Avoid these 7 Things during RAID 5 Data Recovery

Summary – RAID 5 recovery is hardly straightforward for anyone. However, one wrong step during RAID recovery can put your data at risk, further leading to permanent data loss. Go through this checklist to learn seven things you should avoid during RAID 5 data recovery.

As you know, RAID 5 is the most common RAID level used by businesses. It requires a minimum of three disk drives to function. RAID 5 uses distributed parity for data redundancy. If any hard drive fails, the array will continue to operate because of the distributed parity. However, you are advised to replace the failed hard drive as soon as possible.

While RAID 5 is resilient and features fault tolerance to protect itself from hard drive failure, it does not mean it is immune to failure. RAID 5 failure can be devastating if you don’t immediately opt for RAID 5 Data Recovery solutions. However, RAID recovery is a critical process where one wrong move can further damage. Therefore – to save yourself from the headache & heartache of losing precious data – here are the seven things you should avoid during RAID 5 data recovery.

• Leaving your RAID system ON

If your RAID array has crashed or failed, you must shut it down immediately. However, keeping your system on or using it for online research on how to fix it can overwrite the data in the RAID system.

• Forcing RAID Array Back Online

While experiencing RAID failure, you first need to know what is failing and why. Is it a faulty RAID controller, loosely connected cables, insufficient power supply, or others? In addition, the array will be damaged if you hard-force the RAID 5 back online.

• Reinitializing the Internal Hard Disk

When you receive the message to initialize your drive, it’s because it cannot read or locate the valid partition table. And if you initialize your internal drive, a new partition table with a new partition will be created, resulting in data loss. That is why you should not initialize the hard drive in case of RAID 5 failure.

• Run CHKDISK

Some people use the CHKDSK command to scan and fix the issue on failed RAID 5 hard disk. However, it is a big no because the CHKDSK command looks for the orphaned files and relocates them. It even has the potential to damage your data and can make data recovery difficult.

• Replacing More Than One Drive in RAID 5

RAID 5 array is built to be able to lose one drive and can still function. However, when two hard drives fail, attempting to replace both failed drives in RAID 5 can cause your array to rebuild incorrectly.

• Reconfigure RAID Level

Sometimes, RAID failure can occur because of RAID misconfiguration. And if you reconfigure one RAID to another RAID configuration, say RAID 5 to RAID 0, it will destroy the drive order, partition table, striping size, and parity information. In other words, your data will be wiped, resulting in data loss.

• Running Unreliable Recovery Software

Usually, this is the first thing people try during RAID 5 failure. However, running free or cheap online DIY data recovery tools can do more damage than good.

That is why trust reliable and advanced tools like Stellar Data Recovery Technician. It can help rebuild the RAID configuration and recover data from a reconstructed RAID volume in almost every data loss scenario.   Like accidental deletion, sudden power failure/ system shutdown, failed RAID stripping, bad sectors, malware/ virus intrusion, software-related errors, and others.

Conclusion

RAID data recovery is not easy; as it appears as each RAID level has a different structure and configuration. RAID 5 may fail due to intrinsic or extrinsic factors like human error, hardware and software failure, or sudden power surge. However, a few wrong steps during RAID 5 recovery can make your recovery impossible.

This post shared a few important things you should avoid during RAID 5 data recovery. Moreover, you must always be prepared with reliable data in case of a corrupted or failed RAID array or any other issue.