RAID 0 keeps no redundancy at all, so a single failure takes everything. The work was to repair the casualty enough to read it, then reassemble a stripe that had been spread across four disks.
A video editing suite used a four-disk RAID 0 as scratch and project storage — chosen for throughput, with the understanding that it held nothing irreplaceable. Over time that understanding had drifted, and by the time one member failed the array held several months of client project files that existed nowhere else. The volume disappeared instantly and completely.
Three disks were healthy. The fourth had a failed head-stack and was clicking on power-up. That is the whole problem with striping: every file is written in blocks across all four members in rotation, so losing one disk removes a slice of almost every file. Nothing can be computed back, because there is no parity to compute from.
The failed member went to the clean-air bench first — a matched donor head-stack fitted, then imaged in short controlled passes prioritising the regions the array needed most. It gave up the majority of its surface, with a band of unreadable sectors where the original heads had been in contact.
All four images were then analysed to derive the stripe parameters: block size, disk order and start offset, established by testing candidates until reassembly produced coherent file-system structures rather than noise. The volume was assembled virtually from the images and the files extracted from there.
Project files were opened in their editor and exports played end to end. Files whose blocks fell in the unreadable band of the failed disk were identified and reported by name, since a video file missing a section will often still open and simply fail partway — which is worse than being told about it.
About 96% returned, including every completed client project. The shortfall traced directly to the damaged region of the failed member. The suite moved its project storage to a mirrored array and kept RAID 0 for scratch only — which is what it was for.
A RAID 0 stripe cannot be reassembled from a subset. Each member holds a different portion of every file, so the healthy disks are as essential to the recovery as the broken one. Label them in bay order before removing them, and don’t let a controller re-create or initialise the array to test it. RAID work starts from £500 +VAT.
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Usually, though there is no redundancy to fall back on, so the outcome tracks the condition of the failed disk. It is repaired physically if needed, every member is imaged read-only, and the stripe is reassembled from those images.
Because striping writes each file in blocks spread across every member in turn. Losing one disk removes a block from nearly every file, so the file system can no longer be read as a whole — it stops rather than degrading.
Yes. Each holds a different part of every file, so the stripe cannot be reassembled without the full set. Label them by bay order before removing them, and send the failed one too.
From £500 plus VAT after a free 48-hour diagnostic and a written quote. Where the failed member needs clean-air or donor work there is a 50% deposit, with the balance due only on success.
Start with an instant online quote, or call and talk it through with us first. You'll have a clear, fixed price before any work begins.