The loss of a single member in a RAID 0 silences the whole array. However, being silenced is not the same as being erased. Get a quote first, by phone or with the free online diagnostic, then send the complete set of disks with each one labelled with its bay, and we will image every member, work out the layout of the stripe and put your files back together entirely in software.
We never quote a RAID case blind. The free diagnostic comes first, then one written figure, from £500 + VAT depending on the number of members, and on logical recoveries, in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
In a RAID 0, every file is spread across all of the members and there is no spare copy, so the volume only lives as long as its weakest disk.
Files only exist as fragments across the whole RAID set. So when a single drive fails it effectively takes the rest of the set down with it. Recovering the data means making an image of each member and then putting the pieces back together in software.
There is no parity and no second copy of the data, which was the price paid for the speed. A stripe cannot regenerate any missing piece of itself from what is left, so careful, disciplined imaging is the only way back.
Quite often it is the controller, bridge or enclosure that dies, and the disks in the set are perfectly healthy but stuck. Then the job is working out how the stripe was laid out so the volume can be rebuilt from images.
Re-creating the array, or a firmware glitch, can wipe out the information that describes how the stripe was laid down. If it is put back together with the wrong numbers the data looks like random noise, so the actual values have to be pulled from the images themselves.
Since files are interleaved across the entire set, a patch of weak sectors on just one disk can take out pieces of hundreds of files. The imaging hardware harvests every readable sector surrounding the damage.
Running format, initialise or 'repair' against a broken stripe destroys the on-disk records that recovery depends on. If this has already happened, please stop there and power everything off.
As there is no redundancy built into the design, each member holds data that no other disk has. We image each disk on dedicated imaging hardware, and any drive that has failed physically goes to our head-swap bench first. From the images we recover the order of the disks, the size of each block and the starting offset. Using this information, we reassemble the stripe in software and rebuild the file system on top of it. Your files are then extracted without anything ever being written to the original disks.
A striped set cannot heal itself, and a failing member loses a little more ground every time the power is cycled. The correct response is less exciting. Switch off the system and refuse to run initialise and repair tools (these overwrite the exact information that describes the stripe), get a quote by phone or with the online diagnostic tool, then send the complete set of disks to us exactly as they are, with each disk labelled for its bay.
We receive striped sets from video editing rigs, gaming PCs, small servers and performance NAS units, from homes and businesses throughout Swindon, Chippenham, Faringdon and the wider county. Get a quote first, by phone or with the free online diagnostic, then send all the members, each labelled for its bay, together to our lab in Oxford. You can send them by tracked and insured post, with a courier that you book yourself, or drive up the A420 and leave them with us at reception (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, no appointment needed). For the bigger picture see RAID recovery and NAS recovery, and prices are on the data recovery cost page.
We will image the set, determine how the data was laid out and return your files to you. The diagnostic comes first at no cost to you, and after that we send you a written figure.
A majority of clients get a quote first, by phone or with our free online diagnostic, and once they know what it will cost they post or courier their media to us.
Sending a drive from a computer, laptop, MacBook, iMac, DVR/CCTV or server? Please remove the internal hard disk or SSD from the device and send us only the drive itself (from a server, every disk, each one labelled with its bay), as we do not provide a drive removal service. We also can't recover storage that is soldered to a motherboard (e.g. T2 and Apple Silicon Macs, and some thin laptops); we only accept removable drives, so if you're not sure which kind you have, ring us first.
↓ Print the booking-in & shipping form (PDF)
Please make sure the package is marked for the attention of Oxford Data Recovery so we can ring you as soon as the diagnosis has been completed.
If you are unsure what to send, give us a ring on 0800 689 0668 first or use our free online diagnostic.