Whether you’re using a RAID storage system for increased performance, capacity or data protection, the sad fact is that RAID sometimes does fail. While data can sometimes be recovered in-house, for more complex situations, a RAID data recovery service might be required.
Although more reliable than a single hard disk drive, the RAID isn’t immune from failures; the chances are that anyone operating a RAID storage system will have to undertake data recovery at some point, often by a dedicated RAID data recovery service. The concept behind RAID is a simple one: users’ data is made recoverable through redundancy, that is, making a copy of data on one or more disks in the array. The format is designed to make data recovery easy through a set of simple faults that are spotted by the operator and acted upon promptly. Some arrays will operate, albeit at a lower level, until the failed disk is replaced with a working one. When the substitution occurs, the user can then manually begin the rebuild process in order to integrate this new disk into the array, or in some instances, the system will do this automatically. The main challenge for IT managers is spotting the symptoms of RAUD failure before a second or third drive in the array fails; RAID drives are sequentially manufactured and tend to be deployed in the same array at the same time.
The recovery of most manual and automatic RAID systems can be time consuming thanks to slow rebuild times. There are a number of factors that determine the rebuild time with a RAID drive; the RAID level, the number of hard drives and their capacity. A mirror, or RAID 1, should rebuild a lot faster than a multi-drive RAID 5. As the amount of data increases, the copy and rebuild times rise, too. If RAID rebuild times are a concern for you or your business, you should consider how you’re configuring your array. Many businesses lack the skills and knowledge to rebuild RAID systems or undertake RAID data recovery on site, and prefer to outsource this complex work to a dedicated RAID data recovery service.
A good RAID data recovery provider needs to be competent in dealing not only with basic RAID levels, but additional, lesser known levels like RAID 6, RAID 10, RAID 50 and RAID 60. The bottom line is, you need to specify the characteristics of your RAID; the RAID level, the manufacturer, the firmware, the size and make of the hard drives, the operating system, and potentially more variables. Find a RAID data recovery provider with experience in dealing with your array’s configuration and makeup.
