How to recover data from NAS configured as RAID 0

In fact, RAID 0 is hardly a true RAID because it lacks redundancy. This RAID level uses a striping technique. The data is divided into blocks of a certain size and evenly distributed across disks. You need at least two disks to create a RAID 0 array,

RAID 0 scheme

A significant disadvantage of this array is the lack of fault tolerance. If one of the disks fails, you won't be able to recover RAID 0 array data. RAID 0 is often used in 2-bay Buffalo NASes. The detailed procedure for recovering data from a Buffalo NAS is described on this page.

If your NAS uses a RAID 0 array, but the disks are working fine and data is lost due to user error, controller or software failure, you can still recover data within DIY approach using special software like ReclaiMe File Recovery.

  1. Pull all the disks out of your NAS device and connect them to a Windows PC. It's better to connect the disks directly to a motherboard using SATA ports. If there are not enough SATA ports, use USB-to-SATA adapters.
  2. Download and install ReclaiMe File Recovery software to the PC.
  3. Select the NAS volume you want to recover and click the Start button. If you have a NETGEAR or Synology NAS, your volume will be under the BTRFS section; other NAS volumes typically appear under the Linux md-raid or Linux LVM sections.
  4. Wait till ReclaiMe File Recovery software starts displaying recovered data.
  5. Select some files and check the result of the recovery in the Preview window.
  6. If the result is good, purchase a license key and save the recovered data to another disk.

If you just need to recover deleted NAS data you don't have to pull the disks out of the NAS device. Simply download ReclaiMe NAS Recovery software to your computer, select your NAS, connect to it by entering your login and password, select the NAS volume for recovery, wait for the deleted data to be displayed, and check the recovery result in the Preview window. If the data looks good, buy a license key and copy your files to another drive. You can find more information on the page - how to recover deleted files from a NAS device.

If ReclaiMe NAS Recovery software does not show the NAS volume, the RAID 0 configuration is most likely corrupted. In this case, you first need to recover the array parameters, such as:

  • the number of member disks in the array,
  • disk order and which disk was first in the array,
  • block size,
  • start offset on disks.

All these parameters can be determined using a special software – ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery:

  1. Download and run ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery software.
  2. Select all disks and click the Start RAID 0 button.
  3. Once the RAID 0 parameters have been determined, download and run ReclaiMe File Recovery software. If it is already installed to your computer, the software will open in RAID recovery mode and shows all partitions on the RAID0. Also, you can save the recovered RAID to an XML file and then open it in ReclaiMe File Recovery software. For more information, please refer to the – How to recover RAID0 page.

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