What Is Raid Data Recovery

Even when you take steps to ensure your data is kept safe from drive failures using RAID technology, there is still a chance of failure. The purpose of RAID is to replicate and divide your data among several physical hard drives. The operating system sees the drives as a single disk, called a RAID array.

When your array fails, RAID data recovery is necessary to salvage your information. Whether one disk or all disks fail, data recovery is usually possible. Recovery is available for most RAID configurations.

Proper Steps To Take

The first step to take to avoid further data loss is to stop using your RAID configuration immediately. This can cause more damage, including physical damage to the drives. Attempting RAID data recovery yourself often reduces any chance of recovering data.

Determine what the cause of the failure may actually be, if possible. This gives a professional an idea of where to start. Common things to look for are:

- System overheating like other components are hot - One or more drives are physically burnt - Drives are making unusual noises - Virus infection causing sluggish system, system restarting, files missing etc. - Drives not detected

The next step to take is to contact a RAID data recovery specialist. They know how to handle the drive or drives correctly to prevent further damage. They are also trained in the extensive recovery process. When the proper process is followed, the chances of data recovery are greatly increased.

RAID Configurations

A professional can help recover data from RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 5 configurations. RAID 10, RAID 15 and RAID 50 combinations can also be recovered. Other configurations and combinations may be recovered as well, but success rates vary.

Saving Other Drives

A mistake many people make is believing their other drives are safe when only one has failed. All other drives are at risk for data loss as well. Since the drives replicate data for redundancy, when one fails, this leaves the others vulnerable, especially if the problem is due to a virus.

In order to save the other drives, RAID data recovery should be attempted as soon as possible. This lets you put your RAID array back the way it should be, reducing the risk of further data loss.

Technetics has professionals dedicated to RAID data recovery. Unless they recover your data, you are not charged. This helps guarantee recovery is just as important to them.