It is very important to know that, in general, there is ‘no’ RAID recovery process. The procedure of recovering data is laid down completely by the architecture of the RAID. The most basic type of RAID is RAID 0. It is also called disk stripping. There is actually zero repetition in a RAID 0 setup. No mirroring, parity or backup is there, like other RAID types. It is built for maximum performance.
RAID 0 architecture
To achieve maximum performance, RAID 0:
- Splits the files into blocks
- Write the blocks with drives sequentially in the array. It is done in a round robin pattern.
The process called stripping allows the RAID controller to work simultaneously with all the disks, significantly increasing the speed as well as I/O performance.
Common RAID 0 failure situations
Serious risks faced by RAID 0 due to its design are:
- Single disk failure- it could mean complete loss. If a drive fails, the drive becomes inaccessible. The whole array comes at risk as there is no built-in way to recover data.
- Metadata errors- metadata gets corrupted if the drives are reordered.
- Partial drive failure- bad sectors on one disk can result in corrupted files after recovery, even if all disks are present.
- Increased risk with more disks- the chances of failure increase with the increase in the number of disks being used.
- Human error- after a failure, if you try to rebuild or write to the array, it can overwrite essential data, making the recovery difficult.
Limitations of RAID 0 recovery
Fundamental bottlenecks govern the RAID 0 data recovery.
- There is no option to rebuild.
- Original stripe size and disk order are required.
- Imaging with specialised tools is necessary.
- All member disks should be present and readable.
Professional strategy for data recovery for RAID 0
Provided the serious limitations, successful data recovery from RAID 0 arrays is a multiphase forensic process.
- Data integrity authentication
- Virtual reconstruction of the array
- Initial diagnosis and forensic visual
- Repair of the logical file system, as well as data extraction
Why DIY RAID 0 data recovery is risky
Attempting to recover data from RAID 0 yourself could be very risky compared to the other levels of the RAID because:
- Missing any step can destroy your data permanently. For instance, misconfiguring the virtual arrangement.
- Some RAID recovery services are designed for moderate amounts of failures, and they may damage RAID 0 volumes, for which the damage could be irreversible.
You must seek professional help if:
- You are not sure about the disk order or the size of the stripe.
- Any of the disks is physically damaged.
- There is a high value attached to the data.
- The initial attempts for rebuilding the array virtually are not successful.
- The reason for the failure was metadata corruption.
Conclusion
Take a moment to consider that you require a professional RAID data recovery service that acknowledges the difficulties and challenges regarding RAID 0. iTechnology Australia is known to be the best data recovery service provider in all of Australia. We have professional and expert engineers who use specialised hardware, exclusive tools, as well as forensic techniques to increase the chance of complete recovery from RAID 0. Permanent loss does not stand a chance with iTechnology Australia.