How to recover data from a damaged RAID 5?Process by Recoveo

A 16-disk RAID 5 destroyed by fire at a Senegalese farming company: 1 disk initially failed, 1 degraded (-100GB), melted printed circuit boards (PCBs). Recoveo recovers 11TB/16TB (92% raw data) including split Virtual Machine (VM) + priority database in 5 days. Discover our proven recovery process.

Critical context: RAID 5 victim of fire causing multiple failures

Last month, the Senegal-based company contacted us. A 16-disk Dell RAID 5 (Seagate manufactured – Model: ST1000NX0453) suffered severe fire damage. Initial physical media assessment revealed:

• Disk 1: Failed before intervention
• Disk 2: Full duplication successful
• Disk 0: Re-accessed via firmware reprogramming
• Disk 12: Transport degradation (-100GB missing) + surface scratches
• Multiple disks: Degraded PCBs (replaced)

Target volume: 16TB requested → 11TB actually used (92% recovered)

Identified Technical Risks (RAID 5 Tolerance Limit)

Emergency: Critical database in split VM (chunks missing within the 100GB gap).

Recoveo Process: 5 Critical Steps (5 Days Total)

1. Priority Cloning of Unstable Disks: Disks 0/2/12 cloned to Recoveo media (PCBs replaced)
2. Logical RAID 5 Reconstruction: Sector-by-sector scan, XOR reconstruction
3. 11TB Extraction: 92% raw data accessible (CAD files, office documents)
4. Split VM Reassembly: Chunks recomposed despite 100GB missing
5. Database Recovery: VM extracted to dedicated disk containing client priority DB. Non-functional DB processed has been repared, achieving:
   • Partial database recovery (inevitably impacted by 100GB gap – total loss before intervention)
   • 92% raw data (excluding VM/DB)
   • Large portion of client priorities

Result: Client received VMs + priority DB for self-repair (operational urgency).

Key Takeaways from This Success Story:

Challenge	Recoveo Solution	Result
Melted PCBs	PCB replacement + firmware reprogramming	Disk 0 accessible
Disk 12 scratches	Sector-by-sector cloning	85% recovered
Split VM	Logical chunk reconstruction	Structure intact
Truncated DB	SQL Repair	Partial recovery (100GB impact)
-100GB critical	Partial RAID reconstruction	92% raw data

Facing Degraded RAID 5, Inaccessible Database or VM?

Contact Our Teams

Recoveo, the French leader in data recovery since 2001, excels in recovering all types of degraded media

RAID arrays, servers, NAS, hard drives, encrypted, corrupted or deleted VMs, hypervisors (VMware ESXi, vSphere ESXi Embedded, VMware vSphere Hypervisor, Microsoft Hyper‑V, VMware Workstation Pro, VMware Workstation Player, Oracle VM VirtualBox, Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, Microsoft Virtual PC, etc.), databases (Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SharePoint, etc.), backups (Veeam .vbk, .vib, .vrb / Acronis .tibx, .tib, etc.), as well as office files, CAD/CAE, DTP, video, email and compressed archives (DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, Access, Publisher, Project, Works, OpenOffice / LibreOffice, PSD, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PNG, AutoCAD, Catia, SolidWorks, Inventor, Siemens NX, MP4, MOV, MPEG, MJPEG, MTS, AVI, MKV, WMV, FLV, DIVX, 3GP, AVCHD, MTS, M4V, M2TS, FLV, MXF, INSV, OST, Gzip, ZIP, RAR, 7z, Microsoft Outlook PST, Exchange, Outlook Express, Windows Mail / Vista Mail, Thunderbird, etc.).