Taking work now — the first look is freeWhole sets posted in from anywhere in the UK, or handed in at ten drop-off pointsQuicker still, give us a ring:0800 6890668
RARRAID Array Data Recovery 0800 6890668 Price my job
RAR / Servers and virtualisation / Server data recovery

PowerEdge · ProLiant · ThinkSystem · Supermicro · Windows Server · NTFS · ReFS · ext4 · XFS · LVM · SQL Server · Exchange

Server data recovery. A server is an array with an operating system and a database on top; each layer is recovered in turn.

Most small and mid-sized servers are a hardware RAID set, a PERC in a PowerEdge, a Smart Array in a ProLiant, a MegaRAID in a ThinkSystem or a Supermicro, with Windows Server or Linux on top and the things the business runs on inside: SQL Server, Exchange, a line-of-business application, shared folders, or a hypervisor. When the set fails, through a second member dropping during a rebuild, a controller that lost its configuration, a cleared or foreign set, or plain age, the operating system and everything above it goes dark together. The controller's own remedies are the danger: a rebuild reads every survivor end to end, an import of a foreign configuration can start a rebuild from the wrong member, and an initialise writes zeros. We recover servers from the bottom: every member imaged, the set reassembled in software, the volume repaired on the virtual copy, NTFS or ReFS on Windows, ext4 or XFS under LVM on Linux, and the databases opened and checked for consistency before anything is listed. The files and databases come back on new media; the server itself stays with you. A set of two to four members is £500 + VAT upwards; larger sets, SAS shelves and storage arrays start at £1,250 + VAT.

Free first lookOne fixed figure in writingNo data, no bill on most jobsReturn postage paid

Rather talk it through? An engineer answers the bench line
0800 6890668

Power down. Label every slot before a drive comes out. Do not rebuild, do not force a drive online, do not import or clear a foreign configuration, do not initialise, and do not run chkdsk, fsck, zpool import -F or mdadm --create on the members. A rebuild reads every sector of every survivor and writes to the replacement; each of the commands writes to the drives. On images, all of them are reversible. On the originals, none of them is.

Server symptoms, and how long each gives you.

Not listed? Describe it on the form →
The server will not boot; the controller reports the virtual disk failed or offlineMembers lost beyond the level's tolerance, or the configuration gone; the data is on the membersDo not delay
A rebuild is running after a drive failureEvery survivor is being read end to end; a second weak member fails the setDo not delay
The controller shows the drives foreign, or offers to import a configurationThe members' metadata no longer matches the controller's; an import can rebuild from the wrong memberDo not delay
Windows reports the volume raw, or Linux cannot mount the file systemThe set reassembled wrongly, or the file system's metadata is damagedDo not delay
SQL Server or Exchange reports the database suspect or dirtyThe database was in flight when the storage failed; it is checked on the recovered copyEveryday job
The controller's cache battery or module has failed and the volume is inconsistentWrites held in cache were lost; the file system is slightly behind itselfEveryday job
Packing it and posting it: power down, photograph the controller's screen or export its log, and write the slot number on each drive with a marker before it comes out of its carrier. Send every member of the set, including the one that failed first; it holds the stripes the rebuild never reached. Each drive travels in an anti-static bag inside its own padding, in a box with nothing able to move. Send the controller if it was replaced or holds an encryption key; otherwise it stays. Insure the parcel for what the data is worth, use a tracked service, and know that the posting address is not printed anywhere on this site; it arrives by email in reply to the form, with a booking sheet to print; the sheet inside the parcel is what matches it to your enquiry when it is opened. Or hand the sealed parcel in at the nearest of ten drop-off points, your name on the outside and the sheet inside; say where you are on the form and it comes by email. We pay the postage home either way. The whole of it is written up on the guide to packing and posting.

What a server recovery involves beyond the array.

Windows Server volumesNTFS is repaired on the virtual copy with its master file table, log and journal read directly. ReFS, which has no chkdsk and discards what it cannot verify, is read by its structures from the image rather than mounted. Storage Spaces pools are reassembled from the maps on each drive.
Linux volumesext4 and XFS are repaired on the copy from their superblocks, journals and allocation structures; LVM volumes are reassembled from their metadata before the file systems inside them are touched; mdadm sets are rebuilt from the superblocks on each member.
DatabasesA database that was writing when the storage failed is a database behind itself. SQL Server data and log files, Exchange databases and their logs, and other database engines are opened on the recovered copy and checked for consistency, and brought to a clean state where the logs allow.
Applications and sharesLine-of-business applications, accounts packages and shared folders are checked file by file against what the system expects, and what was recovered is listed before any bill exists.

What the message means on the server.

Describe yours to us →
What you see The usual reason Where that leaves you
Virtual disk failed or offlineMembers lost beyond tolerance, or configuration goneImaged, reassembled in software from the members
Foreign configuration foundMembers' metadata no longer matches the controller'sRead from the members; nothing imported
Volume raw, or file system will not mountWrong reassembly, or file-system metadata damagedGeometry recovered; file system repaired on the copy
Database suspect, dirty shutdownDatabase behind its log at the moment of failureChecked and brought consistent on the recovered copy
Cache battery failed; data inconsistentCached writes lostFile system repaired on the copy; the gap documented

From the parcel arriving to your files going back.

Work we have closed →
01

Logged the day it lands, and the first look costs nothing Free

A case number goes on the parcel and a number on every member the day it is opened, matched to the slot you wrote on it. Each member goes on the imager its interface needs, never on a controller, and its metadata is read before a sector is: the level, the order, the stripe size, the event counts that say which member is current and which dropped out first. An engineer settles what has happened to the set and how much of it can honestly be read back. Back to you come two things together: a straight note of what is liftable and what is not, plus one figure, fixed and written down. Accept it, or decline and owe us nothing.

Nothing to pay for lookingA single figure, put in writingNo rebuilds, no imports, no initialise
02

Every member imaged, including the one that failed first

Every drive in the set is imaged sector by sector, weak areas last, on hardware that controls every retry, with a map of what could not be read kept for each. Members with failed heads go to the clean bench first; that is the drive site's work and the same bench does it. The drive that dropped out first is imaged too, because it still holds every stripe written before it dropped, and a rebuild that stalled part-way never reached them.

Sector by sector, weak areas lastThe first-dropped member included
03

The geometry, from the metadata or from the parity

The controller's metadata on the members gives the order, stripe size and parity rotation; where it was cleared or the controller lost it, they are recovered from the data. On the reassembled virtual volume the file system is repaired on a copy, NTFS and ReFS on Windows, ext4 or XFS under LVM on Linux, and the databases and applications inside opened and checked for consistency.

Metadata first, parity secondOrder, stripe, rotation, offset
04

Assembled in software, and repaired on the virtual volume

The set is put together from the images in software, with nothing written to any of them: the current members in, the stale member used only to fill holes a survivor could not give. The file system is checked and repaired on a copy of the virtual volume, VMFS and CSV volumes opened and the virtual machines' disks extracted, databases repaired where they need it. The originals are not touched again.

Nothing written to the imagesVirtual machines and databases opened
05

You see the file list before you pay

What was recovered is listed for you first, and only then does a bill exist. Approve the list and it is invoiced; turn it down and it is not — and where nothing has come back, most jobs carry no charge at all. Recovered data travels home on fresh media bought in for your job, with the postage at our end. Your case is not closed until you have opened the files on a machine of your own.

No charge until you accept the figureFresh media, supplied with the job5–10 days at the bench

From the bench

  • Do not import a foreign configuration on a set that matters; the controller may rebuild from the wrong member, and the data goes with it.
  • A failed cache battery leaves the file system behind itself. Tell us; the gap is small and documented, and chkdsk is not the answer.
  • Tell us what the server ran. A SQL Server or Exchange database is checked and brought consistent on the recovered copy before it is listed.

Two to four members covers most small-business servers, a mirror or a RAID 5 of three or four, and that is the £500 + VAT band.

One job, followed all the way through.

UK · RAR-2026-0683JOB LOGGED ✓

A PowerEdge T440 running Windows Server 2019 and SQL Server for a distributor's stock system, PERC H730P, RAID 5 of four, the virtual disk offline after a second drive dropped during a rebuild

Five drives came in, the four members and the replacement. The first-dropped member had failed heads and was imaged after a head swap; the second had bad sectors and was imaged with its weak areas last. The DDF metadata gave the order and stripe, the set reassembled in software, and the NTFS volume was repaired on the copy. The SQL Server data and log files were recovered and the database brought to a consistent state on the copy, two hours of transactions behind the failure. The stock system and the shares went back on new drives.

100% of the volume recovered7 days here, and back by courier
Illustrative example — replace with a genuine case

What helps, and what harms.

Do this much first

  • Power the server down and leave it down
  • Label every drive by slot
  • Note the controller, the level and what the server ran
  • Send every member, including the replacement

What sets us back

  • Starting or continuing a rebuild
  • Importing a foreign configuration
  • Running chkdsk or fsck on a raw volume
  • Initialising or re-creating the virtual disk

Questions answered before you commit.

Do I send the whole server?

The drives, every member of the set including the one that failed first and any replacement, labelled by slot. The chassis and controller stay with you; we read the controller's configuration from the members themselves. Tell us the controller model, the level and what the server ran.

Will the databases work afterwards?

They are opened and checked on the recovered copy and brought to a consistent state where their logs allow, and the result is reported honestly: how far behind the failure the database is, if at all. A SQL Server or Exchange database is not listed as recovered until it attaches cleanly.

The controller offers to import a foreign configuration. Should I?

Not on a server whose data matters. The import can start a rebuild from the wrong member, and that is the commonest way a recoverable set becomes a lost one. Power down and send the members; we read the configuration from them.

Can you recover a Linux server?

Yes: mdadm and hardware sets alike, LVM reassembled from its metadata, and ext4 or XFS repaired on the copy. Tell us the distribution and the layout if you know it.

What does it cost?

A set of two to four members is £500 + VAT upwards; larger sets, SAS shelves and storage arrays start at £1,250 + VAT. The first look is free, the figure is given in writing, and on most jobs an invoice only follows the data.

Begin here if yours is doing the same thing.

Dell PERC →HPE Smart Array →RAID 5 data recovery →VMware data recovery →Hyper-V data recovery →

Nothing gets worse while it is powered down.

Looking at it is free. Back comes a list of what opened and what did not, together with a single price to finish, set down in writing while you are still free to say no. On most jobs an invoice only follows the data. Until then, power the host down, label every drive, and rebuild nothing.

0800 6890668

Price my jobPacking and posting