WHAT TO DO IF YOUR RAID 0 ARRAY FAILS?
Do not reboot: Simply power down the server/computer and the array. Rebooting can cause serious damage when a RAID array fails.
If you suspect mechanical failure, power down the array immediately: If a drive is making an unusual noise, such as clicking or grinding, power it off as soon as possible. Continuing to run a physically failed drive can cause irreparable damage to the platters where data is stored.
Do not run defragment or volume repair utilities on suspected failed drives: Utilities such as chkdsk, scandisk, and fsck are generally not intended for RAID repair. They are designed to solve very specific problems relating to the filesystem, and unless you are sure you have these problems, you should avoid running them at all costs. These operations involve moving and writing a lot of data, which can make the damage far worse.
Furthermore, the kinds of problems that these utilities are meant to fix can often exhibit themselves in cases where the actual cause of the original problem is different. Running these operations can be very dangerous!
Label the positions of all drives in the RAID array and mark the one that failed: People panic when they lose data, and in attempting to fix the situation, it happens surprisingly often that they will mix up the order of the drives or forget which ones failed. This is understandable - data loss can be highly stressful. But it can make data recovery more difficult when we lack such information, so please take care to label your drives as soon as you can.
Please note that drives in a RAID array are numbered starting from 0.
Log the events you observed that led to the failure: This will provide valuable information that will make the data recovery effort more likely to succeed.
Also please log all attempts you have made, if any, to remedy the problem and any consequences you observed.
Do not change the order of the drives in an array: When the situation is already dangerous, you run an extremely high risk of data loss if you alter the RAID configuration in any way.
Do not swap another disk into the array: This can also become catastrophic if done incorrectly. New disks have to be completely zeroed out before insertion, and it is crucial to follow the manufacturer's instructions when swapping. It is highly advisable not to perform this operation in any potential data loss scenario.
