RAID Data Recovery: RAID 5 vs RAID 6

RAID 5 offers a drive's worth of redundancy to protect your data, and
RAID 6 goes one step further - with double the parity

RAID Data Recovery: RAID 5 vs RAID 6

RAID 6, also known as double-parity RAID, offers stronger safeguards against failure compared to RAID 5. But that doesn’t mean that RAID 6 is immune from failure – our RAID data recovery team still see RAID 6 systems in the lab.

RAID 5 offers one drive of redundancy in exchange for a small amount of disk storage, and is probably the most common RAID level. RAID 5 requires at least three hard drives, although it isn’t uncommon to see up to eight hard drives. RAID 5 stripes data across all f the drives, like RAID 0, but it also stores parity information across them to aid with RAID data recovery. Around a third of the storage space is used to store this parity information. This doesn’t mean RAID 5 doesn’t have shortcomings – our RAID data recovery team see them all the time. RAID 5 is not a logical backup, that is, there’s no second copy of your data unless you back it up. There’s also the problem of plain old human error.

In short, RAID 6 is RAID 5 taken to the next level. Despite its advantages, we still see these arrays in the RAID data recovery lab. This RAID configuration offers incredibly high fault-tolerance, and is frequently used for environments that need very long data retention periods, such as archives. RAID 6 takes RAID 5’s parity and doubles it, adding even more parity data and ensuring the array is tolerant of up to two hard drive failures. The downside is that write performance in RAID 6 arrays suffers because each set of parities must be calculated separately. RAID 6 essentially has the same disadvantages as RAID 5 – human error, malware, a natural disaster on-site. Just because it has more fault tolerance, it doesn’t mean RAID 6 doesn’t experience failure. While RAID 6 failure is definitely less likely, no level of RAID is perfect and can guarantee against failure.

When a hard drive in a RAID 5 or RAID 6 array fails, it can be replaced; the controller turns the new drive into an exact replica of the old, failed one using the parity data. This is known as rebuilding the array. The difference between RAID 5 and RAID 6 is that RAID 6 can rebuild the array after two drives fail, whereas RAID 5 after only one. Ironically, RAID 5 and RAID 6 arrays are at their most vulnerable when they’re being rebuilt, as they’re put under more strain than usual. It isn’t uncommon for our RAID data recovery team to see RAID 6 arrays that have had drives fail under the stress of a rebuild. Other factors that have led to clients bringing in arrays into our RAID data recovery lab include drives damaged in floods or other natural disasters, and power surges frying one or more of the array’s drive’s circuitry.

While RAID 6 arrays are definitely one of the best in terms of protecting your data, they’re not failure-proof by no means, and our RAID data recovery technicians regularly see them. Our RAID data recovery process begins as all jobs do – with a free evaluation of the media. From here, we will ascertain what the fault is and provide a quote and file listing to the client. Data Recovery Specialists can provide RAID data recovery support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 and 10 arrays – and you won’t pay anything if we can’t help you.

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Free Diagnosis

"Our free hard drive data recovery evaluation service will tell you whether your data can be recovered, exactly how much it will cost and how long the data recovery will take. Simply phone or email us for a job number and send your data recovery to us. Your hard drive or media will be photographed, catalogued and bar-coded and the data recovery evaluation will start within an hour of receipt."

Listing Of Recoverable Files

"Once in the laboratory, your media will undergo a comprehensive data recovery evaluation to determine the extent of the data loss. We aim to complete this process within 24 hours depending on the complexity of work involved. The engineers will provide a no obligation recovery prognosis, with a guaranteed list of recoverable files and an estimated timescale. You can then decide whether to proceed with the recovery. Should you choose not to proceed, we will return your media by secure data courier."

Completing the Process

"Should you choose to proceed, the data recovery process will be completed and the data will be safely stored on our servers. We will then copy out the data to your preferred choice of output media - either 64Gb memory stick or HDD (for purchase or loan). Your data will be dispatched on our secure, next day courier service. Once you have received your data any copies of your data will be permanently and securely erased from our servers after 7 days."

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"40 years experience in the data recovery industry chairing ISO and BSI standards, we have developed a reputation for excellence at a price that is affordable. With extensive data recovery research and development capabilities, our success rates are second to none - without compromising on our prices! This is why over 36,000 companies and individuals come to us every year."

Safeguarding Your Data

"Your data is important to us, which is why all our data recovery procedures comply with the Association of Chief Police Officers Guidelines and Civil Procedure Rules for handling electronic evidence. Great care is taken when recovering and handling your data to ensure that its integrity is maintained and that there is a clear audit trail through the entire data recovery process."

Industry Leading Diagnostics

"Our data recovery laboratory completes over 120 successful recoveries every day from clients including the British Petroleum, NHS and EDF Energy. With ISO 27000 (Information Security) and ISO 9001 (Quality Management) accreditation - we are a data recovery company you can rely upon! Class 100 clean rooms, specialised platter removal jigs and software applications allow us to provide the most comprehensive service in the industry."

"Absolutely fantastic"

"Absolutely fantastic customer service from a very professional, efficient and friendly team. They are great at communicating findings and keeping you up to date with recovering any lost data. We had a corrupt video file recovered using the express service and the work was completed very quickly. I highly recommend using Data Recovery Specialist and rate the service and experience a 10/10"
Will Lloyd
Five Star Review

"Service I received was great"

"The data recovery service I received was great. They were very clear from the outset about what may and may not be possible and what the cost would be. From my device being collected by a courier, to a new device being sent back to me only a matter of days later, they were in touch every step of the step way to let me know what was happening. "
Lucy Owen
Five Star Review

"I found the service easy use"

"I found the service easy use. The recovery of my data was carried out extremely efficiently. It wasn’t cheap but the cost included a new Hard Drive. The issue for me was the recovery of my photographs, some of which were really irreplaceable. Everything I needed was carried out and the data was returned to me on the new hdd in a manner that followed my own distribution."
Martyn Webster
Four Star Review

"Delivered in the timescales promised"

"The service from start to finish was excellent. Before contacting DRS I had been advised I needed their type of specialist service. The technical service and customer service was always top class, everything was delivered in the timescales promised. It was expensive but it recovered the irreplaceable and that, in its way, is priceless."
Martin Goff
Five Star Review

"I would definitely recommend them"

"My external hard drive failed and the local company I tried couldn't retrieve anything from it. I found Data Recovery Specialists through an online search and they responded to my initial query very quickly. I sent my hard drive to them and they were able to recover all my data very quickly, keeping me informed of what was going on the whole time. Great service and I would definitely recommend them."
Lorraine Bunce
Four Star Review

"Would recommend to anyone"

"Excellent service, I felt completely at ease sending my hard drive to be fixed with Data Recovery Specialists. Would recommend to anyone needing help salvaging their hard drives."
Jemima le Sueur
Five Star Review

"Helped me retrieve the data"

"I had a damaged external hard disk that my local computer shops were unable to repair. Data Recovery Specialist help me retrieve the data quick. It's not a cheap service but it works and the data recovered was far more valuable than the repair cost. "
Music Law Contracts
Four Star Review

"Quick and professional service"

"I had dropped my external while it was spinning so did huge amounts of damage. I contacted several companies and opted for DRS. They were very quick with communication, explained everything for someone who’s not terrifically technically minded and put it all in writing as well. Collection of my device was simple, the turn around time was quicker than I expected and they kept me informed right through the process. Really pleasant and professional company. If I do break something, they would be my first port of call, but I’m hoping I won’t!"
Alex West
Five Star Review

"Fantastic job"

"The guys did a fantastic job in recovering my very important data. My interaction with Daniel Rees was very good, he was honest with what he could do to recover my very important Data. I also found their customer service department especially Roger a pleasure to deal with. My only real concern is that I found the company to be too expensive, however I scored them a 5 star as they recovered 100% of my very important Data."
Richard Daniel
Four Star Review

"Recovered my precious data"

"The guys at Data Recovery were excellent, especially Daniel Rees and Roger from customer service, who throughout my interaction with them kept me informed and were honest with regards to what they could do to recovery my precious data. They were very expensive but I've given them 5 stars as they manage to recovery all 100% of my data."
Ricky Daniel
Five Star Review

"The best in data recovery"

"After a bad experience with my local computer shop who had my dead hard drive for a week and said the data could not be recovered, I sent my hard drive to Data Recovery Specialists. Rapid, amazing service. Had a report of files available in 24h and 100% of data was recovered from hard drive. These guys are the pros! "
Michael Paterson
Five Star Review

"The data recovery service was first rate"

"The data recovery service was first rate from start to finish. My hard drive was collected quickly by a pre arranged courier service and returned quickly in the same manner.I was kept informed by telephone at all parts of the recovery and all my data was returned.I can fully recommend this company to anyone."
Cecilia Gregson
Five Star Review

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RAID Data Recovery: RAID 5 vs RAID 6