Due to their many benefits, RAID arrays are one of the best solutions for a database. This is a well-known fact, which all IT engineers follow. It is essential to remember that after employing RAID in the database, you need to check the system regularly due to several disadvantages of this system.
A proper RAID monitoring system often seems to be ignored, which results in a complicated failure situation. Mostly, RAID systems are protected against minor hardware failures. However, there are many other scenarios that they do not guard against.
Hence, when a failure occurs with one drive, it is still manageable and can be easily solved. However, without continuous check-ups, the situation will worsen.
Redundant Array of Independent Disks combines two or more hard drives into a single unit. It provides its users with efficiency, high speed, and good capacity. The setup of your array has a significant impact on a situation when you need RAID data recovery.
RAID Configurations and Their Features
Different RAID configurations have their own mechanisms to prevent failure or ease the RAID data recovery process. RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 5 are three main types of configurations.
RAID 0
In RAID 0 configuration, two or more hard drives are combined into a faster and bigger drive. When writing data to a RAID 0 array, it is split and assigned to all drives. With this system, the chance of data loss is significantly increased. The chance of malfunction is multiplied by the number of drives in the array.
RAID 1
RAID 1, also known as "disk mirroring," is a type of array that significantly reduces the need for RAID data recovery. In this array, data is replicated across all the disks, providing the user with a high level of performance and complete data protection. If one drive fails, the data is still on the others.
RAID 5
RAID 5 offers its users high capacity, incredible speed, and little chance for failure and data loss. With RAID 5, a user needs at least three hard drives, but most arrays with RAID 5 use five hard drives. One of the disks used in the RAID is being used to store parity information required in the event of a failure.
These three main types of RAID configurations offer completely different benefits for its user. RAID 0 is much faster; however, it has a much higher risk of failure and complete data loss. RAID 1 gives the user an incredible level of performance, as well as high data protection, but works slower. RAID 5 offers both high performance and speed security but requires a large number of drives to be employed.
Our Recent RAID Recovery Case
PITS Global Data Recovery Services has recently retrieved database files from a damaged RAID 50 Array with six drives. Our engineers started a technical evaluation right after receiving an array at our facilities.
Based on the secure inspection, we estimated that three out of six hard drives were damaged, and RAID required rebuilding. Our engineers performed professional data recovery from the failed device using cutting-edge software and advanced hardware.
We were able to recover more than 98% of the files. After the rebuild was successfully completed, we sent the device and all the data back to the client, who was very satisfied with the results.
If you are having difficulties accessing data from your RAID system, do not hesitate and contact us. You can get in touch with us by filling out the request help form here or calling our customer service line at (888) 611-0737.