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We have a HP DL360 server with a P400 controller, which has two 72GB 10K SAS drives in a RAID 0 configuration (yes, I know...RAID 0).

The HP Model number for the drives is DG072A8B54

Recently, one of the two drives appear to have failed, and is no longer detected.

In the HP iLO console, we see:

POST Error: 1784-Drive Array Drive Failure 

On the front indicator panel of the drive, there is a steady amber light (i.e. critical failure).

I have a SATA-to-USB adapter, I know the physical adapter is the same for SAS, but I'm guessing this won't actually work for connecting to a SAS drive. From a quick search, it seems I'd need to get an enclosure and an external HBA.

I'm wondering, what are the chances of any data recovery at this stage?

My understanding is that in general enterprise drives are more prone to simply reporting as fatal, rather than returning possibly corrupt data.

Would we be able to get any data at all from the failed drive?

And if we can't, I suppose, with the striping, depending on the stripe size would you be able to get small chunks?

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    I'm sure you'll be able to recover SOME of the data if not all of it, but it won't be quick and you're going to have to pay someone else to do it - better have deep pockets too!
    – Chopper3
    Jan 21, 2015 at 15:15

1 Answer 1

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It depends on how the drive failed. 72GB 10k disks haven't been manufactured for years, so I'd suspect that your disks are at least 6 years old... possibly 9 years... You may have a mechanical problem with the disk.

The server you're talking about is an HP ProLiant DL360 G5. They were sold from 2005-2008.

Running RAID 0 is a calculated risk. Your data was striped across disks, and the failure of one renders the logical drive unusable.

You do not have any options to interface with the drive using a USB adapter. This is a SAS disk and protocol. It won't work.

If you haven't yet. Turn the server off. Let the drive spin down. Then power on and see if you can at least get it to be recognized by the controller.

If the data is important and it's just a mechanical failure, a data recovery firm may be able to help.

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    +1 for recovery firm. BUT: I would't try anything with the disks for now. Don't let them spin anymore. I talked to a recovery specialist years ago. He told me one of the big failures costumers make is that they try to much on their own. Often the can't help anymore, because costumer made the damage more worse. If the SAS-HDD has an Head-Crash for example and you try to power it up again and again the damage may only get more worse... So if the data is important -> don't touch them anymore and call an recovery expert.
    – frupfrup
    Jan 21, 2015 at 15:30
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    RAID0 usually means 0 chance of data recovery. Each piece of data is split across the drives to improve performance, but for most files, if you loose half the data, the file is corrupted beyond usability.
    – SnakeDoc
    Jan 21, 2015 at 19:32

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