NAS and DAS Data Recovery Services

For further information on Network Attached Storage (NAS) and RAID array data recovery please visit our dedicated website.

NAS devices have become popular in both home and business settings. NAS devices allow multiple users to connect and share files on a single device over a network interface. In the home environment, they tend to be used for media streaming to multiple devices, including televisions. For business, they are frequently used as a method to share files with staff members, without the investment in a dedicated server.

We recover data from all NAS devices including those manufactured by:

Filesystems Used

Most NAS devices run a customised Linux operating system, using Ext2/Ext3/Ext4, ReiserFS or XFS filesystem. Recovery of NAS devices requires a good understanding of filesystem structures. This is because the method in which the folder and file name structure is generated (inode data structure), is more complex than the method employed in Windows and Apple OSX environments.

RAID Data Recovery

Many larger NAS devices are set up as RAID volumes, where data is distributed across multiple disks. If you have had a RAID failure in your NAS then please do not attempt to remove a single disk from the unit. Your data will not be accessible from it. Any new data written to the disk can cause the RAID array to degrade and cause unrecoverable data loss. This is particularly important for RAID 0 and RAID 5 configurations.

NAS Failures

The typical failures in NAS drives related to filesystem corruption, degraded media and PCB failure. Degraded media is particularly common. Often the initial signs of disk failure go unnoticed in NAS devices as the unit is stored out of sight in the home or office environment. Consequently, the warning LEDs which indicate the initial failure are not seen. NAS devices support high capacity hard disk drives. We rarely see a NAS device with a storage capacity of 500GB or lower. The majority of modern NAS devices use a multiple disk RAID configuration for increased reliability.  For detailed information about hard disk drives please see our “How do HDDs work?” page.

All data recovery work undertaken by CDR is on a free diagnosis and a “No-recovery, “No-fee” policy