RAID recovery

After about twenty years, I felt ZAR can no longer be updated to match the modern requirements, and I decided to retire it.

ZAR is replaced by Klennet Recovery, my new general-purpose DIY data recovery software.

If you are looking specifically for recovery of image files (like JPEG, CR2, and NEF), take a look at Klennet Carver, a separate video and photo recovery software.

RAID recovery is the process of data recovery from a RAID array which failed for whatever reason, may it be a controller problem, member hard drive failure, or something else.

RAID recovery boils down to reconstruction of the RAID parameters and subsequent data recovery. ZAR RAID recovery is a powerful tool which can successfully determine RAID parameters and recover data from various RAID types.

RAID recovery tutorial below describes the procedure used for RAID0 recovery and RAID5 recovery if

• the controller failed and the array parameters are lost
• Windows software-based RAID configuration data is damaged

Important: take care to avoid running the RAID recovery on the system with imperfect hardware.

• If the RAID crashed due to the hardware problem, make sure the problem is corrected before attempting the RAID recovery.
• If the source of the problem is uncertain, make sure at least the system memory (RAM) is checked.

Download and install ZAR RAID recovery software just like you do with any regular program.
When you run it, ZAR displays the window like the one below:

1. Click "RAID Recovery"

2. Select all the disks that were members of the RAID
   • If case of RAID5 recovery with one of the member disks missing, select all the available drives. ZAR RAID recovery software will reconstruct the missing data automatically.
   • The order of disks is reconstructed automatically, you cannot specify it here.
3. Select the RAID layout (also called "RAID level").
4. Click "Next" to start the RAID reconstruction.

This part is fully automatic. It is likely for a RAID reconstruction to complete before the progress bar reaches 100%. In an extreme case, the RAID recovery may be done in under 10 minutes. This is the expected behavior.

5. Select the partition on the array you need to recover. Use "More functions..." button and run a partition recovery if required.
6. Click "Next"

This part is fully automatic.

7. Mark files and folders to recover by clicking their corresponding checkboxes
8. Click "Next"

9. Enter the name of the folder for the recovered files
10. Click "Start copying" to start file retrieval