Data Loss in a system with RAW Dynamic disk mirrored volumes

A RAW volume in a hard drive is primarily written to by a program that does not require any file system such as, FAT or NTFS. For instance, Microsoft SQL Server performs direct Input/Output to RAW volume and does not need any file system. However, when you restart a Windows based system that contains RAW volume, all your hard drive volumes may resynchronize. The root cause for the same is the unexpected restart operation or complete system crash. In such cases, the data saved in the hard drive volume becomes inaccessible. To overcome such data loss situations, you will need to restore the data from an updated backup. However, if the updated backup gets corrupted or is unable to restore the required data, then the best way to recover your data is by using advanced Data Recovery Software.

Consider a practical example, when you attempt to start your Windows 2000-based computer system that contains RAW Dynamic disk mirrored volumes, your volumes automatically resynchronize.

Cause:

The above error message primarily occurs when one or more RAW volumes were not registered for shutdown notification. As a result, the volume(s) appear to have been shutdown as 'dirty.'

Resolution:

To resolve the above issue and access the hard disk data, you will need to apply the Hotfix solution provided by Microsoft. Once you have applied the Hotfix solution, you will need to restart your computer system. However, if the Hotfix solution fails to resolve the issue, then you will need to format the RAW volume by using any of the below supported file systems:

  • FAT (File Allocation Table)

  • FAT32

  • NTFS (New Technology File System)

Formatting the RAW volume by using any of the above file systems will need result in complete deletion of data from the hard drive. For complete recovery of data under such situations, you will need to opt for advanced Data Recovery Software. With highly graphical user-interface, incorporated powerful features, and use of advanced scanning algorithms, these Data Recovery Tools serve as self-explanatory and recovery centric applications.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a powerful and feature rich fat DataRecovery application that is compatible with FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file systems. This read only Data Recovery application supports 185 file systems and recovers lost data from corrupted, deleted, formatted or lost hard drive partitions. The application is designed for Windows 7 (Currently in RC1), Vista, XP, 2003, and 2000.

About the Author:

K Madhav is a data recovery expert and doing research on partition recovery and disk data recovery.

Author: kmadhav