How to Restore Deleted Files from Network Attached Storage

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 LaCie also introduce some modifications to this process, and that is why data can be written to hard disk in a wide variety of ways.

Can the use of specific data compression or deduplication techniques impact the performance and data integrity on NAS LaCie 12big Thunderbolt 3 (STFJ48000400 / STFJ72000400 / STFJ96000400 / STFJ120000400 / STFJ168000400) devices?

The use of specific data compression or deduplication techniques can potentially impact the performance and data integrity on NAS LaCie 12big Thunderbolt 3 devices.

Data compression techniques aim to reduce the size of data by encoding it in a more efficient way. While this can save storage space, it can also introduce additional processing overhead when compressing and decompressing the data. This overhead can potentially impact the performance of the NAS device, especially during read and write operations.

Deduplication techniques, on the other hand, identify and eliminate duplicate copies of data, saving storage space by storing only unique data blocks. While deduplication can be beneficial in terms of storage efficiency, it can also introduce additional processing overhead when determining and managing duplicate data blocks. This overhead can impact the performance of the NAS device, particularly during write operations.

Additionally, it's important to consider the specific implementation and capabilities of the NAS device itself. Some NAS devices have built-in hardware acceleration for compression or deduplication, which can minimize the impact on performance. However, if the NAS device does not have dedicated hardware for these tasks, the performance impact may be more noticeable.

Regarding data integrity, it's crucial to ensure that the compression or deduplication techniques used are reliable and do not introduce any data corruption or loss. Implementations with poor error handling or inadequate redundancy can potentially compromise data integrity.

Therefore, it is recommended to carefully evaluate the specific compression or deduplication techniques, consider the performance impact, and ensure data integrity measures are in place before implementing them on NAS LaCie 12big Thunderbolt 3 devices.

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

Although NAS 12big Thunderbolt 3 (STFJ48000400 / STFJ72000400 / STFJ96000400 / STFJ120000400 / STFJ168000400) 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 LaCie 12big Thunderbolt 3 (STFJ48000400 / STFJ72000400 / STFJ96000400 / STFJ120000400 / STFJ168000400). 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 LaCie

12big Thunderbolt 3 (STFJ48000400 / STFJ72000400 / STFJ96000400 / STFJ120000400 / STFJ168000400) has 12 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 LaCie 12big Thunderbolt 3 (STFJ48000400 / STFJ72000400 / STFJ96000400 / STFJ120000400 / STFJ168000400) network-attached storage keeps LaCie NAS OS 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