NAS Digiever DS-8249-SRM Pro+ Data Recovery Techniques: RAID Array Focus

Contents

• Why can’t ordinary software tools restore files from RAID?
• How to take hard disks out of the NAS and connect them to a PC?
  • Restoring data with Hetman RAID Recovery
  • Safe recovery from disk images
  • Where are user’s files stored?
  • Comparison of software for RAID recovery

Why can’t ordinary software tools restore files from RAID?

Conventional hard disks keep user’s data by writing it to their surface in a consecutive way, and this is how an entire file is stored on a single hard disk. However, when data is written to a RAID system, a file is divided into several parts. Then these parts are written consecutively to all hard disks within such array. The size of such parts may range from 2 KB to 2 MB, so each file is stored on several hard disks at the same time.

Such approach helps to speed up read and write operations, and it is evident that saving two parts of a file having the size of 1 GB to two hard disks simultaneously is much faster than saving the same 1 GB of data to one hard disk. However, this peculiarity makes file recovery more complicated.

Various RAID levels store information in different ways. Additionally, manufacturers like Digiever also introduce some modifications to this process, and that is why data can be written to hard disk in a wide variety of ways.

How can data redundancy techniques such as mirroring or replication enhance data availability and protect against loss on NAS Digiever DS-8249-SRM Pro+ devices?

Data redundancy techniques such as mirroring or replication can enhance data availability and protect against loss on NAS Digiever DS-8249-SRM Pro+ devices in the following ways:

1. Mirroring: Mirroring involves creating an exact copy of data on multiple storage devices simultaneously. In the case of Digiever DS-8249-SRM Pro+, you can configure RAID 1 or RAID 10 to mirror data across multiple hard drives. This ensures that if one drive fails, the mirrored drive(s) will have a duplicate copy of the data, ensuring high availability and protection against data loss.
2. Replication: Replication involves creating and maintaining multiple copies of data across different NAS devices or locations. Digiever DS-8249-SRM Pro+ supports remote replication, allowing you to replicate data to another NAS device in a different physical location. This protects against data loss due to disasters, theft, or other local issues. In case one NAS device becomes unavailable, the replicated data on the remote device can be accessed, ensuring continuous availability.
3. High availability clustering: Digiever DS-8249-SRM Pro+ supports high availability clustering, where multiple NAS devices are connected together to act as a single logical unit. This clustering ensures that if one device fails, another device takes over seamlessly, minimizing downtime and ensuring uninterrupted access to data.
4. Snapshot and backup: Digiever DS-8249-SRM Pro+ allows you to take snapshots of your data at regular intervals. Snapshots capture the state of the data at a particular point in time and can be used to restore data in case of accidental deletion, corruption, or other data loss events. Additionally, it is crucial to regularly back up your data to an external storage device or cloud storage to protect against catastrophic events or hardware failures.

By implementing these data redundancy techniques, Digiever DS-8249-SRM Pro+ devices can significantly enhance data availability, protect against data loss, and ensure uninterrupted access to critical data.

How to take hard disks out of the NAS and connect them to a PC?

Although NAS DS-8249-SRM Pro+ can be accessed over the network, you still need to take the hard disks out of the storage device and connect them to a Windows computer. Only in this case will the software be able to scan them properly. Here is what you should do:

1. Turn off the storage and disconnect it from the power supply.

   WARNING! Before you start taking hard disks out of your NAS device, read the manual carefully. Incorrect actions may damage your network-attached storage and/or the hard disks within the RAID system.

2. Take the hard disks out of the NAS one by one, carefully removing them from their slots. Remember that the disks are extremely vulnerable: hitting or dropping them may result in serious physical damage.

3. Make sure to mark each hard disk in accordance with how they were installed inside the NAS.

4. Remove the hard disks and connect them to the computer. In this video, we have explored what ports are used to connect hard disks, and what to do if there are not enough ports or connectors.

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   How to Order Remote Data Recovery

Restoring data with Hetman RAID Recovery

This program recovers data from damaged RAID arrays and is fully compatible with Digiever DS-8249-SRM Pro+. The hard disks that make up the RAID contain technical information about the algorithm used to save files. When launched, Hetman RAID Recovery reads this information and puts the damaged array together. Then you can open the disk and save your files. Also, you can recover the files accidentally deleted from the network drive.

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How to recover data from a Digiever

DS-8249-SRM Pro+ has 8 HDD slots, and it supports the following array types:

• RAID 0;
• RAID 1;
• RAID 5;
• RAID 6;
• RAID 50;
• RAID 60;
• JBOD;

NAS supports:

• exFAT, VFAT, FAT 12 / 16 / 32;
• NTFS / ReFS;
• APFS / HFS+;
• Ext2 / 3 / 4 / ReiserFS / XFS / UFS / ZFS / Btrfs;
• VMFS / HikvisionFS;

Safe recovery from disk images

This utility lets you save an entire copy of the disk to file and then work with this image instead of the actual disk. Such feature helps to protect data on the disk from:

• Overwriting during the recovery process;
• Loss resulting from bad sectors;
• User mistakes.

To create an image, do the following:

1. Make sure that you have enough free space to save the image. The image file size usually equals the disk size.

2. Select the disk in the main window, and choose from the menu Tools – Save Disk. You can select multiple disks to be saved.

3. When the image creation wizard starts, you can choose to save the entire disk or select only a part of it. Specify the parameters and click Next.

   

4. At this stage, you need to choose a directory where to save the image. Choose any disk connected to this PC, or save the image by FTP.

   

Where are user’s files stored?

The Digiever DS-8249-SRM Pro+ network-attached storage keeps OS Linux operating system files on a separate RAID 1 (mirrored) array. Usually, all NAS systems create several volumes on every hard disk, and the first of them takes up to 2 Gb of space. This is where operating system files are stored. Other volumes are united into a RAID array where user’s data is written.

Comparison of software for RAID recovery