I had a Dell XPS 600 that I ordered with 2 80GB Western Digital Raptors, and I removed tham and gave the PC to my bro. Since then I have built my first PC, and would like to know how to UNstripe them and take them out of Raid 0, and back to 2 normal 80Gb Raptors. The only thing is I do not have the Dell in my area anymore incase they need to be re-installed in that pc. So my question is, without being able to stick them back into that dell pc, how can I UNstripe them and take them out of Raid 0??? I basically want 2 regular 80Gb drives again. Need advice. Thanks.

unless i'm missing something, just put them in another system and format them

theres no way to save the data in UNstriping them. you can UNmirror to a certain level of success, but quite literally half your data is on one of the drives. just backup, put one in each of the desired systems, create partitions and go nuts.

If you have already gotten the data off, then just reformat them, if not you're screwed. RAIDs are usually specific to the RAID controller so you need the same mobo to access the data.

I am currently formatting(NTSF) them as we speak. But I have 2 80Gb hdd's and with them both plugged in they only show 1, 80gb hdd. They both worked fine when I removed them from the old pc. Is it possible that since installing them into my new home built pc, that with the different mobo, it's caused an issue with the drives? I have always read that when building a new pc, reformat the drive when installing into a new pc. Because of possible issues with the different mobo. Infact I read that here on Tom's. I will report back when it finishes formatting. Thanks for the replies.

If the BIOS shows the drive, then use the bootable Data Lifeguard Tools 11.0 for DOS (CD).

You can use ISO Recorder, or other ISO burning software, to burn the ISO to CD.

Two things:

1. Yes, you can unstripe a RAID 0 if you need the data. You use Runtime.org's RAID Reconstructor to destripe the drives to an .img file on a 3rd drive. Then you use Runtime.org's GetDataBack for NTFS to pull files out of the .img.

Since he does not need the data, he doesn't need to do this. But it is possible should you need the data.

2. For many RAID schemes, data is written to the drives that will confuse non-RAID controllers, especially information about the drive/volume size that's written in the MBR and partition table. It is best to fully erase all of this data before using the drives on a normal controller again. You can fully erase the drives using a drive overwrite program, such as Active@ KillDisk, or Darik's Boot and Nuke.

Interesting, $168-$468 to save a RAID0. How well does it work?

I agree with wiping, I always zero write any drives I reuse.

I've used RAID Reconstructor to recover a 2-drive RAID 0 and a 3-drive RAID 5. Worked perfectly both times. I was reading the drives comprising the RAID on a regular IDE controller (non-RAID).

Don't worry about their "RAID Probe" service that they charge $300 for. That's only necessary for large arrays that are made up of several drives. For 2-drive RAID 0s and 3-drive RAID 5s, RAID Reconstructor will guess the correct parameters 95% of the time.

I'll keep it in mind although I don't think I have the stones to risk the aggravation of a failed RAID.

I quoted the pertinent parts of your post here for a guy with a crashed RAID0. Maybe you can give the OP some additional information and solace, I'm sure he could use it.

Ya, I saw his post but I think he's probably hosed. From his description it looks like one of the drives is bad, so this won't help him.

RAID Reconstructor is primarily for when the RAID controller or motherboard has failed and there is no way to get an identical substitute to read the RAID array, even though the drives themselves are good.

I understand that, that's why I told him to verify that he had good drives first. I was going under the assumption that they passed, your probably right. That's why I don't have the stones for a RAID. I'd like to think that I have a drive that's taking a crap and I can still save the data with SpinRite, even though that may not be the case in the end.