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PDR / The jobs we take in / Striped RAID 0 sets

Specialist · striped RAID 0 sets

RAID 0 recovery in Plymouth. Two disks, one volume and no spares kept; lose one disk and the volume stops.

Most RAID 0 recoveries that come in here arrive as either a two-bay desktop box or a small NAS unit which was configured striped for capacity and never altered. The volume wrote the file data out in alternate blocks across the members of the set, but did not write any parity. So the loss of a single disk takes the whole volume with it. The data itself remains intact; it is simply broken up across the members. Each member of the striped set is copied read-only, and the block order and stripe size used by the volume are measured from these copies. These measurements let us put the volume back together over the images. Striped sets reach the bench by post from Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall. Your disks will be returned unmodified.

Nothing readable? Most jobs carry no bill Free diagnosis, then one written price Boxes come to the lab from Truro, Newquay and Tavistock

You will be talking to an engineer
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RAID 0 symptoms, and what each points to.

Yours not here? Start at the triage →
What turns upWhat that points toWhere to start
Both disks spin but nothing mountsOne member of the stripe has died and there is no other copy availableSend every member in
A NAS disk has dropped out of the setDue to the lack of parity, the striped volume also failsPower the box down before anything
The box asks to create the volumeAgreeing writes new stripe metadata over the old orderDecline it and go no further
One member clicks, the other is quietThe disk's heads are failing and each attempt at reading costs moreUnplug the enclosure now
Windows marks the volume FailedA member of the stripe has gone away. The disks themselves are generally healthyDo not reactivate or import it
Recovery software was run on one diskA single member yields fragments of files, never filesSend them all and name the tool
Getting it to us: once you receive your quote, wrap it securely so it cannot shift in transit, insure it for its value, and send it tracked to the intake lab in Bristol. We cover the return postage. If you want an engineer to check the packing before the box is taped shut, contact us before sending. Details are on our contact page.

What a striped set does to your files.

Two-bay desktop unitsDesktop boxes sold on capacity, and many were configured in the factory to stripe, so the larger number could appear on the sticker. One volume, two disks, no spares. Send us the two disks plus the enclosure, as some of them stripe using their own onboard board.
NAS boxes set to RAID 0Synology and QNAP systems, two- or four-bay, can be configured striped and will run that way without issue if that option was selected at setup, usually for the capacity. Linux software RAID lies under them, so the layout is held on the members and the chassis can stay where it is.
RST, Windows and mdadmStriping using motherboard-based Intel RST, a Windows striped volume or Storage Spaces, an mdadm array on Linux, or Disk Utility on a Mac: each writes its own map of the set on each disk. All of them can be read from image files and none needs the original machine. They all have one thing in common: the loss of a member stops everything.
Why there is no rebuildA rebuild on RAID 5 or 6 works by reading the surviving disks and working out the missing disk from parity. A RAID 0 has no parity, so there is nothing to work it out from. When you see "rebuild" as an option for a striped set, what it really means is that a new volume will be created over the top of the existing one. Recovery happens on copies instead, and copies don't care how many times you hit it.

What happens to a drive while it is here.

01

A number on arrival, then the free diagnosis Free

Whatever is delivered is booked in using a unique reference (case number) on the date it arrives at the bench. The engineer will identify the actual fault at no charge. This gives a straightforward answer on what can be recovered from the drive and what cannot, plus one written quotation. There will be no further activity until you have read and accepted the quotation.

Diagnosis at no chargeA single written figureYou owe nothing yet
02

Each member imaged on its own

Each disk is read behind a write blocker and copied in full before any file is opened. The healthy disks are copied alongside the failed one. Awkward areas are done in short passes and saved until the end. None of your original disks is ever written to.

Your disks are read onlyImaged one member at a time
03

Stripe geometry measured

Three things decide whether a striped set can be restored: which member came first, the size of each block and where the stripe begins on the disk. All three are read from the images: from metadata the box recorded, or from the shape of your own files where the box did not record anything.

Stripe order provedMeasured, never assumed
04

The volume assembled over copies

Once the geometry is settled, the set is assembled on top of the images and the file system repaired there. Files are then opened individually (photos, video, project folders) instead of just being counted, since a name in a list is not proof that the file is intact. Any files that come back damaged are listed as such.

Every file opened and checkedDamaged ones listed as damaged
05

You give the word, and it ships back

Give yourself time to consider it. It costs you nothing. We list all of the files we recover for you before sending out an invoice, and we only ask for payment once you have authorised it. We also buy media specifically for your recovery and send it back to you, with the return postage paid by us. The case stays here on our bench until we have your confirmation that the files open properly on your own machine.

You see the list and decideWritten to fresh mediaWe pay the postage home

The faults we see most

  • A RAID 0 does not hold anything in reserve: striping gives you extra capacity and speed, but there is a cost to both. Striping makes a volume only as reliable as its weakest disk. Two striped disks roughly double your chances of stopping compared with a single disk working alone.
  • Do not agree to create the volume when the box prompts you: the prompt appears because the box can no longer read its own configuration, which is a symptom rather than a cause. If you agree, it writes a new layout onto the disks, and on some boxes a new file system as well. That lays a second failure on top of the first.
  • One member alone is not half of your data: every disk holds alternating blocks of all of your data, which is far less useful. Every disk in the set must come in with its bay number written on it, and the disks still reading properly are the most useful of all.
  • The enclosure's own repair tools are not for this: scan and repair, initialise, format, each of them writes, and on a striped volume where one of the members is gone, writing takes options away.

The real limits of this: we deal with storage, nothing else. This page deals with striped sets (two or more disks) in a desktop box, a NAS, a motherboard controller or a software array on Windows or Linux, and these get sent to us because they have failed, been dropped, formatted or deleted. When every member can be read, the volume is assembled over the copies and the folders return organised as you had them. What cannot be done is create blocks on a surface when there is nothing left to read: a stripe with a hole in it returns files with holes in them, and you are told which files. Also, nothing survives being written over. We don't take phones or tablets. The free diagnosis settles which of those you are looking at.

A job out of the casebook.

PL · PLY-2026-0846FILED ✓

Two-bay desktop unit, striped since new, one member down

A boatyard office on the Cattewater sent in a two-bay unit that had stopped mounting. The disks inside were striped, so there was no whole file on either disk. Damage to the heads of one disk; the other read fine. Both were cloned in full, the damaged disk over three passes using a matched head stack. The striped volume was reassembled above the clones. Block size and disk order were taken from the copies. Fifteen years of laminating schedules and tooling drawings went home on a new drive, in the original folder structure.

Both members imaged separately3 days start to finish

Before you seal the box.

Get these done

  • Take it off power and leave it off
  • Send all the disks in the set, not just the failed one
  • Label each disk with its bay before it leaves the box
  • Tell us the make of enclosure and whether anything has been re-created

What to avoid

  • Letting the box create the volume again
  • Reactivating a failed volume in Windows
  • Running repair tools against the members
  • Sending one disk and holding the rest

Questions that come up most weeks.

One disk failed. Why do you need the other one?

Because a striped set writes in alternating blocks, no single member contains a full copy of anything. Taking the surviving disk alone will give you the first block of a photograph, followed by a gap, then the third block. The disk that failed holds every other piece. Both come in, each is imaged and each file is reconstructed from the two copies. Send every disk with the bay it was in written on it, and include the enclosure too if it is a desktop unit.

My NAS wants to re-create the volume. Should I let it?

No. A striped set does not hold anything in reserve, so there is nothing for the box to work from, and create means what it says. It writes a fresh description of the array, and many boxes lay down a brand-new file system on top as well. The original block order is lost with it, and that order is half of what we work from. Take the power out of the enclosure and let the images settle what remains on the disks. Once the images are made, nothing you do on the box afterwards can alter them.

Do you need the enclosure, or just the disks inside it?

Send the disks. The enclosure is useful rather than essential. A two-bay desktop enclosure often stripes through its own bridge board, and where that board also encrypts, the enclosure has to come with the disks, otherwise there is nothing to decrypt with. A NAS is different: Synology and QNAP use Linux software RAID, so the description travels on the disks and the chassis can stay on your desk. Motherboard striping works the same way. If you're still unsure, send everything and tell us what the front panel is displaying. Nothing about your layout gets guessed at over the telephone.

Both disks read fine on their own. Why can't I find my files?

Your files are split across both disks in blocks. That is why neither disk shows a file system worth mounting. A striped volume needs three things resolved before it comes back: which member came first, what size the blocks are, and how far into each disk the stripe begins. All three can be read from the images, since the shape of your own data gives them away, and the volume is then assembled over the copies. Disks that look empty on their own usually turn out to hold all your files.

Pages people open after this.

A halted server → MacBook Air storage → More than one disk → All the media we take →

A drive that stays switched off gets no worse.

Diagnosis costs nothing. We give you a report listing which files can be read, which cannot, and what is needed to get them off. Do not connect the drive until then.

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