Not long ago, I came across a RAID recovery case that highlighted critical mistakes made by maintenance staff following a server failure. On July 15th, the Darth Data Recovery Center received a case where a data recovery attempt had failed due to improper handling. The client was a national organization, and because of strict internal data security policies, they required on-site data recovery engineers from Darth to perform the task.
The server in question was an older HP model equipped with four SAS hard drives, specifically EG0146FAWHU. It stored shared data from 12 different departments. When the system failed, the IT staff found that the server could not boot up normally. Error messages indicated a hardware issue, so they replaced the power supply—but the problem persisted. They then contacted HP support and the information center, who advised them to change the order of the hard drives in an attempt to restore functionality. However, they didn’t document the original disk order before making changes, leading to inconsistent boot sequences and further complications.
After multiple failed attempts, the client turned to a data recovery company. Unfortunately, only 60GB of data was recovered out of a total of 200GB, and many files were corrupted or unreadable. This left the client extremely dissatisfied.
Upon arrival at the site, our engineers discovered that the third and fourth hard drives were performing poorly, showing signs of instability and frequent disconnections. From a low-level data analysis, it became clear that the data strips were inconsistent and unevenly distributed, which caused severe corruption in the RAID structure. This explained why the previous recovery attempt failed to retrieve most of the data.
According to our investigation, there were two possible causes for the issue:
1. The third and fourth drives were unstable, possibly experiencing intermittent failures that led to unexpected reboots.
2. After the initial failure, the user repeatedly changed the disk order and restarted the server, causing the RAID controller to automatically resynchronize the array—further damaging the data.
In both scenarios, the damage to the data was irreversible. Once the data area is overwritten or fragmented beyond repair, no recovery method can fully restore it.
During the recovery process, we worked closely with the client, understanding the value of their data. Despite the previous failed attempt, we decided to try recovering more data. By analyzing the Master File Table (MFT), we found numerous file record fragments, but the MFT itself was severely damaged. Our engineers manually located and repaired these areas, then used our proprietary recovery software to extract as much data as possible. In the end, we successfully recovered 170GB of data, even though many files were still damaged. However, the volume of usable data was significantly higher than the previous 60GB.
While the results weren’t perfect, this case reinforced the importance of professional handling during server failures. For non-experts, attempting to fix a server without proper knowledge can cause irreversible damage. If your data is critical, it's always best to contact a certified data recovery specialist first before trying to repair the system yourself.
At Darth Data Recovery, we believe that every bit of data matters, and our engineers are committed to doing everything possible to help our clients recover what they need. Even if full recovery isn't possible, we strive to provide the best possible outcome.
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