Professional Tips for Recovering Data from a Failed NAS Promise VSky s420 RAID Array

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 Promise 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 regular disk health monitoring and analysis help in preventing potential data loss on NAS Promise VSky s420 devices?

Regular disk health monitoring and analysis can help in preventing potential data loss on NAS Promise VSky s420 devices by:

1. Early detection of disk failures: Disk health monitoring tools can constantly monitor the health and performance of individual disks in the NAS device. By regularly checking the SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) data of the disks, any signs of potential failures or degradation can be identified early on. This allows for proactive actions to be taken, such as replacing the failing disk before it completely fails and causes data loss.
2. Predictive analysis: Disk health monitoring tools often provide predictive analysis capabilities. They can analyze the historical performance data of the disks and identify patterns or indicators that may lead to potential failures. By using this predictive analysis, administrators can take preventive measures, such as migrating data from a disk showing signs of degradation to a healthier disk, reducing the risk of data loss.
3. RAID monitoring: NAS devices like Promise VSky s420 often use RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) configurations for data redundancy and protection. Disk health monitoring tools can monitor the status of the RAID arrays, ensuring that all disks are functioning properly and the redundancy is maintained. If a disk fails or shows signs of failure, the monitoring tool can alert the administrator to take immediate action, such as replacing the failed disk and rebuilding the RAID array to avoid data loss.
4. Proactive maintenance and replacement: Regular disk health monitoring allows administrators to identify disks that are nearing their end of life or have a higher probability of failure. By proactively replacing these disks before they fail, the risk of data loss is significantly reduced. Monitoring tools can provide alerts and notifications when disks reach certain thresholds or exhibit abnormal behavior, enabling administrators to plan and schedule maintenance activities.
5. Performance optimization: Disk health monitoring and analysis can also help optimize the performance of the NAS device. By monitoring the performance metrics of individual disks, administrators can identify bottlenecks or underperforming disks and take corrective actions. This can involve redistributing data across disks, optimizing RAID configurations, or upgrading disks to higher-capacity or faster models. Improved performance reduces the chances of data loss due to slow or unresponsive disks.

In summary, regular disk health monitoring and analysis on NAS Promise VSky s420 devices can help prevent potential data loss by detecting disk failures early, predicting failures, monitoring RAID arrays, facilitating proactive maintenance and replacement, and optimizing performance.

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

Although NAS VSky s420 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 Promise VSky s420. 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 Promise

VSky s420 has 37 HDD slots, and it supports the following array types:

• RAID 0;
• RAID 1;
• RAID 1E;
• RAID 3;
• RAID 5;
• RAID 6;
• RAID 30;
• 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 Promise VSky s420 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