A pair that failed within days of each other. A "resync" that sent data the wrong direction. An enclosure that simply stopped working with two perfectly fine drives inside it. In all cases these are recoverable states. The two halves are imaged separately and then compared, and your files come off whichever half has the better file integrity.
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.
A mirror's promise is simple, and it covers nothing beyond it: the volume survives one dead disk. Each of the cases listed below falls outside this promise, which is why they are now here.
Both disks came out of the same batch and were powered up at the same time. They've performed exactly the same tasks since. Most times, if something fails the first disk, it doesn't take long for the same thing to fail the second disk. In some cases, that 'not long' could be just a few days.
In general, the controller or bridge board in most two-bay NAS boxes or mirrored external enclosures dies first. There are then two perfectly good hard drives sitting in a dead enclosure waiting to be pulled and read individually.
Fitting the wrong drive or letting the unit select one will result in writing bad data (blank or obsolete) across the good drive. The mirror works flawlessly while destroying exactly what it was purchased to protect.
Two disks that spent varying amounts of time running degraded end up holding different histories, and when merged carelessly they will contaminate each other. When imaged separately, each will provide what only it still holds.
Deletion, corruption, a bad patch, ransomware. Any of these things happen, and because mirroring copies each write as soon as it happens, everything will go to both sides simultaneously. Therefore, neither side escapes.
Failed NAS firmware updates or an OS that corrupts itself will leave you with a dead box with two good disks inside. The best course of action would be to image both and rebuild your volume on other hardware.
The moment they arrive, this pair will be split up. Each disk is imaged onto lab equipment, any physically failed "half" will go to the repair bench first, and then the two images are compared. Which one contains most of your data, and which one holds the later version? The stronger image becomes the base and the second image fills in what is missing; neither disk will ever be written to again.
A mirror only answers one question: what happens when a drive dies while the volume is still running. This answer covers nothing else. A deletion or an update gone bad hits both halves of a mirror at exactly the same time, and ransomware works through both in one pass. And when the enclosure goes dead it takes the pair out of service together. Therefore, a failed mirror is an actual recovery job, and the old advice still applies. The backup that saves you lives on separate media in another building.
Most of these pairs came from a two-bay NAS from Netgear, QNAP or Synology, or from small office servers, and were sent by clients throughout Aberdeen, Westhill, Banchory, Ellon and Fraserburgh. Once you have your quote, please send us both disks in the same parcel, each one clearly labelled with its bay. You can drop them off at our Edinburgh laboratory, a straight run down the A90 (drop-offs Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, no appointment needed), or alternatively send them overnight by tracked post. The wider picture sits on RAID recovery and NAS recovery, and the costs are on the data recovery cost page.
We image both halves of your mirrored set and build back onto the better half. You get a free diagnosis, then receive a 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.