RAID Recovery Website Launched By Hard Drive Recovery Group

Extending its focus on providing RAID restoration oriented information, Hard Drive Recovery Group has launched a new Google website at https://sites.google.com/site/datarecoveryraid10/.

Intended for network administrators and high level IT managers, the website focuses on some of the issues that come with operating a RAID server, which uses multiple hard drives in order to create not only higher data security through redundancy, but also higher performance.

While many IT Administrators are well educated on operating a RAID array, (which is short for Redundant Array Of Independent Disks) very few understand the hardware behind the arrays, and what to do in the event of a single or multiple drive failure.

"Almost all enterprise level networks will use a RAID 5 server at a minimum, while RAID 10 is also a very common set up for business users," said Maureen Davis of Hard Drive Recovery Group. "While certain manufacturers are very strong when it comes to supporting their servers out of the box, very few provide any guidance when there has been a hardware failure."

What's worse about most RAID manufacturers is that they rarely offer any information regarding recovering RAID drives or the array in cases where a drive has been dropped. RAID controller errors can often occur, which can drop a still functional drive from a RAID array. This represents a major danger to the data contained within the server's array.

”What many Administrators do not understand is that while a RAID 5, as an example, can run for quite a while in degraded mode without a single failed drive," said Davies. "But where things can get catastrophic in terms of data loss is when a second drive fails. In cases like that, there is almost nothing that a regular user can do to restore the array."

High Value Data

Typically, the type of data stored and used on a RAID 5 or 10 server is important, mission critical data that most organizations back up relatively often. Unfortunately, many administrators work on a "set it and forget it"-style of server backup, which can mean that critical data is backed up only weekly or monthly. The result is that the latest data can be lost without the help of a professional RAID recovery service.

"One of the most interesting facts about many IT departments is that they spend thousands of dollars on an initial server purchase, but then attempt to save money on backup applications and servers," said Davies. "What we see a lot are clients that come to us after they have discovered that their older tape based backups are not working. Surprisingly, many companies think they have a functioning backup system in place, but it fails in the event of a disaster."

RAID controller errors, while sometimes creating conditions where a single drive fails during an error check, typically will not cause a full-fledged RAID failure. However, more than one physical hard disk failure in a RAID 5 causes a situation where without professional RAID data recovery help, data can not only be damaged, but rendered completely unrecoverable.

"The best way to say it is that if you find RAID array has more than one actual physical drive failure, shut it down right away and get on the phone with a professional," said Davies. "Throw out your RAID manual, avoid calling the manufacturer and don't even bother considering rebuilding the array yourself. Doing the latter pretty much guarantees a difficult RAID repair."

With a fully equipped data recovery clean room and a combined 100 years of experience with RAID recovery and repairs, Hard Drive Recovery Group can also offer 24 hour data recovery for clients with recoveries that are mission-critical.

No matter where the client is located in the United States, Hard Drive Recovery Group can drop ship failed RAID servers and restore all RAID data extremely quickly with the company's expedited service. This can make for a very quick turnaround that ensures very little downtime and productivity loss.

"While not many companies ever have to consider professional RAID recovery, it is something that can occur in emergencies," said Davies. "Hard Drive Recovery Group is there in this case, and can restore almost any RAID configuration, no matter the manufacturer."