Thanks for the tip on raid-2-raid. I went there read about it and got it. Perhaps this will be what I need to identify what happened. The only thing that I can think of is that I messed the array up when it tried to boot with the dead battery in it, or when I accidentally misconfigured it after I put in a new battery. This Asus A8N32-SLI board has two disk controllers on it and you can select whichever one (or both) that you want to use in the bios setup. I will use the tool to see what I can see and perhaps figure out what I did wrong. I have had the battery problem before and was able to reconfigure with no issues. However, only one raid controller. 
Eight inch floppies (the original frisbee) and high contrast black and white screens. The good old days. If you had the 8 bit Zilog Z-80 based unit with the connector cable from the keyboard to the "expansion unit" with the delightful tin plating, you had a Model 1, if you had a single cased business 16 bit unit, you had a Model 2, and if you had a single unit 8 bit Zilog Z-80 based unit you had a Model 3. The tin whiskers were the cause of the disdain for the "Trash 80" and exactly how the unit earned (deservedly so) its name of Trash versus TRS. Had Tandy used gold instead of Tin, they would not still be a retail store they would be the Apple of today, not facing bankruptcy. The Model 1 was an upper case only machine, we added a TTL chip in piggyback to another to make the system have a full 8 bit character set (about 40 cents), add a bit of gold plate (maybe a dollar in those days) and the computer world would be very different today. So saving $1.40 kept Tandy nailed down, and earned it an unfashionable nickname. Note that IBM imitated Apple's expansion card idea (same card-to-card spacing) and Tandy's use of Intel based (Zilog is a knockoff of the 8080 with division added). Tandy had the expansion unit idea with no expansion cards. IBM fixed that. Chips & Technology enabled clones along with Phoenix Technology "cleanroom" BIOS made everything else history. Not much in copyrights in those days. When the PS-2 came out, IBM copyrighted everything, including the daylight that shone on the PS-2. I got permission from them to make plug in cards to go into them. IBM is very nice with its patent portfolios, not all companies are.
Jumping back off topic as you did to the same area, note that whiskers are the reason that Ni-Cd batteries die permanently when they are allowed sit while discharged. A whisker grows between the anode and cathode and the battery can no longer be charged. A single cell recovery device is a battery that can deliver a high discharge current across the cell. I have used a fresh alkaline battery connected across the terminals (proper polarity) with bars, not wires. The surge current clears the whisker and you simply recharge it. If the battery is very low in voltage across its terminals, it is whiskered. We knew about whiskers in the late 70s and early 80s, which I think is when TRS hit the scene, but nobody asked us.
The tin whisker in TRS 80 machines was from pure tin plating. Obviously Toyota used the environmentally safe, lead-free tin plating and killed a few people. Well, at least they were environmentally friendly in spite of it costing them something like 1.5 billion in cash.
I deal with dust bunnies often. As you know, men cannot see dirt until there is enough to raise crops. Techno-guys see dust bunnies in computer cases, power supplies and case fans. We buy air compressors to deal with these issues outside. I always clean my systems in the fall and spring. I have quite a few systems probably around 15 not counting laptops.
I tested the UBCDforwin disk, but it did not have the tools that I needed. It did, however, boot and identify things and offer some useful tools. My disk issue was not one of them. 
I will help you testing the MassStorage packs in any way that I can. Perhaps I can find something to help diagnose issues like I had. This has to be a common problem. I have been reading where CR2032 (and CR2025 used in one laptop) have been installed new and only lasted a week. I may have that problem now. I fixed a system for a friend a week or so ago, and he says it is now booting into Bios Setup. (Big Red Flag) I told him to quit using it and bring it back over soon.
Your use of a hash is brilliant to verify that nothing has changed. I noticed that the UBCD download had that feature, which was good because one place I went to get it my antivirus growled at it. Another site was happy and friendly with my antivirus. I do remember the old days when destruction was not even thought of. I had logins on DEC, IBM, other big companies, many universities, an some government sites. We would never even THINK of doing something bad, much less do it.
You got me on the opera, I know The Who from their music but not their opera. In fact, I had no idea that they did any opera. I was mostly geeky in those early days and after I acquired a taste for opera it was in the style of HMS Pinafore. A Google check revealed that Wikipedia had an article on it. I am learning much on this forum.
I will try to get time to visit the UBCD4Win soon