How to recover data from RAID 0 and RAID 1 on an AMD motherboard (RAIDXpert2)
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Author:
Vladimir Artiukh
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Editor:
Oleg Afonin
Learn how to recover data from a broken RAID array of levels one and zero, created using the motherboard controller AMD RAIDXpert2 Configuration Utility. This article examines in detail the issue relevant to PC users on AMD platforms: how to access data on disks of a RAID array after motherboard failure and what measures can help protect information from loss in the future.
- How to create a RAID array using AMD RAIDXpert2 Configuration Utility
- Possible RAID array issues and solutions
- How to recover data using Hetman RAID Recovery
- Conclusion
- Questions and answers
- Comments
Most AMD-based motherboards support two main RAID types:
- RAID 0 – used to increase read and write performance.
- RAID 1 – the so-called “mirror”, intended to increase the reliability of storing important information.
| Characteristic | RAID 0 | RAID 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Array type | Data striping (Striping) | Mirroring |
| Minimum number of drives | 2 | 2 |
| Fault tolerance | ❌ No | ✅ Yes (single drive failure) |
| Performance | Very high read and write speeds | High read speed, write speed — like a single drive |
| Usable capacity | 100% of the combined capacity of all drives | 50% of the total capacity |
| Data safety | Low | High |
| Probability of data loss | Very high if a single drive fails | Low |
| Data recovery | Complex, not always possible | Relatively simple |
| Use cases | Video editing, gaming, temporary data | Servers, workstations, important data |
| Cost | Low (no redundancy) | Higher due to data duplication |
In this article I will explain how to create such arrays and, importantly, what actions should be taken if the RAID array was destroyed, the motherboard failed, or the array configuration was accidentally deleted in BIOS.
AMD RAID Failed Recover Data from RAIDXpert2 (Step-by-Step Guide)
How to create a RAID array using AMD RAIDXpert2 Configuration Utility
First, let’s review the process of creating a RAID array using the AMD RAIDXpert2 Configuration Utility. The procedure for RAID 0 and RAID 1 is virtually identical; the only difference is the selected array level.
AMD RAIDXpert2 Configuration Utility — AMD’s proprietary utility designed for configuring, managing, and monitoring RAID arrays created on motherboards with AMD chipsets.
To begin configuration, you must enter the BIOS/UEFI. Restart the computer and press Del or F2 during boot (the initial screen usually indicates which key to use).
Consider how to enable the RAID function and create an array using an ASRock motherboard as an example.
After entering UEFI, go to the Advanced section and open Storage Configuration.
Next, find the SATA Mode option and change it from AHCI to RAID.
After that you must save the changes and restart the computer. To do this, go to the Exit section or press F10, then select Save Changes and Exit.
Confirm the action by choosing Save configuration change and exit setup and Yes.
After the reboot, you need to enter BIOS/UEFI again. During boot press Del, F2 or the combination Ctrl + I.
In UEFI, go back to the Advanced section. There should be an option RAIDXpert2 Configuration Utility. Launch the utility.
To create an array, go to Array Management, then select Create Array.
To combine the speed of two drives, select RAID 0 (note that if one drive fails, data recovery will be a difficult task). To increase reliability, use RAID 1, in which data is duplicated on the second drive.
Next, select the drives that will be part of the array. Go to Select Physical Disk and choose the media type in Select Media Type — HDD, SSD or BOTH if both types are used.
Then mark the required drives, select each of them and set the value to Enabled.
After selecting the drives, click Apply Changes at the bottom to confirm the changes.
If desired, you can change the stripe size and configure the array cache.
To finalize configuration and create the new array, click Create Array.
The array is created. You can now reboot the computer and install an operating system on it.
Important: if an operating system was previously installed on a separate drive, it will likely not boot anymore due to changing SATA Mode from AHCI to RAID. In that case, an operating system reinstall may be required.
To change the array level, the array must be deleted. To change array parameters open Manage Array Properties.
After installing the system, it recognizes the array as a single drive, and you can now store data on it.
Possible RAID array issues and solutions
Next, consider common scenarios that may occur when working with a RAID array.
Hard drive failure
If you have RAID 1 (“Mirror”) configured and one of the drives fails, the system may show a Critical or Degraded status during boot. In this case the data is preserved on the working drive.
To restore the array to working order, power off the computer and connect a new drive in place of the failed one. Then enter BIOS and open the AMD RAIDXpert2 utility from the same menu.
A new drive may not be detected automatically. In that case go to Disk Management, select the new drive and use the Assign Global Hot Spare option.
After this the controller will start the Rebuild process — rebuilding the array.
Motherboard failure
If you had RAID 0 configured and a failure occurred — for example, the motherboard failed or the array was accidentally deleted during configuration — connecting the drives to another computer will cause the system to recognize them as separate drives. This happens because the system cannot determine that the drives previously belonged to a RAID array.
In this case Windows may offer to initialize or format the drives for further use.
Do not format under any circumstances! Any formatting significantly reduces the chances of successful data recovery.
Recovering data from such drives will require specialized software capable of reconstructing the RAID and extracting the information stored on it.
How to recover data using Hetman RAID Recovery
Hetman RAID Recovery — a universal solution for restoring RAID arrays and lost data. The program supports most file systems and RAID types and allows you to recover lost information.
Download and install the program. In this case the automatic RAID assembly failed, so it will have to be assembled manually. For this you need to know the parameters of your RAID.
STEP 1. Determine RAID parameters for GUID partitions (GPT)
Modern operating systems (Windows and macOS) use the GUID Partition Table (GPT) partitioning scheme by default. It contains standard signatures that make it easy to identify partition starts.
GUID Partition Table (GPT) — the modern disk partitioning standard used to store partition information on hard drives and SSDs. GPT is part of the UEFI specification and replaces the legacy MBR (Master Boot Record) format.
An NTFS partition was created on this array in a GUID (GPT) system. In this case a standard set of bytes is written to the disk: the beginning of a GPT partition starts with the byte sequence 45 46 49 20 50 41 52 54 (EFI PART). And in the previous sector, typically at the end, the byte sequence 55 AA is located.
The built-in HEX editor in the program will help locate the GPT layout. Right-click the desired disk and select HEX Editor.
For convenience use the search function. Click the search icon, enter the sequence 45 46 49 20 50 41 52 54 (EFI PART), select HEX value and click Find.
Finding this sequence on the disk identifies the start of the GPT partition. A sector ending with 55 AA indicates the offset from which the partition’s useful data begins.
For example, if the signature 45 46 49 20 50 41 52 54 (EFI PART) is found in sector 1 069 057, then the offset will be 1 069 056 sectors.
This signature is standard for GPT partitions and allows determining the correct offset.
In the program, sectors are visually separated by a strip for easier viewing.
STEP 2. Manual RAID assembly in Hetman RAID Recovery
Now that the offset of the GPT partition start is known, you can proceed to manual RAID assembly.
Open the RAID constructor and select Create manually.
Here you need to specify the RAID type (in my case — RAID 0).
Then specify the stripe size by entering the parameters used when the array was created. For AMD motherboards stripe sizes of 64 or 128 kilobytes are typically used.
Add the drives that were part of the array and specify their correct order.
Now the most important part — you must specify the correct data offset. Select a drive, click Edit offset and enter the found value — 1 069 056, setting the measurement units to Sectors. For the second drive specify the same offset.
Enable the Update automatically checkbox. If all parameters are specified correctly, the assembled RAID array and its partitions will be displayed in the program’s lower window.
Click Add, after which the array will appear in the program’s main window.
STEP 3. Scan and recover data
The array can now be scanned and the required information extracted. Right-click the desired partition and select Open.
Select the analysis type — Quick Scan or Full Analysis.
With a quick scan the program will immediately display found files. Mark the files you need to recover and click the Recover button.
Specify the path to save recovered folders and files and click Recover.
If the program did not find all required files, run a Full Analysis. To do this return to the program main menu, right-click the disk and select Analyze again → Full Analysis.
Select the file system and click Next.
Full Analysis takes more time because it uses a more thorough search algorithm.
After the analysis completes, go to the folder with the required files, mark them and click the Recover button.
This is the standard procedure for GUID (GPT) partitions. In modern Windows and macOS systems GPT is used by default. For MBR partitions the situation is slightly different, but determining the data offset is also possible.
STEP 4. How an MBR partition begins
MBR (Master Boot Record) — the older disk partitioning scheme. Unlike GPT, MBR partitions do not have a single fixed signature at the start of each partition. Instead, the first sector of each partition (Volume Boot Record, VBR) contains unique bytes depending on the file system used (NTFS, FAT32, etc.).
In an MBR system each partition starts not with a fixed signature as in GPT, but with the first sector (Boot Sector / Volume Boot Record, VBR). The format of this sector depends on the file system — FAT32, NTFS and others.
The first sector of a partition (VBR) is 512 bytes in size and contains:
- A JMP instruction (3 bytes).
- The file system name — OEM Name (8 bytes).
- The BIOS Parameter Block (BPB).
- File system structures.
- End-of-sector signature —
55 AA(0x55AA).
Similar to GPT, open the disk in the program via the HEX editor and search for signatures. For NTFS you need to find the sequence: EB 52 90 4E 54 46 53 20 20 20, where:
EB 52 90— JMP instruction;4E 54 46 53 20 20 20— the file system name “NTFS”, which always follows the JMP instruction.
Be sure to verify that the sector ends with 55 AA.
For FAT32 the first bytes of the partition look like: EB 58 90 4D 53 57 49 4E 34 2E 31. The file system name in this case is “MSWIN4.1”.
For exFAT the first bytes of the partition are: EB 76 90 45 58 46 41 54 20 20 20. The file system name is “EXFAT”.
STEP 5. How to recover RAID 1 using Hetman RAID Recovery
In the case of RAID 1 the program also could not determine the parameters automatically.
Therefore it is necessary to find the offset manually: open the HEX Editor, enter the sequence 45 46 49 20 50 41 52 54, select HEX value and click Find.
We determine the offset — 1 069 056.
Then open the RAID constructor and set parameters for RAID 1: add drives and set the offset to 1 069 056.
For the second drive specify the same value. In bytes this equals 547 356 672. Check Update automatically and click Add.
Next perform a partition scan: right-click and select Open → Quick Scan.
Open the disk, mark the files to be recovered and click Recover, specifying the path to save the data.
Thus the RAID can be reconstructed and the required information extracted.
Conclusion
Recovering data from a broken RAID array created on a motherboard with an AMD processor and managed via RAIDXpert2 Configuration Utility is a complex but in most cases feasible task. Although Windows does not always correctly recognize such arrays without native drivers, the data on the disks usually remains physically intact.
The key factor for successful recovery is the correct sequence of actions: avoiding re-creating the RAID, formatting, and running Windows built-in utilities that can overwrite the array metadata. Using specialized RAID analysis software allows automatic determination of array parameters and correct virtual assembly, even in the absence of one of the drives (depending on RAID level).
It is important to understand that AMD RAIDXpert2 is a hybrid software-hardware solution, and its arrays heavily depend on metadata and drivers. Therefore, in cases of serious failures or damage to the RAID structure, priority should be given to data recovery rather than attempts to restore the array’s operability.
In summary: with timely and competent actions, data recovery from a broken AMD RAID array is possible with a high probability. The main points are do not rush, do not write data to the original drives, and use professional tools, which will minimize risks and preserve critically important information.
