September RAID Recovery Stories: How Stellar Saved Critical Business Data

RAID setups provide data redundancy and, in certain configurations, even better performance. No wonder then that most SMEs now tend to configure their storage using RAID levels like RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10. But while these setups ensure data safety using mirrors or parity, they are not foolproof.

Numerous factors, such as multiple disk failure, controller failure, power surges, human error, or logical corruption, can cause RAID failure. And when this happens, permanent data loss is no longer a remote possibility—it could become too real too soon, leading to reputational or financial damage for businesses. This is where Stellar Data Recovery comes into play. Our RAID data recovery experts have been successfully recovering data from even the most complicated RAID failures for decades.

In this article, we will look at two recent cases. In both, the clients faced RAID failure and ran the risk of losing critical business data, so they contacted Stellar.

Data Recovery From Failed RAID Server for CA Firm

Client: Mr. Mukul Varma

Location: Mumbai

Device: RAID server (2 × 1 TB Seagate Constellation HDDs)

Problem Type: Logical failure

Data at Stake: Sales data, customer records, ERP, CRM system

Solution: After consulting with their friends in the IT industry, the client, a chartered accountant, approached Stellar Data Recovery—Mumbai with a failed RAID server. The RAID server comprised two Seagate Constellation drives (1 TB each).

Our team sent it to the lab for inspection. Our experienced technicians concluded that the firmware and internal components of the hard drive were not damaged—a logical issue had resulted in data corruption and RAID failure.

After cloning both drives, our RAID data recovery experts initiated the recovery process. They used our proprietary software to extract scattered and corrupted metadata. Banking on their knowledge of RAID configurations, they manually reconstructed the RAID array and recovered lost data.

With years of their hard work successfully restored, the clients shared their thanks in this testimonial.

Customer Review for Stellar Data Recovery Service

“We feel very relieved and thank you, Stellar … and thanks to the entire technical team at the Stellar Data Recovery [Mumbai] for making this possible.”

Stellar Recovered 35 years of Critical Business Data from RAID 5 for Leading Water Pump Manufacturer

Client: Mr. Sachin Dixit

Location: Pune

Device: HPE ProLiant Server in RAID 5 config (3 × 500 GB SATA HDDs)

Problem Type: Complex logical failure

Data at Stake: AutoCAD, Excel, Word, and DAT files

Solution: Panic ensued at the headquarters of a leading water pump manufacturer in Pune when one of their centralized storage units crashed. The storage setup—a RAID 5-configured HPE ProLiant server comprising three 500 GB HDDs—had been showing symptoms of hard drive failure for a month. But just as the admins were about to replace the hard disks, the server crashed before they could transfer the SQL server to the workgroup. The RAID 5 array also contained AutoCAD designs, account logs, and sales and purchase records going back 35 years!

Upon the recommendation of several experts, the client decided to contact Stellar Data Recovery – Pune. The drives were initially assessed to ensure there was no physical damage. Our HDD recovery experts found that the platters were intact, but much of the data had become severely corrupted, so they created sector-by-sector clones of all three drives, running them at 1/100^th of the normal spindle speed.

Experienced technicians used optimized RAID 5 recovery tools to virtually rebuild the array by determining the parameters, including stripe size, parity order, and disk sequence. After the virtual RAID was reconstructed, we examined the array to find missing partitions and restore files. A thorough scan successfully recovered AutoCAD drawings, Excel files, Word documents, and DAT files with full integrity. We examined the recovered data and securely transferred it to new storage media upon the client’s confirmation.

Customer Review for Stellar Data Recovery Service

“[Translated from Marathi] Throughout the process, [Stellar’s team] kept communicating via mail and phone and were very cooperative. […] I have not lost a single file. I recommended Stellar for data recovery. They will take care of your media and your concerns, and they will find the right solution for you.”

Did you find these two stories interesting? Beyond RAID, we also specialize in Hard Drive Data Recovery, Laptop Data Recovery, SSD Data Recovery, Removable Media Recovery, CCTV Footage Recovery, MacBook^® Data Recovery, and Tape Data Recovery.

Wrap up

RAID is commonly perceived as a safety net, yet as these cases demonstrate, it isn’t immune to failure. A failed or failing RAID-configured server often induces panic, especially if it contains critical business data—and this is precisely where Stellar’s decades of experience comes in handy. With ISO-certified labs in all major Indian cities, cutting-edge proprietary tools, and an industry-leading R&D department, Stellar understands how to recover data from even the most complex RAID issues.

Data loss can strike unexpectedly — don’t wait until it’s too late. Reach out to us for expert support. For more helpful recovery stories, visit our YouTube page and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.