So, i have 3TB worth of problems... help plz

Firstly, I’m new to Linux so if I don’t use proper terminology I apologize now.

I built a home server with my previous desktop rig and installed Ubuntu. I was to be storing family docs on this server, along with family pictures, and other irreplaceable files. I was using a PCI SATA 2 RAID host controller which I thought was supposed to be a hardware RAID solution.

The problem;
I have Ubuntu installed on a single drive and I built a RAID1 array using the silicon image (SIL3124) chipset on the PCI card using two spare 3TB drives. Fired up Ubuntu, no problems so far. In disk utilities it showed both 3TB drives, but only one was able to be partitioned and written to, the other said RAID component. So I assumed the RAID1 array was working.

I installed Samba on Ubuntu to share files across my windows network, and began transferring the archive core that was stored across about 4 family PC’s back onto this one main 3TB server drive. I successfully transferred all of the backed up data to this array. (approx 2.2 TB) I updated my Samba config file and restarted Samba… and then this is where problems start.

The drive I was writing to suddenly disappears. I do a hard restart and my host controller card says my RAID1 array failed. Ok, whatever… I’ll just rebuild it. In the rebuild options I select the second drive that showed up previously in disk utilities as RAID component, as I suspected the first drive to be the failed component, not the drive that I partitioned and was writing data to. I figured since it was a RAID1 array that it wouldn’t matter… The process takes about 16 hours…. And on restart all of my data is gone.

In disk utilities the array shows up as an unpartitioned drive.

This is where I start freaking out…

When I did partition the drives in Ubuntu I partitioned them using the windows friendly NTFS table just in case I ran into problems. After the rebuild I ripped one of the drives out and hooked it up to a windows PC and the same thing happened… it showed up as unpartitioned space.

What I think happened;
I think that my SIL3124 RAID chipset card may not have been actually writing data to the second drive. So when I did a rebuild, I think I actually copied an unpartioned blank drive over my partitioned data drive. Wiping all my data… (basically a low level format)

I hope this is not what happened…

Is there any way to recover my data?

Any help here would be greatly appreciated. These are family files that cannot be replaced over the last 10 years. I might be a dead man walking….

I did not know about madam during build otherwise I would have used it, as it sounds way more reliable then this junk card.
Specs;

4 channel PCI SATA RAID host controller card, (link to it here): http://www.amazon.com/Profile-Channe...m/B003IT6Z9U/2
Mobo: intel D975XBX
Ubuntu distro: 11.10