March 6
RAIDs. Whether you call it a Redundant Array of Independent or Inexpensive Disks, one thing is for certain. Your organization is very dependent on your RAID and the data that is stored on its hard drives.
While hardware vendors or VARs sell customers on a RAID’s fault tolerance or high availability features—99.999% or 5×9—and its reliability, RAIDs do fail. It’s a fact.
RAID arrays fail for numerous reasons and often IT staff is not aware that one or more of the redundant disks have in fact failed. The most common causes of RAID array failures are heat, vibration, power surges, quality of components, and firmware changes. And, we cannot forget virus contamination, natural disasters and human errors.
Nevertheless, what would you do if your RAID failed?
While some recovery firms will advise to ship your entire RAID to them leaving you without the server, CBL Data Recovery’s approach to RAID recovery is simple. Our goal is to get your data back to you ASAP while you rebuild the system.
CBL recommends you follow these 5 simple steps to prevent data loss and restore server functionality when your RAID with the so-called 5 9’s availability fails:
- Turn off the system. Avoid repeated resets and power-cycling and do not run volume repair or defragmenter utilities on the drives in question. You could corrupt the data residing on the drives.
- Call CBL.
- Remove the entire RAID set from the server and label each drive before delivering them to CBL.
- Install new hard drives into the server.
- Re-install the Operating System and necessary applications thus enabling restoration of critical business functions in anticipation of receipt of recovered data.
If you’re interested in learning more about RAID recoveries, download a free copy of IDC Viewpoint opinion piece, What to do When the RAID Array Fails.
Category: data loss prevention, helpful hints
Tags: backing up data, damaged hard drive, data loss, data loss prevention, data recovery, raid array, raid array failure
