Tails of The Unexpected - Why Does RAID Fail?

RAID is probably one of the first things that a well seasoned system administrator or IT service provider will start configuring on a newly installed server, prior to setting up the OS.

By implementing RAID as part of a backup strategy you would be forgiven if you though that your data could then be classed as safe. Even when RAID is used it should be part of a well rounded backup solution, if it isn't and the RAID system fails, you might find yourself ask your self where did it all go wrong?

RAID isn't bullet proof

RAID 5 is fault tolerant to one disk so if for example you have 3 disks in your server and one fails it will still keep on trucking, however if two disks fails you'll find that the RAID will come to a screeching halt. RAID 6 on the other hand is fault tolerant to 2 disks, so on the same 3 disk set-up you'll not hit trouble until two out of the three disks fail.

So what are the odds of more than one or two of the disk failing at the same time? Slim right? Well unfortunately multiple disk failures can happen more often that you would like to think, one reason for this is that the majority of the time identical hard disk drives are used, this means that the chances that the drives fail simultaneously increases significantly, this is especially true if the drives have a common fault or firmware bug as seen in some recent Seagate models. There is also the chance that all the hard drive fail due to a power supply becoming faulty and frying the hard disks in one fell swoop.

The other common cause if RAID failure is that one disk goes down and simply isn't changed and then later down the line another one falls over causing the RAID to then fail.

Other causes of failure typically are:-

RAID controller failure.

Raid rebuild failure

Corrupted RAID configuration

Incorrect replacement of a working disk instead of the original faulty drive.

Physical damage due to fire, flood or earthquake.

What to do if you RAID fails

If you are in the unfortunate position to require RAID data recovery why not contact one of cleardata's friendly customer representatives on 0800 046 8087 to learn how we can help with your RAID 6 or RAID 5 data recovery issues.

Seized But Not Stuck - Recovering Data After Seagate Bearing Failures

Seagate like many other hard drive manufactures use Fluid Dynamic Bearings (FDB) in all their latest drives. There are various benefits to using such bearings which are sited by hard drive manufacturers such as enabling higher storage capacities, lowering acoustics, increasing shipping and handling robustness, better non-operational shock resistance and enabling a greater rotational speed.

However fluid bearings can seize catastrophically under certain shock situations or as a result of fluid leakage. When this does occur it results in the drive failing to spin and subsequently hard drive recovery is required.

Traditionally data recovery from a seized drive is carried out by removing the platters and inserting them in a new hard drive chassis with a working motor spindle assembly, however due to the new design of Seagate drives whereby acoustic dampers are placed between each drive platter extracting the platters is no longer possible by traditional means.

Cleardata's hard disk drive data recovery techniques to recover data from the latest Seagate hard disk drives specifically with bearing failure. As a result our success rate with Seagate drives has increased dramatically.

If you have suffered data loss as a result of this type of failure why not contact cleardata and learn more about our hard disk data recovery services on 0800 046 8087.

Lose data and you could lose £500,000

Many companies maybe unaware of new rules which have come into force since April 2010 making business open to fines of up to half a million pounds for any serious data loss. The new regulation which also affects SMEs is degined to prevent the kind of high profile data loss senarios that have effected large organisations which include the Ministry of Defence and the DVLA in recent years.

SMEs can be especially vulnerable as small to medium sized businesses do not always have the means or in house knowledge required to effectively put measures into place to manage the threat of data loss.

As a result SMEs require robust and cost effective ways of managing their confidential data, failure to do so could be potentially fatal to the business. Company reports, invoices, payroll data and client details are all highly confidential data which needs to be either destroyed or securely stored.

Cleardata can help your organisation by providing data destruction and secure document storage services.

The companies data destruction services are done in accordance with NATO approved and UK government CESG standards, a full audit trail is provided and all electronic equipment is disposed of in-line with WEEE directives

Cleardata has invested heavily in its secure document storage and archive storage facilities, offering the best in fire prevention technology and security features. Your documents will be safe in our secure document storage premises, protected from disasters such as fire, flood and theft.