Norwich Data Recovery — No.1 RAID 5, RAID 6 & RAID 10 Recovery Specialists
25+ years of RAID expertise. We recover parity (RAID 5/6) and mirrored–striped (RAID 10) arrays for home users, SMEs, global enterprises and public-sector teams. Free diagnostics and clear options before any work begins. Best-value, engineering-led recoveries.
Note: Your text mentioned “RAID 1 engineers” in places. We’ve aligned the content to RAID 5, RAID 6 and RAID 10, as per the heading.
Platforms & Environments We Recover
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Hardware & software RAID: Dell PERC, HPE SmartArray, LSI/Broadcom/Avago, Adaptec/Microchip, Areca, Intel RST/e, mdadm/LVM, Windows Dynamic Disks/Storage Spaces, ZFS/Btrfs, Apple/macOS.
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NAS & rack servers: Synology, QNAP, Netgear, WD, Buffalo, Asustor, TerraMaster, TrueNAS/iX, Promise, LaCie, Drobo*; Dell EMC, HPE, Lenovo, Supermicro, Cisco, Fujitsu, etc.
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Filesystems: NTFS, ReFS, exFAT, FAT32, ext2/3/4, XFS, Btrfs, ZFS, APFS, HFS+.
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Media: 3.5″/2.5″ HDD, SATA/NVMe SSD (M.2/U.2/U.3/PCIe AIC), SAS, mixed 512e/4Kn.
Top 15 NAS / External RAID Brands in the UK & Popular Models
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Synology — DS923+, DS1522+, DS224+, RS1221+/RS2421+
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QNAP — TS-464/TS-453D, TVS-h674, TS-873A, TS-451D2
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Netgear ReadyNAS — RN424/RN524X, 2304, 528X
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Western Digital (WD) — My Cloud EX2 Ultra, PR4100, DL2100
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Buffalo — TeraStation TS3410DN/5410DN, LinkStation LS220D
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Asustor — AS6704T (Lockerstor 4), AS5304T (Nimbustor 4)
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TerraMaster — F4-423, F5-422, T9-423
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LaCie (Seagate) — 2big/6big/12big (often RAID 5/10 in DAS/NAS use)
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TrueNAS / iXsystems — Mini X/X+, R-series
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Drobo — 5N/5N2 (BeyondRAID redundancy modes; legacy)
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Lenovo/Iomega — PX4-300D/PX6-300D (legacy)
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Zyxel — NAS326, NAS542
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Promise — VTrak/Pegasus R-series (DAS shared as NAS)
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Seagate — Business Storage/BlackArmor (legacy)
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OWC — ThunderBay 4/8 (host-managed RAID 5/10)
Top 15 Rack / Server Platforms with RAID 5/6/10 & Popular Models
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Dell EMC PowerEdge — R650/R750/R760, R740xd
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HPE ProLiant — DL360/DL380 Gen10/Gen11, ML350
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Lenovo ThinkSystem — SR630/SR650, ST550
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Supermicro — 1029/2029/6049, SuperStorage 6029/6049
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Cisco UCS — C220/C240 M5/M6
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Fujitsu PRIMERGY — RX2530/RX2540
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Inspur — NF5280 M6/M7
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Huawei — FusionServer Pro 2288/5288
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QCT (Quanta) — D52B-1U/D52BQ-2U
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ASUS Server — RS520/RS700 series
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Tyan — Thunder/Transport 1U/2U
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IBM System x (legacy) — x3550/x3650 M4/M5
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Areca — ARC-1883/1886 controller builds
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Adaptec by Microchip — SmartRAID 31xx/32xx
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NetApp/Promise/LSI JBODs — behind HBAs with RAID 5/6/10 on host
Our Professional RAID Recovery Workflow
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Intake & Free Diagnostic
Capture controller/NAS metadata, disk order/slots, SMART and logs; preserve evidence if needed (chain-of-custody available). -
Image Every Member (Never Work on Originals)
Hardware imagers with per-head zoning, timeout budgeting, ECC controls; SSD/NVMe with read-retry/voltage stepping and thermal management. If a controller is dead (SSD), proceed to chip-off + FTL reconstruction. -
Virtual Array Reconstruction
Infer/confirm chunk size, member order, start offsets, parity rotation (RAID 5), dual parity P/Q (RAID 6), mirror pairing/striping (RAID 10). Build a virtual RAID over the cloned images only. -
Filesystem Repair & Export
Repair superblocks, journals and B-trees (e.g., NTFS $MFT/$LogFile, ReFS object table, APFS checkpoints/omap, ext4 backup superblocks, XFS log). Mount read-only and export validated data. -
Verification & Delivery
Per-file hash verification (MD5/SHA-256), sample testing, and secure hand-off (encrypted drive or secure transfer). Optional recovery report and IOCs for IR teams.
Overwrites: Truly overwritten blocks (e.g., long rebuilds or circular CCTV overwrites) cannot be “decrypted.” We focus on pre-overwrite regions, snapshots, journals and replicas.
Top 40 RAID 5/6/10 Failures — With Technical Recovery Approach
Format: Issue → Diagnosis → Lab Recovery (on cloned members/virtual array)
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RAID-5: second disk fails before/ during rebuild → Controller logs/SMART → Clone all survivors; parity reconstruct missing stripes; validate against FS signatures; salvage partials if some stripes unrecoverable.
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RAID-6: triple drive fault → Event timeline/epoch → Use P/Q Reed–Solomon on stripes with ≤2 erasures; carve data where parity math insufficient.
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RAID-10: both disks in a mirror-leg failed → Heatmap/date codes → Build composite leg from best sectors across both; re-stripe with healthy legs.
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Controller cache/BBU failure (write-back lost) → Dirty journal → Prefer member(s) with coherent journals; replay FS log on assembled LUN.
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Write-hole/unclean shutdown (parity mismatch) → Parity scrub on images → Majority vote per-stripe; journal-first FS repair; exclude contaminated extents.
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Wrong disk order inserted → Entropy/stripe signature solver → Brute-force order/rotation; choose geometry with highest FS consistency score.
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Unknown chunk size after NVRAM reset → Heuristic detection via $MFT runs/APFS blocks → Rebuild with detected chunk; confirm by path count/hash spot checks.
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Foreign import changed geometry → Compare on-disk metadata → Use earlier consistent epoch; avoid controller auto-initialise.
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Stale metadata across members → Superblock epoch voting → Assemble with highest common event count; mount read-only.
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Accidental initialise/recreate array → Metadata wiped → Recover backup superblocks (mdadm/LDM); reconstruct array map from survivors.
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Expansion/migration failed mid-op → Mixed sizes/partial reshape → Rebuild pre-reshape set; carve/merge post-reshape extents only if consistent.
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Hot-spare promoted onto failing disk → New errors post-rebuild → Image old+new; construct composite per-LBA “best-of”; ignore later poisoned writes.
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Sector size mix (512e/4Kn) → Mount refuses → Normalise logical sector size in virtual model; adjust offsets; repair FS.
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SAS backplane/cable CRC storms → Link errors in logs → Image via stable HBA/port; small-queue, small-block passes; reconstruct array.
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SMR disks under parity load → Long GC stalls → Very long timeouts; multi-pass imaging; fill holes with parity & FS awareness.
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Bad sectors peppered across multiple members → Error heatmap overlay → Targeted re-reads; use parity where possible; carve for non-parityable holes.
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Firmware bug shifts LBA bands → Translator anomaly on one member → Build corrective translation layer; re-align stripes before FS repair.
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Controller dead (PERC/LSI/Areca) → No init → Clone members; emulate layout in software; proceed with parity/mirror logic.
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mdadm metadata mismatch (RAID-5/6) → Different event counters → Select consistent set; force-assemble virtually; ignore lower epoch images.
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Windows Dynamic Disks (RAID-5) DB corrupt → LDM lost → Recover LDM backups at disk ends; if absent, infer from FS runlists.
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Storage Spaces parity/mirror unhealthy → Slab map broken → Rebuild column/stripe map; export virtual disk RO; fix guest FS.
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ZFS: missing vdev(s) in RAID-Z2/ mirror-striped → Pool won’t import → Import with rewind/readonly; scrub; export datasets or send/recv.
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Btrfs RAID-5/6 metadata errors → Superblock triplets → Select best pair; tree-search for root; export subvolumes/snapshots.
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ReFS integrity stream mismatches → Copy-on-write artefacts → Prefer blocks with valid checksums; export verified files only.
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NTFS $MFT/$LogFile damage → Dirty shutdown → Replay $LogFile; rebuild MFT; relink orphans.
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APFS container/omap divergence → Checkpoint walk → Choose latest coherent checkpoint; mount RO; copy data.
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ext4 superblock/inode table loss → Use backup superblocks; fsck-like offline rebuild on image.
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XFS journal corruption → Manual log replay; directory rebuild on virtual LUN.
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iSCSI LUN on NAS corrupted → LUN sparse file damaged → Carve from underlying FS; reconstruct guest VMFS/NTFS/ext FS inside LUN.
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VMFS datastore header loss on RAID-10 → ESXi can’t mount → Rebuild VMFS metadata from copies; recover VMDK chain; mount/export.
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BitLocker/FileVault/LUKS atop RAID → Encrypted LUN → Full-image first; valid keys required; decrypt; export RO.
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Parity drive marked “failed” but data path OK → False positive → Validate by raw reads; if consistent, use as data source in virtual array.
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Rebuild started on wrong member → Overwrite good data → Roll back to pre-rebuild clones; exclude contaminated ranges; reconstruct from clean epoch.
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Accidental disk reorder during hot-swap → Slot mapping lost → Recover by content signatures; rebuild correct order before FS repair.
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NVMe member with controller death → No admin cmds → Chip-off + per-die dumps; FTL rebuild (BCH/LDPC, XOR, interleave); integrate image.
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NVMe link flaps/thermal throttling → PCIe resets → Clamp link; active cooling; staged imaging with dwell periods.
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Mixed TLER/ERC settings → Timeouts during parity → Image each drive independently; reconstruct virtually (no hardware rebuild).
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Battery-less cache after power event → Corrupt last writes → Journal-first file-system restore; parity reconcile at stripe boundaries.
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NAS OS upgrade changed md/LVM stack → Auto-repair attempted → Stop; image; re-assemble manually with pre-upgrade geometry.
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Long-running parity scrub on failing disk → Accelerated decay → Halt on arrival; image weak member first with fast-first strategy; then parity rebuild on images.
Why Choose Norwich Data Recovery
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25 years in business with thousands of successful RAID/NAS recoveries
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Multi-vendor expertise across controllers, NAS OSs, filesystems and HDD/SSD/NVMe media
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Advanced tooling & donor inventory to maximise recovery outcomes
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Free diagnostics with clear options before any paid work begins
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Optional priority turnaround (~48 hours) where device condition allows
Speak to an Engineer
Contact our Norwich RAID engineers today for a free diagnostic. We’ll stabilise your members, rebuild the array virtually, and recover your data with forensic-grade care.