RAID Recovery By Experts

Helpful RAID Recovery Specialists
Here at DTIData we have free evaluations for your RAID crash 24/7. After the evaluation we will provide you with a written diagnosis as well as the steps needed to recover the RAID array.
Fast RAID Recovery Help
Most of our recoveries take 2-5 business days but we do offer emergency expedited service, contact us for pricing information.
Expert RAID Recovery Engineers
DTIData has over 50 years combined experience in the data recovery field. Our highly skilled RAID engineers are second to none in troubleshooting and recovery.
Call us today for a Free RAID Recovery Evaluation:
727.345.9665 ext 203 or Toll Free at 866.438.6932
Surviving a RAID Failure the First 24 Hours
Almost every IT professional who administers a RAID server will at one time or another need to know how to handle a catastrophic fault. The following is a list of actions to take to give you a fighting chance for a RAID Recovery.
1. Shut down the RAID server
Make sure that all drives have spun down and no power is getting to any of them. With almost every technician I speak with there is a common thread that each one has. They have no idea how the original RAID was set up. They may have an idea of the RAID type but other than that they really don’t have any clue.
With that in mind a RAID can be configured to do an automatic rebuild if it comes back online. If a stale drive is in the array this will be the end of any chance of data recovery.
The RAID may be configured to do a background surface scan of each drive that can in fact damage any suspect media even further.
2. Image the drives
Before performing any type of initialization, reconfiguration, scrub, or any one of several different RAID reset functions backup your drives. Pull the drives from the enclosure. Put the drives in a separate computer and using a sector by sector software imager make images of all the drives. The end user may be screaming in your face to get back online, but they will be screaming more if you lose their data because you didn’t take a few minutes to back up your drives
3. Check your RAID server backups
Some IT techs will make the mistake of reconfiguring the array and bringing it back online thinking that the backups they have made are golden. I have literally made thousands of dollars from this kind of thinking. So, before you go destroying the only chance you may have to recover the lost data, check the backup and the data.
This means, don’t just view the tree, look in the folders and make sure the data is there. For extremely critical data like email archives (PST) and database files (MDF, LDF, EDB) mount these files in a separate computer to make sure that the data is current and not corrupted.
This will do two things, first you will know if the data is up to date, and second you can start your migration process in case you can’t get the RAID to come back online.
4. Call technical support
There is a BIG caveat with this. Don’t let anyone into the server unless step 2 and step 3 have been done. Many of these RAID technicians have no clue about a RAID and are only following a monitor with step by step instructions that are designed to get you back online but not keep your data safe. I will repeat that. Most of the technicians are just trying to get you online and are not worried about your exchange data. It’s not a bad thing, just a fact of life.
5. Do not run chkdsk, or fsck, or xfsck, or any other file system checker
These utilities are not designed to save your data; they are designed to align the file system so that it can be mounted. Chkdsk will destroy MFT entries and any Linux file system checker will blow out an inode before you have time to fix your resume so you can go looking for work.
If these utilities are run then it is a sure sign that you have a stale drive in the array and is probably being automatically rebuilt while you are trying to figure out your next step. I hope you did steps 2 and 3 because it is tough out there looking for a new job.
6. Stay calm
No matter who is screaming, or what end user needs his pictures of his grandchildren back just ignore them. Ignore everyone and go about your job at a reasonable pace. Don’t work for 48 hours, don’t hurry, and don’t do anything that will lead to you making a mistake. Be cool.
7. Call US!
That’s right, call me. If you get stuck, not sure what to do, call me. I’ll tell you exactly how to handle your particular situation. I am a tech first and a businessman second, or third, maybe fourth. If you call me I will tell you what to do, where you stand, and your best course of action. My number is (727)345-9665 Ext 203. That is my cell. You can get me 24/7. In the old days when I wrote Public Safety Software I made a few blunders in my technical career and would have given anything to have someone throw me a lifeline. I am willing to do that for you.
In the final analysis there is only so much you can do, and sometimes a professional needs to be called. If after all your options have been exhausted, and I tell you that you need to send the RAID to someone, I hope you remember DTIData and maybe send your troubled RAID to me.
-Richard Correa
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