I do not know all your answers, but I will try.

a) How is a single SATA drive connected to the ASUS A7N8X? Is it to be
configured as RAID 0 striped array? There is no help in the manual on
this.

It can be done, I am doing it at the moment (two SATA without raid).
The question is more along the lines of getting the SATA controller to
use the drive as a single drive. In a ideal implemntation of RAID
mirroring. each drive should be possible to be removed and run by
itself. The problem arrises if the controller implements the mirror in
it's own fashion.

It was done by not creating any RAID arrays, I just ignored the
option.

b) What happens when a RAID array is deleted, is all data lost? I am
hoping that if I delete the array then the disk would be seen by
Windows and I can at the least recover the data in the secondary
partitions. On the other hand, this option may not even work since the
utility reports Invalid RAID drive.

Deleting the RAID array depends on how it was created ie: is it usable
when not on the sata controller.

The option may work but it depends on which drive the utility is
refering to.

c) Will all data be lost forever if I Create a new RAID array using a
single disk?

can not be done. The raid controller will say can not create raid
without two disks (or something to that effect)

d) What about the security of the NTFS file system, will I be able to
see my files if I do recover the disk and can see it after booting on
the IDE disk?

I have not had any problems with the NTFS file system. Only time I did
I was testing a few otions out, one being to encrypt the data. It was
lost that time so I do not use it. If it is just a plain NTFS
partition, there should be no problems reading the drive.

I had once though that having the wrong / different Admin password
might stop me accessing a drive, but it did not happen.

e) Can the data be recovered and NTFS defeated with disk recovery
software? How much would this cost from a professional Company.

Cost of a professional company, very high. Exact cost I do not realy
want to know.

secondaly, if a recovery software could get around NTFS's security,
there is a lot of people that would not be very happy. Just hope you
sis not have the security enabled as you will need more help that I
can give.

just a note for next time, if you do not need the NTFS, format your
drives with fat32. A lot easier to recover problems from. (Use to be,
not idea if the recovery tools for NTFS have caught up).

f) It did occur to me that the problem with my RAID drives was a
corrupt BIOS and I have been thinking of flashing the latest BIOS,
which is stated to have resolved some SATA bugs. I've never flashed
before and some advice on the net is to do this only if essential. The
advice if a problem occurs is to seek professional help. Where I live
there is no tech support in this respect and so I have been loath to
flash the new Bios. Should I do it and what is the chance I will run
into an unrecoverable problem?

I would hold off doing that for now, get the data back first.

g) What to do with the shorted out RAID drive? Can it be fixed or
should I bin it?

depends on the problem. If you damaged the circuit board, getting a
replacement might work. If the motor was samaged, it is a paper weight
as I do not know of any way to replace them without paying a lot of
money. at a guess i would say that you could by a few new drives for
the cost)

overall. it might be easiest and quickest to bin it. Best wait until
your current problem, is fixed first.


h) Can anyone offer any an alternate way to recover the data and save
me from a life of everlasting hell as I'll constantly be reminded that
my $2000 home built PC lost the family snapshots?


OK, now on to what I would do in your shoes (besides get some flowers
for the other half).

two ways I see this working. It assumes that the remaining drive is
good

1) - get a second replacement drive for the one that died and connect
it up. THe controller should copy the good drive onto the new drive
and all should be well. If the wrong one is imaged (ie the newer
drive) onto the old drive, the information will be lost for good)

2) - disconnect both SATA drives from the controller and start the
computer. When you get to the configuring of the sata controller,
disable the raid array / delete it. Do this with the drive
disconnected incase there is some information it tries to write to the
hdd (or tries to format them, I am only guessing what it will do).

Then turn off the computer, attach the working drive and boot again.
do not acess the controller (as it should not be needed). If it asks
to do anything to the drive, click no or turn the power off (so
nothing is done to the drive).

if it works, you should get into windows and see the drive. If not,
you will have to try option 1



the best plan would be to plug the drive into someone else's sata
controller and get the data.

Hope this helps, and next time, back the stuff up.

A