Upon Failure of a Synology NAS Array
Although Synology diskstation manager products can malfunction, Synology NAS data storage devices are generally quite dependable. Your NAS data storage solution could give you a device not recognized error. Although the system comes with several built-in protections, data loss can still occur from an unforeseen hardware malfunction regardless of the file system being used or the RAID protection level chosen during setup.
It's possible that you hot-swap disks, which over time may harm the hardware—either the hard drive or the hardware itself—and may result in a crucial RAID metadata failure. A Synology Dual Controller IP SAN may start beeping at you, your NAS may become unexpectedly unreadable, the status light may turn orange with a warning, or you may receive an error message stating that hard drives are missing.
It can be annoying to get the notification that there are no disks. The disk drives are not formatted in NTFS, which is the format that Windows uses, therefore removing them from the cabinet and connecting them to a Windows computer won't work. Alternatively, Linux computers' widely used file system, EXT, is used by Synology. Depending on the RAID type being used or if file encryption is activated, Synology NAS may or may not be able to be connected to a Linux PC. However, there is no guarantee that you will be able to read files from the device or continue with data recovery.
To have any chance of a successful Synology RAID data recovery process, it’s important to get your Synology drives to the data recovery experts at BLR rather than attempting a DIY fix with free recovery software. We have the specialist data recovery software and hardware known to rebuild RAID configurations and rebuild the storage controller information.
The Most Frequent Synology Multi-Drive System Failures
Two Hard Drives Have Failed
One of the most popular Synology RAID configurations is RAID-5. Two drives may fail if your network attached storage (NAS) was not configured to send out failure notifications, or if you were notified but neglected to replace a disk. You were operating in a degraded setup when the first drive failed. The logical situation made sense, and you could read and write data, but you lacked a safety net or redundancy. Your machine can no longer display the volume because it is missing data blocks equivalent to two drives after the second drive failed. Now, in an alternate striping pattern, a four-drive unit could only see half of the data blocks, which is not useful. In these situations, BLR NAS Recovery Tool requires the shipment of all the drives in order to repair the two failed drives, determine which one died first (the other is stale and essentially useless), and linearize the array using the subset of drives and the manually computed XOR parity blocks.
All Drives Have Failed
Every disk in the unit is probably going to be dead if it was exposed to external factors like a power surge, fire, or water damage. Most of these cases are recoverable, particularly the water damage and power surge cases.
Someone Made a mistake
There are several types of human error that result in data loss. Occasionally, when a person attempts to increase the size of an array or swap out smaller drives for larger ones, they may not fully comprehend what they are doing and end up making a mistake. Because the physical array is either unavailable or inaccurate when viewed through the lens of the old data regime, this can give the impression that the revised RAID configuration is corrupted. In these cases, everything—original drives as well as any recently installed new equipment—must be sent in. Usually, we can unravel everything and solve the riddle.
An Error While Rebuilding RAID
When a disk dies and is replaced, the device initiates a rebuild procedure, which is another somewhat regular scenario. A failed drive during that operation could cause confusion in the array, as could a power outage during that phase. All of these, including any drives you removed for decommissioning, must be sent in. We can usually retrieve these.
Firmware Update Failure or Data Loss Following It
Although rare, this syndrome does occasionally occur. Occasionally, while an administrator is patching the firmware—a recommended practice in terms of digital security—a sudden power outage or a failed drive interrupts the update process, resulting in a brief loss of data. This prevents you from taking advantage of any new features of DiskStation Manager or new RAID configurations. In these cases, we can locate and retrieve the data virtually always.
While the drives function OK, the Synology NAS itself failed.
Additionally, this is rather uncommon. Because they don't have any mechanical parts, NAS systems are less prone to errors than hard drives and typically outlast them by decades. In these circumstances, we can certainly retrieve the data for you; however, it could be worthwhile to give Synology Support a call to see if they can assist you in locating a suitable replacement chassis that won't compromise the data.
Which Type of Synology NAS Storage Array Do You Own?
Depending on how the NAS is set up, Synology NAS data storage offers multiple RAID configurations. If the disks have failed, you will need to know the configuration details of your NAS array in order to do a full NAS recovery. Not even RAID configuration exists for some Synology volumes. You must never attempt to guess the RAID settings of your Synology NAS.
The following configurations for your Synology NAS array's format are possible:
RAID-0 drives: these are typically two disks that offer faster access than a standard disk and are typically used in entry-level or low-end NAS arrays.
RAID-1 disks are two drives that are clones of one another, meaning that if one fails, the other will still function as backup.
Multiple disks with sufficient redundancy to enable data recovery in the event of a disk failure are known as RAID-5 disks. They offer rapidly accessible data.
Disks in a RAID-6 configuration give higher redundancy than even RAID 5 disks and offer quick access to data. If two disks die, you can still restore your data.
SHR — offers quick data access. There is sufficient redundancy if there are two or three drives to recover from a single drive failure. One or two failing drives can have data recovered from them if there are more than four drives.
One drive, no redundancy, is BASIC.
JBOD refers to the function of several linked disks operating as a single volume. Not a backup plan in case of an outage.
RAID-10 disks: no matter how many of the original disks fail, there will always be a backup thanks to these many disks that offer quick access and cloning.
While it's possible to do a RAID repair or regain some device functionalities by visiting the Synology device administrator website and downloading software or online services, there are sadly no guarantees when using this method.
Failures of NAS arrays can be caused by issues with the enclosure that stores and manages the drives or the disks themselves. It happens to be one of the hard drives in various arrays, including RAID 5, RAID 6, SHR, or RAID 10, but your data remains accessible as usual. A "degraded" array is what this is. It is imperative to replace the defective disk as quickly as possible because if a second or third disk fails, the NAS would fail totally.
Expertise in Synology NAS Data Recovery
If you require data recovery from a Synology NAS, you should hire recovery specialists rather than using a software program. BLR Tools offer quick, reasonably priced, and amiable Synology NAS data recovery services. We assure that using our professional services won't put you in financial danger. You do not pay if we are unable to recover your data. Clearly. In addition to providing free inbound shipping, we also give free evaluations in our cleanroom lab. In this manner, you may be certain that we won't squander your time or money and that we can retrieve your data.
To make sure your devices sustain no more harm, our NAS recovery software operates in an ISO-5 Class 100 certified cleanroom with specialized data recovery software. You can trust us to handle your data with the highest care and discretion because we have SOC 2 Type II audited data recovery facilities. Your data can be restored by BLR's data recovery software and put back on a fresh USB device or disk. Get a quote and schedule a free assessment with our engineers by getting in touch with us right now.
Also Read : Exploring the Latest Feature for Bitlocker Drive Encryption in BLR Tools
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