What you do when RAID Server Fails

Servers that work on multiple drives are usually “destriped” onto a different media so that file system repairs can be done and the data files retrieved. It may be necessary to extract data directly from one or more fragments of the destriped image. Professional programmers in this field have created a full set of software tools used by data recovery engineers to analyse, destripe, fix & recover data from raw images drives to virtually all operating systems.

RAID server failure is one of the dreaded work hazards you may have to face sometimes at your workplace. You tend to become incapable and powerless when you are unable to access data with a click.
Data on a RAID array or volume can becomes inaccessible due to any of the following reasons:

• A faulty RAID controller
• Multiple hard drive crash
• Malfunctioning upgrade or faulty striping
• Defects with the MFT mount points.
• RAID controller failure or configuration changed
• Adding incompatible hard drives
• Hardware conflicts
• Software corruption
• Virus infection, software and operating system upgrades
In these above conditions, the following steps should be taken immediately to increase chances of getting critical files back:
• Shutdown the server and turn off the system. Do not try to reboot again. This may cause serious damage to your hard drive.
• Do not attempt to recover data by yourself, friends or PC repair shops. This may result in permanent loss.
• Do not continue to attempt a forced rebuild if you have already replaced a failed drive and tried to rebuild the array, but still can't access your data. This may wipe out your data. RAID data recovery utilities and software are not designed to restore data or rebuild RAID arrays from failing hard drives. This requires specialized equipment and professional training.
• Swapping hard drives or re-ordering drives in a multiple drive RAID array may cause overwriting the striping and parity. This makes it nearly difficult to reconstruct your RAID array and salvage your company's vital data.
• Seeking professional help from professionally trained data recovery engineers is the sanest solution. Most data can be recovered from crashed hard drives and malfunctioning RAID servers by these experts only.
What do Professional data recovery engineers do?
Professional data recovery engineers have specialized equipment, a thorough knowledge of hex, drive structures, MFT mount points and offsets.

The Professional engineers’ initial diagnosis determines whether each media device is accessible to their lab equipment. From all the data accessible to them from each media, they make a raw image onto a new media to help them analyse and assess the data loss. If some of the media is difficult to get hold of, they will test the components and closely check its internal condition to assess the level of physical damage sustained. The damaged components include electronics, read/write heads, magnets, drive motors and head assemblies.

The raw images of the entire server’s media are used for logical recovery by examining the low-level data sectors. Determination of both the exact layout of volumes, which span or are striped across multiple drives, is a must. Necessary fixes to the file system structures are to be decided upon to get access to important data.

Servers that work on multiple drives are usually “destriped” onto a different media so that file system repairs can be done and the data files retrieved. It may be necessary to extract data directly from one or more fragments of the destriped image.

Professional programmers in this field have created a full set of software tools used by data recovery engineers to analyse, destripe, fix & recover data from raw images drives to virtually all operating systems. The Validity of information is checked once a recovery has been successfully performed, and file lists created.

A file recovery list is produced when your data is recovered. You can verify that your critical files are recoverable. The process usually takes 3-5 days though emergency data recovery services are also available.

Configuring Windows Xp as a Ntp Network Time Server

Time synchronisation in modern computer networks is essential, all computers need to know the time as many applications, from sending an email to storing information are reliant on the PC knowing when the event took place.

Microsoft Windows XP has a time synchronisation utility built into the operating system called Windows Time (w32time.exe) which can be configured to operate as a network time server.

Windows XP can easily set the system clock to use UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, the World’s time standard) by accessing an Internet source (either: time.windows.com or time.nist.gov). To achieve this, a user merely has to double click the clock on their desktop and adjust the settings in the Internet Time tab.

It must be noted however, that Microsoft and other operating system manufacturers strongly advise that external timing references should be used as Internet sources can’t be authenticated.

NTP (Network Time Protocol) is a protocol already installed on Windows XP and is used by Windows Time to keep machines synchronised to the single time source. Specialist NTP servers are available that can receive a reliable time source via the GPS signal or specialist radio transmissions that get their time from atomic clocks.

If you wish to configure Windows XP to operate as a time server then first thing is to locate the Windows Time subkey. To do this, run Regedit (Click start/run/then type REGEDIT/and click enter.)

Note: editing your system registry can cause problems with your system. It is advisable to back up your system before editing the registry.

Now locate the following subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Timeparameters
Right click the right-hand side and click Modify. In the Edit Value box, under Value Data, type NTP and then click OK.

Now go to the Config folder and right-click AnnounceFlags, Modify and in the Edit DWORD Value box, under Value Data, type 5, and then click OK.

Locate this subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpClient
Right-click in the right-side window and Modify. Edit the DWORD value box and type the number of seconds you want for each poll under Value data, i.e.: 900 will equal 15 minutes. The poll field represents the polling interval between NTP poll packets.

To allow Windows XP to operate as a network time server, the NTP service needs to be switched on. To activate NTP simply find the following subkey in the registry editor (regedit):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpServer
Right click enabled (in the right-hand window) then Modify. Edit the DWORD Value and type 1. Right-click NtpServer, then Modify and in the Edit DWORD Value under Value Data type Peers, then click OK.

Exit the registry and start windows time service by clicking Start/Run and typing:
net stop w32time && net start w32time.; Then on each computer on the network (other than the domain controller which can’t be synchronised with itself) type: W32tm/resync/rediscover.

DDR3 Memory Overview

DDR-3 is the next-generation evolution of DDR and newer DDR-2 memory technology that will break the Gigahertz speed barrier for memory speed.

DDR-3 is the next-generation evolution of DDR and newer DDR-2 memory technology that will break the Gigahertz speed barrier for memory speed.

DDR-3 memory comes with a promise of a power consumption reduction of 30% compared to current DDR-2 modules, due to DDR-3's 1.5 V supply voltage, compared to DDR-2's 1.8 V or DDR-1's 2.5 V. This supply voltage works well with the latest fabrication technology used for most DDR-3 chips. Some manufacturers further propose to use "dual-gate" transistors to reduce leakage of current.

DDR-3 is an industry standard technology defined by JEDEC, who is the semiconductor standardization body of the Electronic Industries Alliance. About 300 member companies representing every segment of the computer memory industry actively participate to develop standards to meet the industry needs.

DDR-3 memory features higher data bandwidths, faster speeds, lower voltage and power consumption, and improved thermal performance. Lower power consumption will allow longer battery life for laptops. DDR-3 memory is engineered to support the next-generation quad-processors that require higher data bandwidth to enable higher levels of performance.

The main benefit of DDR-3 comes from the higher bandwidth made possible by DDR-3's 8 bit deep pre-fetch buffer, whereas DDR-2's is 4 bits, and DDR-1's is 2 bits deep. Theoretically, these modules could transfer data at an effective clock rate of 800–1600 MHz (using both edges of a 400–800 MHz I/O clock), compared to DDR-2's current range of effective 400–800 MHz (200–400 MHz clock) or DDR-1's range of 200–400 MHz (100–200 MHz). To date, such bandwidth requirements have been mainly found in the graphics market, where fast transfer of information between frames is required.

Prototypes were announced in early 2005, and products started appearing on the market as of mid-2007, in the form of motherboards based on Intel's P35 "Bearlake" chipset and memory DIMMs at speeds up to DDR-3 1600Mhz. DDR-3 launched for these special Intel chipset-based desktops in July 2007, and notebook and server platforms will follow in 2008 and 2009. AMD’s roadmap shows they will also support DDR-3 as the new memory technology continues its market ramp-up in 2008.

DDR-3 memory modules come in 1066MHz, 1333MHz and 1600MHz speeds (data rate), with 1066MHz and 1333MHz DDR-3 launched in 2007, with 1600MHz DDR3 expected in 2008. This compares with DDR-2 speeds of 533MHz, 667MHz, and 800MHz.

DDR-3 DIMMs have 240 pins, the same number as DDR-2, and are the same size, but are electrically incompatible and have a different key notch location. This will keep end users from installing an incorrect part into a DDR-2 or DDR-3 motherboard.

GDDR3 memory, with a similar name but completely different technology, has already been in use for several years in high-end graphic cards such as ones from NVIDIA or ATI Technologies, and as main system memory on the Microsoft Xbox 360. It has sometimes been incorrectly referred to as "DDR-3".

DDR-3 will be available on desktops, servers, notebooks, telecommunications/networking and other platforms in the following form-factors:
• Unbuffered DIMMs, ECC or non-ECC
• Registered ECC DIMMs
• MicroDIMMs
• SO-DIMMs
• Custom Modules

Data Recovery For Laptop Hard Drives

If you compare the hard drive of a desktop with the hard drive of a laptop, the only difference you will notice is the size. Their technologies are the same, but this size variation makes the laptop hard drive more difficult.

If you compare the hard drive of a desktop with the hard drive of a laptop, the only difference you will notice is the size. Their technologies are the same, but this size variation makes the laptop hard drive more difficult. Still, there are companies that have the required equipment for such fine data recovery procedures.

Because laptops provide the ability to work anywhere they are now preferred over the usual desktop work stations. This leads to a lot of important data being stored on their hard drives. While their hard drives are no weaker than the drives the old work stations had, they are however highly susceptible to damage. That's when you will need to call in a laptop data recovery specialist.

The best way to choose a data recovery specialist is to allow the required time frame to make the research and correct choice. To do this, you will need to recognize the symptoms of probable hard drive problems. When choosing a recovery specialist, by checking multiple companies and comparing their price statements you can avoid those that will try to use your need for help right away. The data recovery company should have sterilized facilities for full recovery procedures.

The most common signs that a damaged hard drive provides are ticking and clicking noises when access is required to stored data. These are mechanical damage symptoms. There are also logical errors that can cripple the booting process of the computer or that will disable the reading of certain files that are stored in damaged sectors

If the problem of the drive shows signs that the issue might be of mechanical nature, drive not spinning or you can hear noises when reading, the help of a data recovery specialist in imperative. The drive might have a critical failure and attempting to recover the drive yourself will probably make it worse.

If the drive has logical errors or you deleted a file by mistake, there is enough software on the market to help you but there is the possibility that you misuse it so the help of a data recovery specialist is still recommended.

All in all, if you have problems with your laptop hard drive you can attempt to fix the problem yourself, as long as it is not a mechanical one. If you need a data recovery specialist, make sure the research is done prior to sending the media.