A single failed drive will silence a RAID 0 system completely. Erasure and silence do not mean the same thing. Get a quote first, before sending all of the disks that are part of the RAID 0 configuration, and label each disk with its bay number. Each disk is then imaged, the stripe geometry is deduced through this imaging process and, using nothing but software, RAID 0 data recovery rebuilds your original files, never writing anything back to your disks.
There is no guessing about a RAID quote. One free diagnostic, then one written number, £500 + VAT upward depending on member count, and on logical rebuilds, in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
The stripe distributes every file across the entire RAID set as small pieces of files (fragments) and does not retain any for redundancy. The RAID set therefore has an effective lifespan equal to that of the worst disk in it. This fact defines how RAID 0 data recovery works.
Every fragment of a file exists as a separate part across multiple disks in a striped RAID set. Therefore when any disk fails all access to all parts of a file will be lost. The path forward involves completely imaging all disks in the set and reassembling the original file(s) by recombining the individual fragments into their respective full files using some form of software-based reconstruction method.
RAID 0 uses stripes but contains no parity or mirrored drives. It is this lack of redundancy that allowed RAID 0 to have higher speeds. However since a RAID 0 stripe does not have enough information to recreate missing portions of the stripe after a failure, careful image creation must occur before attempting to restore data from the stripe.
Failed controllers, bridges, enclosures etc., often leave otherwise functional sets of disks stranded. In these cases, the task is to extract the raw data from each disk, identify the type of striping scheme used by the stripe, and then create a RAID set volume from the extracted images.
When the set is re-created, or a firmware error occurs, the values used to describe how the stripe was originally configured become lost. Rebuild on the wrong values and the result reads as noise, so the original values are recreated using the image(s) of each respective disk.
Data is interleaved. So when you get a cluster of bad sectors, you can damage hundreds of unrelated files. In lab imaging, all the good readable sectors around the damaged area will be gathered.
Point a format, initialise or repair at a broken stripe and whatever layout evidence is left gets flattened. If that has already happened, stop there and pull the plug.
A stripe has no duplicate information, therefore every single disk contains data that will be found in no other location. Each disk is imaged onto lab equipment, with any physically failed disk going to the repair bench first. The images yield three pieces of information necessary for reconstructing the RAID (disk order, block size, and at what point the striping process starts). Once software builds the set and constructs a file system on top of it, the files are copied off. Nothing is ever written to an original disk.
A striped set can't be repaired on its own, and a failing disk will lose a little bit more of itself at every spin-up. This requires a very unexciting answer. Turn all disks off. Stay clear of anything labelled "initialise" or "repair", because both write over the information the rebuild needs to read. Get a quote first. Then send the disks in their exact original condition, each labelled with the bay it came from.
Edit machines, gaming computers, survey and seismic workstations, and small servers and NAS boxes that are set up for performance over safety. These striped volumes come to us from homes and businesses in Aberdeen, Dyce, Portlethen, Montrose and throughout the shire. Once you have your quote, all members travel together to the laboratory in Edinburgh, each labelled with its bay, either tracked and insured or in the boot of the car heading south on the A90 (drop-offs Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, no appointment needed). The full story can be found on RAID recovery and NAS recovery, and the money is on the data recovery cost page.
Every member imaged. The layout deduced. The files handed back. Diagnosis free. Number in writing.
Get a quote first by telephone or use our free online diagnostic. Most of what you see on this bench will then be delivered via tracked, insured post. This is one of the safest ways to move a failing drive and packages handed in at a North-East post office are normally delivered here the next working day.
Still attached to a laptop, desktop, MacBook, iMac, server or CCTV/DVR unit? Remove the hard drive or SSD first. The bare drive travels on its own; when removing disks from a server remove all the disks and label each disk by its bay. This lab does not take machines apart. Any storage that has been soldered onto a motherboard (as in T2 and Apple Silicon Macs and a couple of thin laptops) will not be worked on: if it will not unbolt, we cannot work on it. If you're not sure what type of machine you have, ring us first. Phones and tablets are also not taken on.
↓ Print the shipping & booking-in form (PDF)
Your parcel should be addressed to Edinburgh Data Recovery, approximately two and a half hours (and 130 miles) from Aberdeen via the A90; alternatively it can reach us the next working day by tracked post if this journey time / distance is prohibitive to travel. As soon as your drive has been scheduled in we will contact you.
Still unsure about what should be placed inside of the packaging? Please call us first on 0800 689 0668, or use our free online diagnostic tool to assist you in deciding which items belong inside of the packaging before sealing.