esx backup usb disk

my server has a disk error, unfortunately RAID-0. So i am planning to boot it off CD (partedmagic) and copy the VMs to a USB disk. File system is VMFS (esxi4) once the damaged disk is replaced back could the data be restored back?

this server has two datastores this bad disk belongs to store-1. please suggest any better ways or tools. thanks in advance

From serverfault maruti

• RAID 0? groan

  The best mnemonic for RAID-0 is that it provides 0 protections against data loss. If your server had a disk error, I would be very, very surprised if you were able to recover any data.

  If your disk isn't completely dead, and you do manage to get data off of it, replace the failing drive and rebuild the array using RAID 1, which will take the two drives and mirror them, so that if one fails, you can rebuild it.

  Do you have any other forms of backup? I suspect you'll have to use them, or rebuild the entire thing from scratch. Next time, don't use RAID-0.

  maruti : RAID-1? pls suggest a less expensive option in terms of disk cost

  Holocryptic : +1 If you use RAID-0, expect to lose your data. It should not under any circumstance be used for important production equipment, unless you're a developer running builds. A pretty standard config would be RAID-1 for the OS volume (ESX) and RAID-5 or -10 for the volume holding the virtual machines.

  Holocryptic : Also, I don't see how RAID-1 would be more expensive than -0. You'd still be using 2 disks, and the ESX disk overhead is minimal.

  Matt Simmons : Less expensive in terms of disk cost? get another disk and use RAID-5.

  maruti : configure all as either RAID-0 or RAID-5? the server has 8 disks - 300GB 10K SAS...

  Matt Simmons : NOT RAID 0! RAID-5 gives the sum disk space of the entire array minus the space of one of the drives. Therefore, you'll have 2.1TB of usable space: (8 disks * 300GB) - one parity drive = 2100GB of space. If you want to be up on the "best practices", use RAID6, which provides 2 parity drives, but with only 300GB/drive, that shouldn't be necessary.

  maruti : thanks, so for people planning RAID choosing smaller capacity disks makes more sense than 3.5 inch large ones? i mean 2.5 inch 300GB Vs 3.5 inch 600GB.

  Matt Simmons : when it comes to that, it depends very much on the performance of the drive and the intended usage. Ask another question, and we can discuss it there
  From Matt Simmons

• RAID-0 aside, yes you can restore the data back, assuming you recover it from the bad disk. When you have your disk arrays set up again (in a hopefully more fault tolerant setup), you can copy the data files back over. It's just a matter of adding the VMs to the inventory through VSphere.

  maruti : thanks, any free tools which backup esx vm?

  Holocryptic : I don't know about free, but you can look at http://www.veeam.com/. I heard from other people that they're ok.
  From Holocryptic