RAID 5 Data Recovery you can trust
RAID 5 can survive one failed drive, but a second failure or a read error during the rebuild can take the whole array offline. Our RAID 5 data recovery service reconstructs the array from images of every member — priced per case after a free evaluation.
About raid 5 data recovery
RAID 5 stripes data across three or more drives and adds parity — a calculated value that lets any one missing block in a stripe be worked out from the others. The parity rotates across all members, so every drive holds a mix of data and parity. That's how a RAID 5 array keeps running, in a degraded state, after one drive fails.
The risk comes during the rebuild. Rebuilding a replacement drive means reading every sector of every remaining member, and with no redundancy left, a second failed drive or even a single unreadable sector can stop the rebuild or leave corrupted data behind. Another common trap is a drive that dropped out of the array long before anyone noticed. Its contents are out of date, and including it in a reconstruction mixes stale data into current files.
Recovery means imaging every member, identifying which drive dropped out first, and rebuilding the array virtually by determining the drive order, stripe size, parity rotation, and starting offset. Parity can fill in for one missing or stale member, but not two, so getting usable images of as many members as possible matters.
What we recover
- ✓Three-drive to large multi-drive RAID 5 arrays
- ✓NAS volumes built on RAID 5
- ✓Server arrays on hardware RAID controllers
- ✓Software and motherboard RAID 5
Common failures we handle
- •A second drive failed during or before a rebuild
- •Rebuild stopped on unreadable sectors
- •Controller lost the configuration or shows a foreign array
- •Array was reinitialized or rebuilt with the wrong settings
Before you send it in: what not to do
- ✕Don't force a failed drive back online — if it holds stale data, the controller will treat it as current and corrupt the array.
- ✕Don't start or restart a rebuild on a degraded array — another failure or read error mid-rebuild can make things far worse.
- ✕Don't reinitialize the array or create a new one with the same drives — it can overwrite parity and file system data.
- ✕Don't swap drive positions or remove drives without labeling slots — drive order is critical to reconstruction.
- ✕Don't run file system repair on a degraded or partly rebuilt array — it writes changes based on a possibly wrong view of the data.
How we recover it
Free evaluation and fixed quote
We test every member, gather what you know about the array and its failure history, and give you a fixed quote to approve before work begins.
Repair and image each member
Failed drives are repaired in the cleanroom where needed, and every drive is imaged sector by sector, with unreadable areas mapped.
Identify stale members
Engineers compare the images to find which drive fell out of the array first, so its out-of-date data is left out of the reconstruction.
Reconstruct the layout
We determine drive order, stripe size, parity rotation, and offset, then rebuild the array virtually from the images, using parity to fill unreadable areas where possible.
Extract and verify
The file system is mounted from the reconstructed array, and files are extracted and checked before return.
Failures we handle
How it works
Free evaluation
Start online; we assess your system in our cleanroom.
Fixed quote
Approve a set price before any recovery work begins.
We recover
Certified engineers reconstruct and recover your data.
Pay on success
Charged only when your data is back.
Related troubleshooting guides
RAID 5 Data Recovery — common questions
How much does raid 5 data recovery cost?
Two drives failed in my RAID 5. Can you recover it?
My rebuild failed partway through. What now?
Do you need the RAID controller or NAS?
What is a stale drive and why does it matter?
Is my data still recoverable?
How do I send in a RAID 5 system?
How long does it take?
Get your RAID 5 data back.
Free evaluation, a fixed quote before any work, and $0 unless we succeed.
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