Hard Drive Problems - RAID 0
Hello all,
I'm trying to figure out if this is a hard drive problem, a RAID controller problem, or otherwise.
First of all:
Dell Dimension 8400
Windows XP SP2
1GB RAM
Pentium 4 3.2 GHz Dual processor
Hard Drives:
- 160GB SATA Seagate - Contains OS and software files - NOT in RAID configuration, by itself
- x2 300GB SATA Maxtor Hard disks - RAID 0 Configuration, for storing large video files and other client files
Problem:
The other night, my completely operational RAID configuration started giving me some "write-failing" (or something along those lines) problems, then the drive suddenly became unreadable. After much rebooting, checking things, running diagnostics, I managed to get the files off without a problem. Then eventually, same thing - no access. My poorly-descriptive RAID controller told me "Error Occured (0)" on one of the RAID drives.
So I completely cleared the hard drives, reformatted them, removed them from the RAID config, and redid everything all over again. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it wouldn't. Sometime windows would boot, sometimes the windows startup screen would simply freeze and I'd have to disconnect/reconnect or deactivate/reactivate hard drives to get Windows to fully start up.
It is frustrating me to no end because there is NO CONSISTENCY to any of the actions.
Then I tried formatting them individually... worked fine in Windows. But I want them in a RAID config. As soon as I do that, Windows (or any other bootable formatting software) just gives me errors or freezes up.
I've done a plethora of other "scientific experiments" on this junk heap to try to get it to work, but I'll save you all the repetitive details - it simply didn't work.
So, my question is: Does anybody think this is a hard drive problem - the one drive is bad? Or could this be a RAID controller problem?
I want to know before I go blow money on a new hard drive. I just don't get it - nothing seems to be making sense here... and I have some pretty good knowledge on computer hardware, just not RAID configs.
I sincerely appreciate any help or suggestions. Thank you very much!
-Zach