By: Liv A Wilson
Originally coined as a cheeky acronym to describe "a Redundant Array of
Inexpensive Disks" - a technique which allowed computer users to maximise the
reliability of their data storage by using arrays of cheaper and less reliable
PC-style disk-drives - "RAID" is now used as a general term for forms of data
storage that divide and copy information across multiple hard disks.
The aim of RAID systems is to maximise either the input/output capacity of a
storage system or the reliability of its data. However, the complexity of the
system means that if data loss occurs, recovering the data is all the more
tricky. RAID data recovery is, therefore, a serious business, and experts in
data recovery treat information losses in servers or RAID systems as their
highest priority.
It is essential to discover whether the storage device in question is
accessible to the specialised equipment at the technician's lab, and so the
first step towards RAID data recovery is diagnostic. If this reveals that the
equipment is compatible, all available data is copied on to new media to allow
the technician to analyse the exact nature of the problem - but if it is not
possible to access all of the media using the lab's equipment, the expert will
then test the RAID components for possible physical damage.
RAID data recovery often means replacing any failed or broken components -
such as electronics, read/write heads, head assemblies, magnets and drive motors
- in a clean environment, which itself requires highly specialised hardware and
software tools to build up a raw image of the data. Because of the array of
separate disk-drives, technicians need to have specialist skills that allow them
to determine both the exact layout of volumes which exist across multiple drives
and what repairs to the system's file structures are necessary to gain access to
all the lost data.
As part of the RAID data recovery process, the technicians will usually
"destripe" the multiple-drive servers and place them on to the lab's own media
to carry out repairs to the file system. If damage is severe then data needs to
be directly extracted from fragments of the destriped image.
The expert programmers utilise a wide range of software tools to analyse,
destripe, fix and recover data from raw image drives, which cover nearly all
operating systems. Once the RAID data recovery has been achieved, the
technicians create file lists and check the validity of the information they
have recovered.
Olivia has 2 years experience writing articles about data recovery. She also
enjoys writing articles on various other topics.
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