RAID recovery with UFS Explorer

UFS Explorer Professional Recovery can virtually assemble disassembled or crashed RAID arrays and recover data from there.
If you RAID controller was gone bad or some disk in Striped RAID got bad sector, usually it's hard to recover data from disks that were in RAID, especially in case of striped RAID (RAID 0, RAID 5 or their variations, like RAID 0+1 etc.). UFS Explorer Professional Recovery allows you virtually reconstruct RAID and recover the data. Now it supports RAID most used software and hardware RAID systems.


Figure 1 shows RAID builder mode choice window. It appears just after you click 'Build RAID'.


RAID reconstruction

To reconstruct your RAID array, do the following:

1. Precise RAID type and settings and do the following:
   • RAID 0 (Stripe): Prepare and connect ALL disks (or disk image files), containing RAID data;
   • RAID 1 (Mirror): You not need to reconstruct RAID. Just open FIRST drive in usual mode;
   • RAID 3 (Sytipe+Dedicated parity): Prepare and connect ALL disks (or disk image files), containing RAID data. You may not connect single failed disk if any;
     
   • RAID 5 (Stripe+Parity): Prepare and connect ALL disks (or disk image files), containing RAID data. You may not connect single failed disk if any;
     
   • RAID 6 (Stripe+ Double Parity): Prepare and connect ALL disks (or disk image files), containing RAID data. You may not connect single failed disk if any;
     
     Note: software also supports data recovery from degraded RAID5 array (with one missing disk) so if one of disks is gone bad, you should not connect it.
     
     
   • RAID 0 variations, like RAID 0+1 etc. (Striped+Mirrored): Prepare ALL disks, except mirror disks. Mirror disks contain the same information that ones they mirrors, so you need minimum set of working disks to assemble stripe-set;
   • JBOD (Spanned): Prepare and connect ALL disks (or disk image files), containing RAID data;
   
   
2. If some or all RAID components are in disk image files - open these disk image files in UFS Explorer;
   
   
3. Click 'Build RAID' button or choose this tool in 'Tools' menu;
   
   
4. Select RAID builder mode: 'Use etire disks' or 'Use disk partitions' (see Figure 1.); click 'Next'. UFS Explorer will display RAID builder main form.
   
   
   
   
   Figure 2. RAID builder (entire disks)
   
   Figure 2 shows RAID builder form for entire disks. Builder form for partitions has some differences, but has the same main controls.
   
   
5. Select with mouse the RAID components at left list and press 'Add >>' to move them to RAID (right list);
   
   
6. Now you have to:
   
   
   • Make sure that disks in list are in correct order (first one - at top);
     
     
   • Select RAID mode: RAID 0 (for RAID 0/RAID 0+1/RAID 10), JBOD for Span, RAID 3, RAID 5, RAID 6 etc.;
     
     
   • For degraded RAID 3, RAID 5 or RAID 6 arrays, be sure you added 'Virtual disk placeholder' instead of missing disk (with 'Add DPH >>' button);
     
     
   • For any RAID with stripes (RAID 0, RAID 3, RAID 5, RAID 6 etc.) - select Stripe (or block) size exactly as it was in controller settings; you may also specify custom stripe size (in sectors for RAID 5 or RAID 6 and in bytes for RAID 3);
     
     
   • For RAID 5 or RAID 6 you must also select parity distribution algorithm: Left Symmetric (Backward Dynamic), Right Symmetric (Forward Dynamic), Left Asymmetric (Backward) or Right Asymmetric (Forward);
     
     Note: if you not sure about your RAID configuration or about terms, please refer to RAID controller manual, your records and RAID organization and recovery documents.
     
     
   • Now, press 'Build'.
   
   
7. On success, UFS Explorer, Professional Recovery will close 'constructor' dialog and will add new 'RAID' virtual device to left-side disks tree.
   
   

If you have more complex RAID array (Striping+Spaning, have reserved sectors at disk start or end), with RAID constructor you may:

• Construct striped parts separately to Virtual RAIDs and then combine (span) set of such striped Virtual RAIDs to one;
• Specify additional parameters for reselved sectors (These parameters are required rarely and only in case you sure there are controller-reserved disk space, so in general you shouldn't modify zero defaults).

UFS Explorer Professional Recovery can backup RAID configuration for future re-use (see 'Export' button). Backup tool supports even nested RAID and disk image files auto-open.


Requirements

OS:	Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista
Client Software:	UFS Explorer Professional Recovery
File system:	ALL

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See also: RAW recovey, Data Access, Help topics.