How to recover data from Qsan XCubeNAS XN3004R NAS

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 Qsan 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 does a NAS Qsan XCubeNAS XN3004R device store and manage data?

The NAS Qsan XCubeNAS XN3004R device stores and manages data through a combination of hardware and software components.

1. Storage Drives: The device typically includes multiple hard disk drives or solid-state drives, which provide the primary storage capacity for data. These drives are organized into a storage pool or RAID configuration to enhance data protection and performance.
2. RAID Configuration: The XCubeNAS XN3004R supports various RAID configurations such as RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and JBOD. These configurations determine how data is distributed and protected across the drives.
3. File System: The device utilizes a file system, such as Btrfs or ZFS, to organize and manage the stored data. These file systems offer advanced features like data deduplication, snapshotting, and data integrity checks.
4. Network Connectivity: The NAS device is connected to a network, allowing users to access and manage data remotely. It supports various network protocols like SMB/CIFS, NFS, FTP, and iSCSI, enabling seamless file sharing and storage access across different devices and platforms.
5. Data Management Software: The XCubeNAS XN3004R comes with built-in software that provides management capabilities. This software allows users to create and manage user accounts, set access permissions, create shared folders, and configure backup and synchronization options.
6. Data Protection: The device offers data protection mechanisms such as RAID redundancy, snapshotting, and backup options. These ensure that data remains safe and can be restored in case of accidental deletion, hardware failure, or other data loss scenarios.
7. Additional Features: The NAS device may offer additional features like data deduplication, compression, encryption, and remote replication. These features help optimize storage capacity, enhance data security, and facilitate data replication to other NAS devices or cloud storage.

Overall, the NAS Qsan XCubeNAS XN3004R device combines hardware components, storage configurations, file systems, and management software to efficiently store and manage data for users and organizations.

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

Although NAS XCubeNAS XN3004R 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.

Restoring data with Hetman RAID Recovery

This program recovers data from damaged RAID arrays and is fully compatible with Qsan XCubeNAS XN3004R. 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.

XCubeNAS XN3004R has 4 HDD slots, and it supports the following array types:

• RAID 0;
• RAID 1;
• RAID 5;
• RAID 6;
• 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 Qsan XCubeNAS XN3004R network-attached storage keeps SANOS 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