Windows Server 2003 doesn’t support all FTDisk (fault-tolerant) volumes that have ever existed in Windows NT Server 4.0 installed computer system. For this reason, when you upgrade your computer to Windows Server 2003, some of dynamic volumes might remain inaccessible. Along with other symptoms, you cannot access the data stored in these volumes. To restore them, Microsoft suggests using FTonline utility that allows you to temporarily mount the volumes and hence, backup data from. If due to any cause backup fails or you find it unfeasible using the tool, it is recommended to use Windows Partition Recovery products that allow recovering inaccessibile and lost disk partitions.
For example, consider you use a Windows NT Server 4.0 based computer system and create spanned, mirrored, striped or striped volumes with RAID 5 parity. You upgrade to Windows Server 2003, but when you try to access any of previously created volumes, you fail to do so. Additionally, when you view the Disk Management, these volumes are visible with ‘Healthy (Unknown Partition)’ status. The listing shows these volumes with no associated drive letter.
The similar behavior is observed when you move disks containing previously created NTDisk volumes on a basic disk of a Windows 2000-based computer system to a Windows Server 2003 installed computer
Cause
By design, Windows Server 2003 doesn’t support previously created Windows NT 4.0 FTDisk volumes.
Solution
Following sequence of steps can help you recovering from the existing issue:
Use FTonline utility that allows temporary data access to the inaccessibile FTDisk volumes. You can then take a full data backup of the volumes
After the backup process is done, you should delete those volumes
Convert the volumes to Dynamic disks and restore data from backup
If using FTonline is not possible or the backup comes out to be invalid when you try to restore, you need a Partition Recovery Software. Built with powerful partition recovery technology, these Windows Partition Recovery utilities prove highly-competent tools to recover and restore inaccessibile, damaged, missing or lost Windows partitions. You can use these products in any instance of Windows partition loss.
Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a professional and completely reliable partition recovery tool with advanced options and features. It is a safe Partition Recovery Software that supports Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000 based systems. The tool provides you features like Append Header, RAW File Recovery, Save Scan and more.