man, how long would it take to recreate all that junk ?

-t

OreoCookie · Feb 12, 2007, 05:29 PM

So 14k seems to be cheaper to me than having several people rebuild old work and them not being able earn money. You should definitely convince your bosses to invest in a backup strategy.

Y3a · Feb 12, 2007, 05:40 PM

With Coctail you can malke all the files visible. This might work as all you did is a simple erase of the drives index. You didn't delete the files.

Oneota · 06:18 PM

I'll chime in with a note of sympathy, and also this:

GAH! It's "Xserve RAID"! NOT XRAID!

But seriously: Sorry to hear about that. Use this as an opportunity to convince those with the purse strings to invest in the necessary hardware and software to implement a good backup strategy. Perhaps a second Xserve RAID.

Xraidissues · Feb 12, 2007, 07:20 PM

Originally Posted by Y3a

With Coctail you can malke all the files visible. This might work as all you did is a simple erase of the drives index. You didn't delete the files.

What is Coctail?

I'm considering trying the following applications...

Virtual Lab

Data Rescue II

FIle Salvage

OreoCookie · Feb 13, 2007, 03:17 AM

No, Cocktail won't work here.

Peter · Feb 13, 2007, 04:11 AM

be very very careful in what apps you use -- the more you access and read/write to the disks, the less chance you have of restoring the data.

bloodline · Feb 13, 2007, 02:21 PM

I'd pop out a couple of drives from the RAID, fry them... applying power to the data pins should do it... pop them back in to the RAID, then tell your boss that the RAID has died... a one in a million thing

zerostar · Feb 13, 2007, 04:33 PM

"the RAID did what?" would be my answer...

raminuri · Feb 15, 2007, 06:53 AM

Probably too late to help you now, but FileSalvage saved my bacon when all the other tools (DiskWarrior, TechTools, DiskRescue, DriveMagic) failed. I mean my drives weren't even mounting. FileSalvage found the drives, found the files, and moved them to a transfer drive.

SubRosaSoft, although Australia or NZ based, has a Silicon Valley presence. Call them. They also have an industrial strength forensic piece of software that law enforcement can use to get anything off your computer.

I've done the Drive Savers thing more than once at great expense so I know what you're up against.
Here are the list of file types FileSalvage will recognize (scroll to bottom). Dont know what kind of work you do but they list video files there.
FileSalvage - Mac OS X Data Recovery, Undelete Files, Rescue Lost Data

I also have a mirror RAID 5 setup (500 GBs each) on an old G4 laptop that attaches with an eSATA card. Because OS X wont boot from the RAID drives on the G4 (dont know about Intel) with the eSATA card, FileSalvage cant see the drives, but I know that if I ever had a problem with this setup, I'd call SubRosaSoft and they could probably find a way to help me.