RAID data recovery
A RAID rarely fails all at once. It fails a second time – and that is when the trouble starts.
Mon–Fri 8 am–6 pm · emergencies and pick-up by arrangement
Free initial assessment
Tell us what happened – we will tell you what is technically possible and what it will cost.
- Guide price: from 690 € incl. VAT
- Analysis free of charge and without obligation
- Binding fixed price before work starts
- No data, no invoice
A RAID rarely fails all at once. It fails a second time – and that is when the trouble starts.
What usually happens
One drive drops out, the controller starts rebuilding onto a spare, and because a second drive has been weak for months the rebuild aborts halfway through. At that point part of the user data has already been overwritten with reconstructed blocks.
The single most useful thing you can do is to stop there. Do not start another rebuild, do not let the controller initialise the array, and note the physical order and labelling of the drives before you pull anything.
How the array is put back together
Every drive is imaged individually, bad ones first repaired to the point where they can be read at all. The array parameters are then derived from the images themselves: drive order, block size, parity rotation and start offset.
Only once those are correct does a readable file system appear again. Controllers from Dell, HPE, Lenovo and Fujitsu are handled as well as software RAID and the volume managers used by QNAP and Synology.
What recovery costs
For this service the guide price is from 690 € including 19 % VAT. The binding price is fixed after the analysis – nothing is charged before that.
Analysis free of charge
We examine the medium and establish what work is needed. There is no charge for that.
Fixed price in advance
You receive a binding quote with a list of the files found. Only then do you decide.
No data, no invoice
If the agreed data cannot be recovered, you pay only the agreed return shipping.
Frequently asked questions
Two drives have failed. Is it over?
Not necessarily. In many cases one of the two is only partly damaged and can be read far enough to complete the set. That is exactly what the analysis establishes.
Should we send the whole server or just the drives?
The drives are usually enough, labelled with their slot position. If the controller is part of the problem, send it too – or we pick the machine up.
The rebuild is still running. Should we let it finish?
No. Stop it. A rebuild that runs onto a failing member writes over the data you want back.
More services
Hard drive recovery
Head crash, seized motor, firmware faults
SSD recovery
Controller failure, firmware, drives not detected
NAS recovery
QNAP, Synology, Btrfs and ext4
Server recovery
Databases, virtual machines, shared folders
USB flash drive recovery
Broken connector, stick not detected
Memory card recovery
SD, microSD and CF after formatting or damage
Lost data? Every further start-up attempt can do harm.
Call us or describe the case briefly in the form. The initial assessment is free of charge.