RAID Data Recovery

York Data Recovery: The UK’s Premier RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 Recovery Specialists

For 25 years, York Data Recovery has been the UK’s leading expert in complex RAID data recovery, specialising in the intricate architectures of RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 and advanced nested configurations. Our engineers possess unparalleled expertise in striping algorithms, parity calculations, and distributed data reconstruction across multiple drive failures. We support every RAID implementation from hardware controllers to software-defined storage, recovering data from catastrophic multi-drive failures and complex logical corruption using our state-of-the-art laboratory equipped with specialised RAID reconstruction tools and a comprehensive donor drive inventory.

25 Years of RAID Architecture Expertise
Our quarter-century of experience encompasses the complete evolution of RAID technology, from early hardware controllers with proprietary XOR implementations to modern software-defined storage and erasure coding systems. This extensive knowledge base includes proprietary firmware commands for enterprise RAID controllers (Dell PERC, HPE Smart Array, Adaptec) and comprehensive understanding of software RAID implementations (Windows Storage Spaces, Linux MDADM, ZFS). Our historical database contains thousands of controller-specific firmware versions and RAID metadata structures essential for successful reconstruction operations.

Comprehensive NAS & Enterprise Server Support

Top 20 NAS Brands & Popular UK Models:

1. Synology: DS923+, DS1522+, RS1221+

2. QNAP: TS-464, TVS-872X, TS-1655

3. Western Digital: WD PR4100, WD EX4100

4. Seagate: BlackWolf, IronWolf Pro

5. Netgear: ReadyNAS RN212, RN3138

6. Buffalo Technology: TeraStation 51210RH, 3410DN

7. Drobo: Drobo 5N2, Drobo 8D

8. Asustor: AS5304T, AS6706T

9. Thecus: N8850, W6810

10. Terramaster: F4-423, T9-450

11. Lenovo: PX12-450R, IX4-300D

12. LaCie: 12big, 2big

13. Promise Technology: Pegasus32 R8, R8i

14. ZyXEL: NAS542, NAS572

15. D-Link: DNS-345, DNS-327L

16. QSAN: XF3026, XS3226

17. Infortrend: EonStor GS, ES

18. Synology Plus Series: DS723+, DS1522+

19. QNAP Enterprise: TS-h3087XU-RP

20. Asustor FlashStor: FS6712X

Top 15 RAID Server Brands & Models:

1. Dell EMC: PowerEdge R750xs, R740xd2

2. HPE: ProLiant DL380 Gen11, DL360 Gen11

3. Lenovo: ThinkSystem SR650, SR630 V2

4. Supermicro: SuperServer 6049P-E1CR90H

5. Cisco: UCS C240 M7 Rack Server

6. Fujitsu: PRIMERGY RX2540 M7

7. IBM: Power System S1022

8. Hitachi: Compute Blade 2000

9. Oracle: Sun Server X4-4

10. Huawei: FusionServer 2288H V5

11. Inspur: NF5280M6, NF5180M6

12. Acer: Altos R380 F3

13. ASUS: RS720-E10-RS12U

14. Intel: Server System R2000WF

15. Tyan: Transport SX TS65-B8036

Technical Recovery: 30 Software RAID Errors

1. Multiple Drive Failures Exceeding RAID Redundancy
   Technical Recovery Process: We create sector-by-sector images of all surviving drives and perform parametric analysis to determine original RAID parameters (stripe size: 64KB-1MB, disk order, parity rotation). Using UFS Explorer RAID Recovery, we construct virtual RAID assemblies and employ mathematical reconstruction of missing data blocks through XOR parity calculations. For RAID 6, we utilize Reed-Solomon algebraic decoding to recover from dual drive failures by solving simultaneous equations across the parity blocks.

2. Parity Inconsistency and Checksum Corruption
   Technical Recovery Process: We analyze parity blocks across the array to identify inconsistencies through cyclic redundancy check (CRC) validation. Using custom algorithms, we reconstruct corrupted parity by reverse-calculating from known data blocks and validating against file system metadata structures. For ZFS RAID-Z, we repair corrupted parity through reconstruction of the 256-bit Fletcher-4 checksums and SHA-256 hashes.

3. Failed Rebuild Process with Write Hole Corruption
   Technical Recovery Process: We halt all rebuild processes and work with the original drive set in their pre-rebuild state. Using hardware imagers (DeepSpar Disk Imager), we perform controlled reads of marginal sectors that caused the rebuild failure. We then implement a virtual rebuild in our lab environment, applying read-retry algorithms and custom ECC correction to successfully complete the reconstruction.

4. RAID Metadata Corruption and Superblock Damage
   Technical Recovery Process: For Linux MDADM, we locate and repair damaged superblocks (0.90, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 versions) using backup copies or manual reconstruction through analysis of data patterns. For Windows Storage Spaces, we repair the configuration database by parsing the Microsoft Reserved Partition and reconstructing the pool metadata through sector analysis.

5. Accidental Reinitialization with Structure Overwrite
   Technical Recovery Process: We perform raw data carving across all drives to locate residual RAID signatures and file system fragments. By analyzing cyclic patterns of data and parity blocks, we mathematically deduce original RAID parameters and reconstruct the virtual assembly, then extract data before the new structure overwrites critical areas.

6. Drive Removal and Reordering Errors

7. File System Corruption on RAID Volume

8. Journaling File System Replay Failure

9. LVM Corruption on Software RAID

10. Snapshot Management Failure

11. Resource Exhaustion During Rebuild

12. Driver Compatibility Issues

13. Operating System Update Corruption

14. Boot Sector Corruption on RAID Volume

15. GPT/MBR Partition Table Damage

16. Volume Set Configuration Loss

17. Dynamic Disk Database Corruption

18. Storage Spaces Pool Degradation

19. ZFS Intent Log (ZIL) Corruption

20. RAID Migration Failure Between Levels

21. Sector Size Mismatch Issues

22. Memory Dump on RAID Volume

23. Virus/Ransomware Encryption

24. File System Quota Corruption

25. Resource Contention During Sync

26. Background Scrub Corruption

27. Metadata-Only Split-Brain

28. Capacity Expansion Failure

29. RAID Member Marked Spurious

30. Configuration Import/Export Failure

Technical Recovery: 25 Hardware RAID Errors

1. RAID Controller Failure with Cache Data Loss
   Technical Recovery Process: We source identical donor controllers and transplant the NVRAM chip containing the RAID configuration. Using PC-3000, we extract configuration data from the member drives’ reserved sectors and manually reconstruct the controller parameters (stripe size, cache policy, rebuild rate). For cache data loss, we analyze the drive write sequence to identify unwritten cache blocks and reconstruct missing data through parity verification.

2. Backplane Failure Causing Multi-Drive Corruption
   Technical Recovery Process: We diagnose backplane issues through signal integrity analysis of SAS/SATA lanes. We then image all drives through direct connection, bypassing the faulty backplane. During virtual reconstruction, we account for corruption patterns by analyzing parity inconsistencies and performing selective sector repair using checksum verification.

3. Battery Backup Unit (BBU) Failure Causing Write Hole
   Technical Recovery Process: We analyze the write journal on the controller and member drives to identify transactions that were incomplete during power loss. Using custom tools, we replay the journal entries in correct sequence and repair the write hole corruption by recalculating parity blocks across affected stripes.

4. Controller Firmware Corruption with Configuration Loss
   Technical Recovery Process: We force the controller into recovery mode and flash known-good firmware from our extensive database. We then reconstruct the configuration by analyzing metadata on member drives, including Dell PERC’s 0x400 sector configuration blocks and HPE Smart Array’s reserved area structures.

5. Concurrent Multiple Drive Failures from Power Surge
   Technical Recovery Process: We perform component-level repair on damaged drive PCBs, including TVS diode replacement and motor driver IC transplantation. After stabilizing all drives, we create images and perform virtual RAID reconstruction, using advanced ECC correction for sectors damaged by the power event.

6. Unrecoverable Read Error During Rebuild

7. S.M.A.R.T. Attribute Overflow

8. Thermal Calibration Crash (TCC)

9. PCB Failure on Multiple Array Members

10. Spindle Motor Seizure in Critical Drives

11. Head Stack Assembly Failure During Rebuild

12. Media Degradation Across Array

13. Vibration-Induced Read Errors

14. Write Cache Enable/Disable Conflicts

15. Controller Memory Module Failure

16. SAS Phy Layer Degradation

17. Expander Firmware Corruption

18. Power Supply Imbalance Issues

19. Cooling Failure Causing Thermal Throttling

20. Physical Impact Damage to Array

21. Water/Fire Damage to Storage System

22. Interconnect Cable Degradation

23. Ground Loop Induced Corruption

24. Electromagnetic Interference Issues

25. Component Aging and Parameter Drift

Technical Recovery: 25 Virtual & File System RAID Errors

1. VHD/VHDX File Corruption on Hyper-V RAID
   Technical Recovery Process: We repair the virtual disk header and block allocation table (BAT) by analyzing the VHD/X metadata structures. For dynamic VHDX, we reconstruct the sector bitmap and log sequence numbers to restore consistency, then extract the NTFS/ReFS file system from the repaired container.

2. QTS File System Corruption with LVM Damage
   Technical Recovery Process: We reverse-engineer QNAP’s proprietary LVM implementation by analyzing the raw disk sectors for volume group descriptors and logical volume metadata. We repair damaged extent maps and rebuild the file system tree using backup superblocks and journal analysis.

3. Btrfs RAID Corruption with Checksum Errors
   Technical Recovery Process: We utilize btrfs-check with repair options to validate and rebuild the B-tree structures (chunk tree, root tree, file system tree). For severe corruption, we manually parse the checksum items and reconstruct damaged nodes using copy-on-write snapshots and checksum verification.

4. ZFS Pool Corruption with Uberblock Damage
   Technical Recovery Process: We use zdb to locate previous valid transaction groups by scanning for backup uberblocks. We force pool import from specific transaction points and repair the MOS (Meta Object Set) by reconstructing damaged object sets from surviving vdevs.

5. APFS Container Superblock Corruption
   Technical Recovery Process: We locate and repair the container superblock using backup copies stored at the volume’s end. We rebuild the object map (omap) and space manager structures by analyzing the EFI jumpstart and partition structures.

6. ext4 Journal Corruption on RAID 5

7. VMFS Datastore Corruption on SAN

8. ReFS Integrity Stream Damage

9. XFS Allocation Group Corruption

10. NTFS $MFT Mirror Mismatch

11. exFAT FAT & Cluster Heap Corruption

12. HFS+ Catalog File B-tree Damage

13. Storage Spaces Virtual Disk Corruption

14. Linux MDADM Superblock Damage

15. ZFS Deduplication Table Corruption

16. Btrfs Send/Receive Stream Damage

17. Hyper-V VHD Set Corruption

18. VMware Snapshot Chain Corruption

19. Thin Provisioning Metadata Damage

20. Thick Provisioning Header Corruption

21. Quick Migration Failure Corruption

22. Storage vMotion Interruption

23. Virtual Disk Consolidation Failure

24. RDM (Raw Device Mapping) Corruption

25. VSphere Replication Consistency Issues

Technical Recovery: 30 QNAP & Drobo Virtual System Errors

1. QNAP LVM-thick Provisioning Corruption
   Technical Recovery Process: We analyze the LVM metadata on QNAP systems by locating the volume group descriptors at sector 0 of each physical drive. We repair damaged physical volume headers and rebuild the logical volume mapping tables using custom tools that understand QNAP’s extended LVM implementation.

2. Drobo BeyondRAID Metadata Corruption
   Technical Recovery Process: We reverse-engineer Drobo’s proprietary metadata by analyzing the 2MB reserved area on each drive. We reconstruct the virtual disk mapping tables and recalculate the dynamic stripe sizes using our proprietary Drobo analysis tools developed over 15 years of specialized recovery experience.

3. QNAP QuLog Database Corruption
   Technical Recovery Process: We repair the SQLite-based QuLog database by extracting log entries directly from the raw disk sectors. We use WAL (Write-Ahead Log) recovery techniques to reconstruct missing transactions and rebuild the database index structures.

4. Drobo Power Loss Protection Failure
   Technical Recovery Process: We analyze the NVRAM modules on the Drobo controller and reconstruct unwritten cache data by parsing the transaction journals on each drive. We then replay these transactions in the correct sequence to restore consistency.

5. QNAP SSD Cache Tier Corruption
   Technical Recovery Process: We extract and analyze both the SSD cache and HDD storage tiers separately. We reconstruct the cache mapping tables and reconcile data between tiers using QNAP’s cache metadata structures to ensure complete data recovery.

6. Drobo Firmware Update Failure

7. QNAP Hybrid Backup Sync Corruption

8. Drobo Dashboard Configuration Loss

9. QNAP Virtualization Station Corruption

10. Drobo Data-Aware Tiering Errors

11. QNAP Container Station Corruption

12. Drobo Instant Thin Provisioning Errors

13. QNAP Malware Remover Database Damage

14. Drobo Redundancy Pool Exhaustion

15. QNAP System Partition Corruption

16. Drobo Drive Pack Communication Failure

17. QNAP Netatalk Service Corruption

18. Drobo Temperature Sensor Failure

19. QNAP Web Server Configuration Damage

20. Drobo File System Journal Overflow

21. QNAP SSH Service Configuration Corruption

22. Drobo Auto-Carving Algorithm Failure

23. QNAP Crond Service Configuration Loss

24. Drobo Background Scrub Corruption

25. QNAP MySQL Database Corruption

26. Drobo Volume Expansion Failure

27. QNAP PHP Configuration Damage

28. Drobo Drive Bay Recognition Failure

29. QNAP System Log Rotation Corruption

30. Drobo Factory Reset Configuration Loss

Advanced Laboratory Capabilities

Our RAID recovery laboratory features:

• DeepSpar RAID Reconstructor with 3D imaging capabilities

• PC-3000 UDMA-6 with portable field recovery units

• Atto Fibre Channel SAN for enterprise storage systems

• Custom QNAP/Drobo analysis tools developed in-house

• Advanced soldering stations for component-level repair

• Class 100 cleanroom for drive mechanical repair

• Signal analysis equipment for backplane diagnostics

• Proprietary virtual RAID reconstruction software

Why Choose York Data Recovery for RAID?

• 25 years of specialized RAID architecture expertise

• Largest inventory of enterprise donor components in the UK

• Component-level repair capabilities

• Proprietary tools for QNAP and Drobo systems

• 96% success rate for RAID 5 recoveries

• Free diagnostic assessment with transparent pricing

Critical Service Option
Our 48-hour critical service ensures rapid recovery for business-critical situations, with priority access to our RAID specialists and dedicated laboratory resources.

Contact our York-based RAID recovery engineers today for immediate assistance with your failed RAID array. Our free diagnostics provide complete assessment of your storage system with no obligation.