RAID Data Recovery
RAID is a storage technology used in servers and high-end workstations to increase performance or data protection depending on the type of RAID system used. In a RAID system, multiple disks are used, but the operating system sees all drives as if they were only one.
To prevent data loss and costly RAID data recovery service our data recovery experts have the following recommendations: since the RAID system usually contains critical information it should be treated with additional care, this includes additional cooling to avoid overheating damage, protection from falls (due to accidents, earthquakes, etc), power protection by using a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), and protection from failure by making periodic backups.
A RAID system can be built using a SATA RAID controller and corresponding SATA drives; or using an IDE RAID controller and corresponding IDE drives; or using a RAID SCSI controller and SCSI drives (SCSI RAIDs are more common in servers and high-end systems, they are usually more expensive than SATA or IDE configurations).
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RAID data recovery requires additional tools and training for a data recovery professional to be able to successfully rescue your data.
At My Data Is Back we can perform RAID data recovery on your RAID system regardless of the brand of the RAID controller or brand of hard drives used.
There are different RAID schemes or levels, ranging from 0 to 6.
RAID Level 0. It is used for improved performance and additional storage only. It does not provide fault tolerance. This type of RAID is usually implemented with two disks
RAID Level 1. RAID Level 1 provides data protection through mirroring. The main disk is copied (mirrored) on the fly to a second disk. This provides data protection in cases where the main disk fails, but it does not help in cases where data on the main drive is being corrupted due to virus and spyware activity or hard drive malfunction. Here, the end result could be two drives with corrupted data. As an extra safety measure, a periodic backup to external media is recommended. Drives using RAID level 1 mirroring are often brought for RAID data recovery because the customer was under the wrong impression that he was protected from failure.
RAID Level 2. It is now obsolete.
RAID Level 3 and RAID Level 4 are rarely used now. They were both replaced by RAID Level 5.
RAID Level 5 requires a minimum of three disks. A single hard disk can fail in a RAID 5 setup without losing data or access to it. Currently, RAID Level 5 is the most common secure RAID Level.
RAID Level 6 is not as common as Level 5. It provides enhanced data protection in case of a single drive failure. Write operations are somewhat slower in RAID Level 6.
While RAID systems may provide some type of data protection none of them are fail proof. Our data recovery engineers often perform RAID data recovery on all kinds of failed RAID systems. Still the best protection is to backup your RAID data to an external device, you may also consider data replication as implemented by the MySQL database server.
RAID Level 10. At least four hard drives are required to create this type of RAID system. It is a combination of RAID levels 1 and 0, 1 + 0 = 10. It is used to improve performance and protects data through mirroring.
RAID Level 50. A minimum of six hard drives are required to make a RAID level 50. This type of RAID system provides better fault support than regular level 5. In a RAID level 50 more than one hard drive in the RAID can fail without causing any data loss.
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You can use any hard drive compatible with your RAID controller, but it is recommended to use drives of the same brand, size and model.
Companies that build RAID controllers include Adaptec, Intel, 3ware, HP, and IBM. They offer IDE, SATA & SCSI controllers.
If you have experienced data loss due to one or more failed drives in a RAID system, contact us using the Data Recovery Service Request Form. Please provide as much information as you have regarding the RAID level used, number of drives, operating system, and cause of failure. RAID drives require special packaging & handling. We will contact you with details once your request is processed.