Can you recover data from a RAID drive? What is recovery RAID? If you have such questions and are ready to search on the Internet for a good answer. You come to the right place. In this article, we’ll give you an answer. Not only that, solving the Raid data recovery problem is the aim of this article as well.
Before we share with you how to recover a damaged RAID step by step, some people are possibly interested in recovering and getting back data from all the famous RAID arrays, including Raid 0, Raid 1, Raid 5, Raid 6, and Raid 10. And what indeed are Raid arrays? You can also click the following interlink below to get to the wanted part of the content.
1. Simple Introduction of Raid
Raid is a very efficient and secure storage system. It combines several inexpensive hard disks into a hard disk array, The aim is to make the performance reach or exceed an expensive and huge capacity hard disk.
Benefits of Raid:
- Enhance data integration level.
- A better fault-tolerant ability.
- Increase processing capacity or storage capacity.
2: The Differences Between All Those Popular Raids Arrays
According to the different needs and budgets of people, the Raid arrays can be divided into many types. Raid 0, Raid 1, Raid 5, Raid 6, and Raid 10 are more common.
Raid 0：
Form a large hard disk by connecting two or more hard drives. Data will be written into these hard disks in segments. Since Raid 0 reads data by parallel storage, it does not offer fault tolerance, but it will increase hard drive capacity and speed.
Raid 1：
Two or more hard disks are mirrored to each other. Data is written to the main hard disk, and the same data will be written to the mirror hard disk. If the main drive is damaged, all data is saved on the other drive. So you don’t lose data. Raid 1 has the best fault tolerance, but disk utilization is minimal.
Raid 5:
Raid 5 is made up of more than three hard disks. It divides all the data into blocks and parity blocks and stores them in all hard drives. This will ensure that the data is complete in any N-1 hard drive. Any hard disk damage will not cause data loss. Raid 5 is a compromise between Raid 0 and Raid 1, combining fault tolerance and disk capacity utilization. It is currently the most popular solution.
Raid 6:
A RAID 6 array is considered an extension of a RAID 5. Parity data is written on two drives, meaning it requires at least four drives and can tolerate two drives failing at the same time. In RAID 6, the parity data is divided across multiple disks, resulting in better fault tolerance due to double parity.
Raid 10:
Similar to Raid 5, both are equally fast in reading and writing data. When one hard drive fails, the data can be recovered smoothly. When a failure occurs, the recovery time for Raid 10 is much less than for Raid 5. The disk space utilization of Raid 5 is higher than Raid 10. In short, Raid 5’s disk space utilization is higher than Raid 10’s, but Raid 10’s security is higher than Raid 5’s.
Raid has fault tolerance mechanism, which can automatically restore damaged data in some cases. But if it goes beyond the scope, for example, two hard disks on Raid 5 are damaged, the lost data cannot be recovered automatically. At this time, choosing an excellent data recovery software can help you restore the data on raid.
The main reason for the failure:
- The Raid array card fails.
- Disk physical failure, such as bad track, disk error, disk response time too long, raid 5 damage more than 2 disks.
- The array cabinet or server is suddenly powered off without UPS protection.
- After the hard disk sequence is mistaken, start the system, or blindly change the array configuration information.
- Reconfigure RAID disk array information
- The power supply is unstable, resulting in the loss of raid information.
Because the server stores important data. Avoid secondary data damage. Please operate cautiously after a failure. After failure, please turn off the power immediately, contact the server aftermarket center as soon as possible to ensure data security. Don’t do rebuild reorganization after array information is lost. Of course, it is absolutely safe to use iFinD Data Recovery for data recovery.
3: Can We Recover Data from a Damaged or Failed Raid?
Raid has a fault tolerance mechanism, which can automatically restore damaged data in some cases. But if it goes beyond the scope, for example, two hard disks on Raid 5 are damaged, the lost data cannot be recovered automatically.
The main reason for the failure:
The Raid array card fails.
- There are physical failures of the disk, such as bad tracks, disk errors, too long response times, and many disks damaged by Raid 5.
- A server or array cabinet suddenly goes off without UPS protection.
- When the hard disk sequence is incorrect, start the system and blindly change the array configuration.
- Reconfigure RAID disk array information
- The power supply is unstable, resulting in the loss of Raid information.
Because the server stores important data. Avoid secondary data damage. Please operate cautiously after a failure. After failure, please turn off the power immediately, and contact the server aftermarket center as soon as possible to ensure data security. Don’t rebuild reorganization after array information is lost. At this time, choosing an excellent data recovery software can help you restore the data. You can free download iFinD Data Recovery for Raid 0/1/5/6/10 data recovery on Windows 11/10/8/7 or Mac system.
Now, we guide how to use iFinD Data Recovery to recover lost data on RAID device:
4: What’s the Best Raid Data Recovery Tool and How to Restore and Repair Data Loss?
Raid has a fault tolerance mechanism, which can automatically restore damaged data in some cases. But if it goes beyond the scope. At this time, choosing a professional Raid data recovery software helps you restore the data on the Raid.
Now, the following guide teaches you how to use the best raid recovery software – iFinD Data Recovery to recover all your lost/deleted data on your RAID devices. This Raid recovery tool also supports businesses’ RAID data restoration with the enterprise version.
Step 1: Free download iFinD Data Recovery and install the latest version.
Step 2: Select the first feature, “Partition Recovery,” and select the Raid you need to restore.
Step 3: When the scanning is finished, all the files found will be listed, and the files you need to restore will be saved locally.
Tips: Do not save files on an external hard drive that is being restored. The wrong operation will cause permanent damage to the data, and then, cannot be recovered with any raid drive recovery.
Final Words
There is a lot of complexity associated with raid storage devices, and the data they contain is also very important. In case of a fault, the first step should be to power off the equipment and contact the supplier. You can also restore the raid hard drive using professional raid hard drive recovery software. Occasionally, Raid may not be able to fully recover data due to its unique design. Keeping our systems maintained every day is therefore very important; we must be very cautious to prevent failures.
Andy is an editor of the iFinD Team. She worked in this big family since her graduation. Her articles mainly focus on data backup and recovery, disk cloning, and file syncing, committed to resolving the data loss issues users may encounter on their PCs. Besides, more related computer articles are shared here.