It is a widely held belief that RAID arrays - with the exception of RAID 0 - should not fail due to their fault tolerance and automatic recovery capabilities. As a result, RAID backups are rarely performed, often leading to unavoidable data disasters.
Depending on the RAID configuration and implementation - software or hardware based - a RAID array can be compromised, fail or become damaged and corrupted for various reasons. Some of the most common reasons are as follows:
Hardware or software error
Human error
Virus or malware infection
Power failure
Abrupt and forced system shutdown or system crash
Hard disc error or failure
Mechanical or physical damage
RAID recovery errors and more
These errors can occur during normal use of the RAID array or during the RAID rebuild process.
Steps for recovering data from RAID drives
The following steps will help you to recover data from RAID 0, RAID 5 and RAID 6 drives with ease. You only need to select a few options and save the recovered data after a 'Quick' or 'Deep' scan.
Step 1: Check RAID drives for errors
Disconnect the drives from the RAID array and connect them individually to a Windows PC via the SATA port or use a SATA-to-USB converter cable/enclosure. Then,
- Installing and running the Stellar Data Recovery Technician software
- Click on "Monitor Drive" under the waffle icon menu at the top right, select the RAID drive(s) - one at a time - to check the health, performance and SMART status of the RAID drive. You can also check the drive for bad sectors that may have caused a RAID error.
If the status of the drive is green or orange and there are no critical SMART errors, proceed to step 2. If the status of the drives is poor and errors are displayed under SMART status, follow the instructions below to clone the damaged RAID drive(s),
NOTE: This cloning of the drive is optional, but is highly recommended for certainty of data recovery from RAID drives.
Connect a new or healthy hard drive whose volume size is equal to or larger than that of the affected RAID drive
Click on "Clone drive" and select the source (affected drive) and the target drive (new or healthy drive) from the respective drop-down lists.
- Click on "Clone" and then on "Start" to accept and begin the cloning process.
- Wait until the cloning process is complete. Repeat the steps for other defective RAID drives
After cloning, replace the defective RAID drive with a newly cloned drive and proceed to the next step to perform effortless RAID data recovery.
Step 2: Recovering data from RAID 0, RAID 5 and RAID 6 drives
- Close the drive monitor window and restart the software.
- Select 'All data' and click on 'Next'.
Pro tip: You can use the "Add Header" option in the main menu to add custom or unusual file types based on sample files for data recovery. With this option, you can recover virtually any file type from any Windows-based media, including RAID 0, RAID 5 and RAID 6 arrays.
- Click on 'Raid Recovery' under 'Other locations' and then on 'Scan'.
- Select the RAID tab - RAID 0, RAID 5 or RAID 6
- All hard drives connected to the system are visible in the 'Select hard drives to reconstruct RAID' list box. Click on the hard drives - one by one - and use the arrow button to add or remove RAID drives from the 'Select hard drives for RAID reconstruction' list box to the 'Move drives up/down for hard drive order' list box.
Use the up or down arrow buttons next to the list view to arrange the hard disks in order, starting with hard disk 0. Arrange the hard disks in the same order as they were in the respective RAID stack
Click on the checkbox 'Do not know the start sector of the drive. Show a list of probable boot sectors': only if you do not know the boot sector of the drive. A new checkbox appears in the 'Select RAID parameters' area
Select one or more probable start sectors or insert the desired start sector in the text field and click on the 'Add sector' button.
Select the stripe or block size from the 'Select stripe/block size' field; select the parity order or rotation from the 'Select parity order/rotation' field; and then select the parity repeat or delay from the 'Select parity repeat/delay' field. The RAID administrator or the user who created the RAID knows these values
- Once you have added and selected the appropriate RAID parameters in the software, click on the 'Create RAID' button.
Wait until the software has reconstructed your RAID volume or probable RAID volumes if you do not know the required RAID parameters.
Once the RAID creation is complete, the RAID volume(s) will be displayed in the 'Select created RAID' window. Click on the 'Show volume list' button.
Under "Select volume for data recovery", select the volume from the list of volumes in the RAID
Then click on the "Scan" button and wait until the scanning process is complete.
- If the desired files are not found in the scan results, click on the "Click here" link next to the "Deep Scan" text at the bottom of the software to start the "Deep Scan" process.
Click on the 'File type' tab and use the search bar to quickly find the desired data for data recovery.
At this stage, you can click on a file to see the preview and then select the files and folders you want to restore.
- Then click on the "Restore" button and then on "Browse" to select a storage location where you would like to save the restored data.
NOTE: Make sure that you do not select the drive that was in the RAID array and is now connected to your PC for the data recovery. Use an external hard drive or an internal hard drive with sufficient storage space to save the recovered data.
If your storage space is running low, save the scan information to restore the data step by step.
- Click on the 'Start saving' button. The selected restored files and folders are saved to the location you have selected.
After data recovery, you can create the desired RAID array from scratch. If you need help, read this blog post to help you decide which RAID level you should choose for your data storage needs.
Conclusion
It is recommended to check RAID drives from time to time for SMART errors, mechanical problems and optimisation. You can perform these checks manually or automate them with a tool such as Drive Monitor. These checks will help you protect your RAID array against many common causes of RAID failures.
However, if a RAID fails, you can use Stellar Data Recovery Technician software as the ultimate solution for all your RAID and other Windows data recovery needs. The software can recover virtually any file format from a broken, damaged and degraded RAID 0, RAID 5 and RAID 6 array in no time. You can also recover deleted files from RAID arrays and Windows-based storage media such as drives, memory cards, SSDs, thumb drives and more.
All you have to do is connect RAID drives, and with just a few clicks the software reconstructs RAID volumes - even if you don't know or can't remember the RAID parameters. You can then scan the reconstructed virtual RAID 0, RAID 5 or RAID 6 array and easily recover data from RAID drives.
The software also has photo and video repair tools that can help you to repair a damaged or severely damaged photo or video file.