This article will provide an overview of the most common RAID levels and the process of RAID data recovery in the event of a failure.
RAID, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is a virtual storage technology that combines two or more hard drives in a single enclosure to act as one logical unit. There has been exponential growth in RAID technology when it comes to data storage, capacity, and rendering performance.
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Hybrid or nested RAID levels are also available, along with traditional RAID levels, which require less technical expertise to configure the RAID arrays. Even NAS (Network Attached Storage) and DAS (Direct-Attached Storage) have started implementing RAID in their server to boost performance, availability, and fault tolerance through redundancy.
Although RAID is considered a better solution for performance and data protection through redundancy, it’s still not immune to data loss. However, data recovery from RAID is possible (except RAID 0). Further, recovering from a complicated RAID data storage structure can be challenging and time-consuming unless you know the best way to do it.
Common RAID levels:
Several RAID levels are available, including RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6. Hybrid RAID levels are also available, including RAID 10, RAID 50, and RAID 60. Let’s discuss these RAID levels in a bit more detail:
RAID 0: This RAID level requires configuring at least two drives. It is based on a striping data storage mechanism that spreads data across the drives in the configuration. The data remains split among the drives; therefore, if one drive fails, the whole array fails, leading to complete data loss.
RAID 1: This RAID level follows a mirroring mechanism and it requires at least two drives. In this RAID level, the data of one disk is mirrored to other disks in the enclosure. Thus, it offers data redundancy and can survive up to one drive failure.
How to Choose Between RAID 0 Vs. RAID 1 on Petri.com
RAID 5: This RAID level needs at least three drives to be configured. It is based on the striping and parity (distributed) storage mechanism, which means data is split across the drives, carrying collective information. This RAID array can withstand up to one drive failure.
RAID 6: Like RAID 5, this RAID level also follows the striping and parity storage mechanism. However, it follows dual parity, which means the collective data from all the disks remains stored twice in the enclosure. Therefore, it can withstand up to two drive failures.
RAID 10: This hybrid RAID level combines RAID 1 and RAID 0, hence the name RAID 1+0. It is based on both mirroring and striping storage mechanisms. The RAID level offers fault tolerance for one drive, meaning that as long as one drive from the mirrored set of disks is functional, you can recover data from it.
How to Choose Between RAID 5 VS. RAID 10 on Petri.com
RAID 50: This nested RAID level, which combines RAID 5 and RAID 0, can also be called RAID 5+0. In this RAID array, the data can be recovered if one drive fails. However, if more than one drive fails, the whole RAID array will fail and cause data loss.
RAID 60: This hybrid or nested RAID level combines RAID 6 and RAID 0, also called RAID 6+0. It possesses the RAID 6 dual parity and can survive up to two failed drives.
What causes data loss in RAID?
Even though RAID offers excellent performance, redundancy, and/or both, it is still prone to drive failures and other errors, leading to data loss. There are several reasons behind data loss in RAID, including:
- Drive corruption, leading to missing or lost RAID partitions
- Power surge, causing controller malfunction or damage and drive failure
- Accidental or abrupt data deletion from the RAID drives
- Multiple disk failures due to severe corruption or bad sectors
- Server crashes, leading to inaccessible RAID drives and causing data loss.
- Failed or incorrect rebuilding of RAID levels
Irrespective of how or why data loss occurs in RAID, it is possible to regain access to it with the RAID data recovery process. Understanding RAID data recovery will help you perform it efficiently and with the right solution. Read on to find out more.
What is RAID data recovery?
RAID recovery, or RAID data recovery, refers to restoring lost or deleted data, including:
- Files
- Folders
- PPTs
- Images
- Videos and more
In this process, data is recovered and saved to a secure location, the cloud, a server, or external storage drive for further use.
RAID data recovery can be done manually or using an automated solution. The manual method requires technical expertise and care. Additionally, it requires a lot of attention while rebuilding the RAID array since one mistake can severely damage the whole array and cause permanent data loss.
Therefore, advanced RAID data recovery software, such as Stellar Data Recovery Technician, is recommended instead of manually retrieving data from RAID drives. The software efficiently restores all types of data from Windows systems and supported drives, HDDs, SSDs, RAID, 4k drives, and more. The software performs RAID data recovery by rebuilding the drive virtually, even when you don’t have the RAID parameters. It intellectually rebuilds the broken or damaged RAID array and retrieves data.
Continue reading this article to learn how the RAID data recovery process works.
How to recover data from failed, broken, or damaged RAID arrays?
Recovering data from RAID seems like a tedious task. However, with RAID data recovery software, such as Stellar Data Recovery Technician, you can easily rebuild your damaged, failed, or broken RAID sets and extract data.
Before you proceed with the recovery process, here are some things you should take care of:
- Monitor and clone your RAID drives. If the RAID appears in a bad status, it will not be able to survive the recovery process.
- Perform recovery on cloned RAID drives to prevent damage to the original configuration.
- Note the sequence in which the drives are aligned in the whole RAID array and attach the cloned drives to the system using USB or SATA cables.
Steps to perform RAID data recovery
Follow the given steps to initiate the recovery process:
- Download, install, and run RAID recovery software on the system to which you connected your RAID.
- From the ‘Select What to Recover’ screen, click All Data > Next.
- Next, select RAID Recovery from ‘Recover from’ the screen and click Scan.
- Choose the RAID configuration from the top-left corner of the screen and then move hard drives up/down using > arrows for reconstruction.
- Next, arrange the disks in the sequence as they were in the RAID enclosure, and if you know the parameters, enter them. Otherwise, select ‘Don’t know start sector of drives…..’
- If you are don’t know the Stripe/Block Size, Parity Order, and Rotation, select ‘Don’t know’ in each category and click Build RAID to start rebuilding.
- Once the software rebuilds the RAID array virtually, it will appear with the Show Volume List option. Click it to see the reconstructed RAID drives.
- Choose the RAID volumes from which you want to retrieve the data and Scan them. If you don’t see different volumes, select Physical Disk to Scan.
- Once the scan is completed, select the files or folders to restore and click Recover.
- Next, click Browse, choose the desired location (use a different drive partition or an external drive), and click Start-Saving to store the recovered data.
- And that’s it. Your RAID data will be saved at the chosen location.
Conclusion
Although RAID is preferred for the performance and redundancy that it offers, it still isn’t immune to data loss. Similar to traditional hard drives, it can also fail for many reasons. However, with advanced RAID data recovery software, such as Stellar Data Recovery Technician, you can regain access to your data. However, once you’re done restoring data from RAID, don’t forget to back it up. RAID is not a substitute for a backup; it should be backed up like other drives to prevent data loss in the future.
Additionally, monitor your RAID drives monthly to check their health. This will help you promptly take precautionary actions to prevent damage to your drives and data.