UFS Explorer RAID Recovery is data recovery software designed for one of the most challenging categories of data loss, involving multi-disk RAID arrays and NAS devices. It is positioned above UFS Explorer Standard Recovery in the classic product family, adding a full RAID functionality layer that includes automatic array detection, a manual RAID Builder and adaptive reconstruction tools, while still preserving all single-disk recovery capabilities.
The software is suited for both professional data recovery specialists and technically competent home users. When a NAS stops responding, a RAID controller fails or several drives are removed from a degraded array, this software helps reconstruct the virtual storage and recover the data it contains.
In any RAID data loss situation, the first priority is to stop using the affected array. If any drives show signs of hardware instability, it is recommended to create a sector-level disk image before proceeding. The built-in disk imager generates a bad-sector map during the process, which can then be utilized by the adaptive reconstruction engine. This enables the software to reconstruct unreadable blocks from parity instead of leaving gaps in the recovered data.
Once the member drives or their images are available, the software attempts to assemble the array automatically using detected metadata. For arrays where metadata has been lost, the interactive RAID Builder accepts manually specified parameters, such as level, drive order, stripe size, start offset, and then builds a virtual array from those inputs. The assembled volume becomes accessible for scanning and recovery, just like a regular disk.
The software covers both RAID-specific and common single-disk recovery cases. The scenarios below illustrate when UFS Explorer RAID Recovery is required rather than the Standard edition.
This is one of the most common NAS failure scenarios. RAID 5 tolerates a single failed drive, while RAID 6 tolerates two concurrent failures. The software reconstructs the array from the remaining members and recovers data using parity. If the failed drive contains bad sectors but is not completely inoperable, adaptive reconstruction can help restore the damaged blocks.
Supported appliances include Synology, QNAP, Drobo, Buffalo, Asustor, Terramaster and many others. The software reads RAID metadata written by the NAS controller onto each drive and reassembles the volume exactly as the NAS originally presented it, even without the NAS hardware being available.
When a controller has been replaced, the array reinitialized, or metadata is damaged, automatic detection may not work. The RAID Builder allows specifying RAID level, member drive order, stripe size and start offset manually, then assembles a virtual volume based on those parameters.
Software-defined storage systems, such as Linux mdadm, Windows Storage Spaces and NT Dynamic Disks (LDM), Apple Software RAID and APFS Fusion Drive, as well as LVM (including Thin Provisioning), are typically detected and assembled automatically, with no manual configuration required.
Drobo BeyondRAID, Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR), Btrfs-RAID and ZFS RAID-Z (Z1, Z2, Z3) use non-standard layouts that traditional RAID tools are unable to interpret correctly. UFS Explorer RAID Recovery offers dedicated assistant tools and RAID-Z support for these configurations.
When several RAID member drives are not fully failed but contain degraded areas, each drive should be imaged first. The resulting bad-sector maps can be used for adaptive reconstruction. Parity data from the healthy regions of other members helps fill in the unreadable parts.
The software supports all standard RAID patterns as well as nested and vendor-specific variants. Standard levels, such as RAID 0 (striping), RAID 1 (mirroring), RAID 1E, RAID 3, RAID 5 (single parity), RAID 6 (dual parity), are detected automatically in most cases. Nested configurations, such as RAID 10, 50, 51, 60, 61 and other combinations, are also supported, including arrays built from mixed RAID types.
For custom RAID layouts that do not match typical RAID patterns, the software allows manual definition using advanced descriptors, making it possible to reconstruct unusual configurations when the parameters cannot be identified automatically. ZFS RAID-Z striped-based configurations are also supported across all redundancy levels, including RAID-Z1, RAID-Z2 and RAID-Z3.
NAS devices store RAID configuration metadata directly on the member drives. When these drives are connected to a recovery workstation, the software reads this metadata and automatically assembles the RAID volume, without requiring the original NAS enclosure or controller. This also works when the NAS appliance is unbootable or physically damaged.
Some more complex configurations do not support automatic detection, including Drobo BeyondRAID and Synology Hybrid RAID. For such cases, the software provides dedicated assistant tools that guide the assembly process based on the specific parameters used by those systems.
and many others via generic mdadm, LVM and hardware RAID metadata
Standard RAID recovery assumes that member drives are either fully functional or completely unavailable. Adaptive reconstruction addresses a more common real-world scenario, where a member drive is partially readable, with bad sectors scattered across its surface.
During disk imaging, the software creates a detailed map of all unreadable blocks on each member drive. When the RAID is assembled, the software consults these maps to identify which regions of the virtual volume are affected. For redundant RAID levels, such as RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 1, RAID 10 and their nested variants, parity data or mirror copies from the remaining healthy regions are used to reconstruct the content of damaged blocks. As a result, data loss is reduced to what cannot be recovered through RAID redundancy.
Imaging multiple RAID member drives, especially when some of them are degraded, requires more flexibility than the standard single-drive recovery process. The software's disk imager allows you to configure read timeout, block size, read direction, retry behavior and bad-block handling separately for each drive. Multiple disk imaging tasks can also be run in parallel to improve the efficiency of the workflow.
For scenarios involving DeepSpar Disk Imager (DDI), the software integrates directly with the DDI protocol. Imaging tasks are managed asynchronously, and the resulting images and bad-sector maps are passed into the RAID assembly process.
Host OS & system requirements
RAID support
Automatic reconstruction & storage technologies
File systems
Coverage is identical to UFS Explorer Standard Recovery – all file systems are supported across Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD and Solaris.
→ See full file system list on the UFS Explorer Standard Recovery page
Encryption support
Disk images & virtual disks
RAID can be assembled directly from disk images; physical member drives are not required.
RAID-specific additional tools
RAID assembly
Damaged sector handling
Scanning (inherited from Standard Recovery)
Forensic compatibility
A standard data recovery tool is intended for a single drive. It works by reading the file system and searching for lost data on that device. However, this approach is not applicable when data is spread across multiple drives that must be combined and interpreted as a single system. RAID operates by distributing data blocks, and sometimes parity information, across member drives according to a pattern defined by the RAID configuration. No individual drive contains a complete copy of the data, and the file system exists only at the virtual layer of the assembled volume.
UFS Explorer RAID Recovery bridges this gap by first reconstructing the virtual volume from the raw drives and then applying standard recovery techniques to the resulting storage. This two-stage approach, array reconstruction followed by file system recovery, is what distinguishes this edition from UFS Explorer Standard Recovery.
Hardware RAID controllers may store configuration metadata on the member drives using different proprietary formats. The software recognizes DDF1 metadata used by LSI, Dell and Intel controllers, as well as formats from Silicon Image, JMicron, 3ware and Intel Matrix RAID. On the software RAID side, it supports Linux mdadm arrays, which are commonly encountered in Synology and other Linux-based NAS systems, as well as Windows NT LDM and Storage Spaces, Apple Software RAID and Core Storage, and LVM including configurations with Thin Provisioning.
For ZFS-based storage, the software can assemble and read ZFS stripe volumes, including RAID-Z, RAID-Z2 and RAID-Z3. For Drobo devices, where BeyondRAID uses a proprietary block allocation method that doesn’t follow any standard RAID level model, the dedicated assistant tool handles the layout internally without requiring the user to specify RAID parameters.
When a NAS device fails, whether due to a controller board defect, power supply malfunction, firmware corruption or one or more drive failures, the first step is to power it off immediately. The drives should then be removed and not reconnected to the NAS. Each drive should be connected individually to a recovery workstation to evaluate its condition before any recovery measures are taken.
Drives showing read errors, unusual acoustic behavior or S.M.A.R.T. warnings should be imaged before any further processing. Once images are created, the software loads them alongside any healthy original drives and attempts automatic RAID assembly. In most cases involving major NAS brands, a usable virtual volume can be reconstructed within seconds after loading all components.
If automatic assembly doesn’t succeed, the RAID Builder provides an alternative: a guided interface where the user can specify parameters such as RAID level, the order of member drives, the stripe size (typically 64 KB or 128 KB for most NAS systems) and the data start offset. The software then builds a virtual RAID from these inputs, which can be accessed and checked for consistency before starting a full scan.
UFS Explorer Standard Recovery is designed for single-disk storage. It works with one drive or one disk image at a time. It can automatically assemble simple spanned volumes, such as LVM, LDM or Apple RAID, when their metadata is intact. However, it doesn’t provide any tools for manual RAID assembly, NAS metadata recognition or adaptive reconstruction using bad-sector maps.
UFS Explorer RAID Recovery is ideal for situations involving storage systems with multiple drives or data loss scenarios that cannot be addressed by single-disk recovery tools. The key functional differences are summarized below:
If your data is stored on a single drive, USB stick, SD card or virtual machine disk image, you can use UFS Explorer Standard Recovery as a more economical option. If you deal with a NAS, RAID enclosure or software-defined multi-disk volume, UFS Explorer RAID Recovery is required.
A standard RAID data recovery procedure with this software usually follows these steps:
UFS Explorer RAID Recovery covers the vast majority of NAS and RAID data recovery cases. However, some advanced workflows may require additional capabilities. For example, when drives are distributed across multiple machines on a local network or cannot be connected directly to the recovery workstation, UFS Explorer Network RAID extends UFS Explorer RAID Recovery with iSCSI target and initiator functionality, enabling LAN-based recovery procedures. For highly specialized professional or enterprise-level cases, the professional-grade product family provides additional forensic tools and broader storage platform support.
