Data recovery from RAID arrays and servers
The most common RAID, NAS and SAN failures
What kinds of issues do RAID and server users most often come to us with?
- Failure of one or more disks – mechanical damage, read errors, drive electronics problems
- RAID controller failure – hardware damage, firmware errors, inability to boot the system properly
- Loss of RAID configuration – accidental overwriting of settings, reset, update or incorrect reconfiguration
- Logical file system issues – deleted or overwritten data, damaged partitions, errors after a power failure
- No access to the array – the server does not see the full volume, or the array is visible but the data are inaccessible
How we price RAID data recovery
The cost of data recovery from arrays and servers depends on the type of failure and the number of drives involved. You can find an example price range below, and estimate a more accurate quote using our online calculator.
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Typical RAID arraysfrom 140 € / pcs
- Price calculated for every drive in the array (including failed and parity drives)
- Support for the most common configurations: RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10
- Support for all interfaces: SATA, SAS, SCSI, NVMe
- Hot spare drives are not included in the service price
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Advanced configurationsfrom 210 € / pcs
- Price depends on the number of drives and configuration complexity
- Advanced RAID arrays: RAID 6, RAID 50, RAID 60 and other non-standard setups
- Large multi-disk arrays (more than 8 drives)
- SAN, NAS systems and hardware controllers with unusual configurations
What the recovery process looks like
- Drive submission – filling online form out the and delivering the device
- Analysis and quote – detailed report and service cost
- Repair and data recovery – lab work on your device
- Delivery of recovered data – on a new device or via secure download
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
Can you keep using a RAID array in a “degraded” state?
No – shut the device down, do not start a rebuild and do not hot-swap any drives.
Can I rebuild the array myself after a failure?
We don’t recommend it – it’s very easy to overwrite metadata and lose any chance of recovery. The first step should always be to create sector-by-sector images of all drives.
Will replacing the controller or the entire device with an identical one help?
It can be risky – firmware and configuration differences may overwrite the existing array setup. You should always perform diagnostics and create sector-by-sector images of all drives first.
How many failed drives can RAID 5 and RAID 6 tolerate?
RAID 5 – one drive, RAID 6 – two drives. Additional logical or sector errors can still prevent the array from starting despite these “theoretical” limits.
Do I need to deliver the entire server, or just the drives?
In most cases, just the drives and information about their order are sufficient. For complex SAN setups, non-standard controllers or active encryption, it is helpful to provide the entire device.
Does the drive order matter?
Yes – label each drive before removal and don’t mix up the bays.
Do you support Synology SHR, mdadm, ZFS, VMFS, XFS, NTFS etc.?
Yes – including SHR/SHR2, mdadm/LVM, hardware RAID, NTFS, exFAT, ext4, XFS, Btrfs, HFS+, APFS, VMFS, Hyper-V, Proxmox, as well as ZFS and QZFS (mirror/RAIDZ).
The array is encrypted, what is needed for data recovery?
The password or encryption key, or the device’s key manager. On NAS systems, an exported key or the admin password is often required.
Are hot spare drives included in the price?
No – hot spare drives are not included in the price.
Do you guarantee 100% of the data?
No – our goal is to recover as much data as possible, safely, and the final result depends on many factors. Before handing the data over, we provide a report with the recovery results.
Do you need the array configuration details?
It’s not required, but it is helpful. If possible, save and include the configuration details, volume number, RAID level, block/stripe size, drive order, and event logs from the time of the failure.
Logical damage in a RAID array
This type of issue includes deleted or overwritten files, damaged partitions, file system errors or the aftermath of a power failure.
Very often it also involves incorrect array reconfiguration or accidental overwriting of settings in the RAID controller or NAS device.
Disk failures in an array
Failure of one or more drives is the most common cause of RAID problems.
This can be mechanical damage (e.g. in HDDs), electronics faults or bad sectors that disrupt the integrity of the entire RAID system.
Controller issues
Failures can also occur at the controller or management system level.
Corrupted firmware, configuration resets or hardware faults can prevent the device from assembling the array correctly, and sometimes it will offer to create a new one, which risks overwriting the data.
Failures of entire systems and servers
In more complex environments, the problem may affect not only individual drives, but the entire server or storage system.
Loss of access to volumes, software failures or errors in the SSD cache can completely block the operation of the array, even if the individual drives are still functioning correctly.
What not to do with a RAID array after a failure
After a problem occurs in a RAID array, it’s very easy to make things worse and lose the data permanently. Here are the most common mistakes to avoid:
- Don’t start a rebuild of the array – any attempt to reconstruct a damaged array can overwrite existing data
- Don’t replace the controller or the whole device “just to test” – differences in firmware and configuration often overwrite RAID metadata
- Don’t hot-swap drives – inserting or swapping disks in hot-swap mode can cause additional errors and break consistency
- Don’t use tools like chkdsk, fsck or file system repair utilities – automatic “repairs” often delete or overwrite data
- Don’t reinstall the NAS or server system – the installation process usually overwrites RAID configuration and metadata, making recovery harder
- If the array is still working, don’t delay copying critical data – before attempting any repair actions, back up the most important files, as further attempts may worsen the situation
Which RAID arrays do we support?
We recover data from the most common configurations as well as from non-standard setups used in servers and NAS / SAN systems:
- RAID 0
- RAID 1
- RAID 1E
- RAID 10
- RAID 0+1
- RAID 3
- RAID 4
- RAID 5
- RAID 51
- RAID 5E
- RAID 5EE
- RAID 6
- RAID 60
- JBOD
- vendor-specific (proprietary) configurations
Which servers and devices do we recover data from?
We work with devices from many manufacturers, from home NAS units to professional servers:
- Asustor
- Buffalo
- Dell
- D-Link
- Drobo
- Fujitsu
- HP
- IBM
- Lenovo
- Netgear
- QNAP
- Synology
- Terramaster
- Thecus
- WD MyCloud
- others