Recovery from encrypted storage requires the correct password, recovery key, encryption key, certificate and private key, keyfile, or other valid decryption credentials. RAID Recovery™ can find deleted or lost encrypted volumes and recover deleted files and folders from supported encrypted storage, but valid credentials are still required to decrypt protected data. The software is designed for data recovery from encrypted storage, not to bypass or crack encryption.
RAID Recovery Software for NAS and Server Storage
Recover files from inaccessible hardware and software RAID arrays, NAS and DAS devices, and server storage after disk failure, controller damage, accidental rebuild, formatting, or metadata corruption.
Hetman RAID Recovery™ 3.1
The program analyzes RAID metadata stored on the member disks to determine the original array configuration, including disk order, stripe size, offsets, parity layout, and controller-specific parameters.
Detected arrays are reconstructed automatically and displayed as logical volumes ready for analysis. If the metadata is missing, damaged, or insufficient, the integrated RAID Constructor lets you define the array configuration manually or select a preset for a common RAID controller, NAS device, or storage system.
The reconstruction is performed virtually without modifying the source disks. The software can be downloaded and tested for free: scan the reconstructed volume, browse the detected files and folders, and preview recoverable files before purchasing a license to evaluate their condition and recovery quality. After activation, save the recovered data to another drive.
Follow this step-by-step example to learn how to identify or configure a RAID array, scan the reconstructed volume, preview recoverable files, and save the recovered data to another drive.
RAID Recovery™ can reconstruct hardware and software RAID arrays, NAS and DAS storage, and recover files when the original system no longer detects, mounts, or reads the volume. Recovery results depend on the RAID level, the number and condition of the available drives, and whether the lost data has been overwritten.
A RAID array may become degraded or inaccessible after one or more drives fail, disappear, or develop read errors. RAID Recovery™ can use the remaining disks, mirrors, and available parity data to reconstruct the array virtually and recover accessible files.
A failed RAID controller, NAS enclosure, motherboard, or server may leave the disks intact while making the array inaccessible through the original system. The member drives can be connected to another computer and reconstructed independently of the failed hardware.
RAID configuration metadata may be damaged by firmware errors, interrupted writes, power failures, or corrupted service areas. The program can analyze the metadata that remains on the member disks or reconstruct the array manually when automatic detection is incomplete.
Starting a rebuild with the wrong replacement drive, initializing the array, reconnecting disks in the wrong order, or applying incorrect RAID parameters can make the volume inaccessible. RAID Recovery™ can test the original layout and reconstruct the array without writing changes back to the source disks.
Files, folders, partitions, or entire RAID volumes may be deleted accidentally while the underlying data remains on the disks. The program scans the reconstructed array to locate surviving file system records and recover data that has not been overwritten.
Quick formatting, unsafe shutdowns, interrupted writes, controller errors, or power failures can damage the file system and prevent the volume from mounting. RAID Recovery™ analyzes the reconstructed storage and searches for files even when the original directory structure is partially damaged.
Software-defined storage may become unavailable after an operating system crash, failed update, boot error, or loss of configuration. RAID Recovery™ can reconstruct Windows Storage Spaces, Linux MD RAID, LVM, and other supported software RAID technologies independently of the original operating system.
Unreadable sectors can interrupt a normal RAID rebuild and place additional stress on the remaining drives. Create images of unstable disks first, then use those images to reconstruct and scan the array while minimizing repeated access to failing hardware.
Moving member disks to a different RAID controller, NAS, server, motherboard, or operating system may leave a valid array unrecognized because RAID formats and configuration parameters differ. The program can reconstruct the original layout independently of the replacement hardware.
RAID Recovery™ combines RAID reconstruction with direct access to physical, remote, virtual, encrypted, and image-based storage. The program identifies storage configurations, reconstructs arrays, accesses snapshots and advanced file system structures, unlocks supported encrypted volumes when valid credentials are available, and recovers files from the resulting logical storage.
Whenever a physical disk is connected, a disk image is mounted, or a remote block device is added over SSH, RAID Recovery™ accesses it as a block-level storage source.
The program automatically searches for RAID metadata on every available source and analyzes the information from all disks and images together.
What RAID Parameters Can Be Detected?
Depending on the RAID implementation and the metadata available on the member disks, the program can determine the parameters required to reconstruct the original array.
These may include the RAID level, total number of member disks, original disk order, stripe size, start offsets, block order, parity layout, parity delay, disk groups, array size, missing members, and other controller- or manufacturer-specific parameters.
Automatic RAID Reconstruction
When sufficient information is available, RAID Recovery™ reconstructs the RAID automatically without requiring the user to specify its configuration manually.
The reconstructed array appears in the program as a logical disk ready for file system analysis and data recovery. If one or more member disks are unavailable, their positions can be represented as missing members when this information can be determined from the available metadata.
Supported RAID Layouts
Automatic reconstruction is available for standard, nested, and concatenated storage configurations. Supported layouts include JBOD, linear and concatenated arrays, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 1E, RAID 4, RAID 5, RAID 5E, RAID 5EE, RAID 6, RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 01 (0+1), RAID 50, RAID 51, RAID 60, and RAID 61.
The integrated RAID Constructor can reconstruct an array when its metadata is missing, damaged, incomplete, or insufficient for automatic detection. It provides automatic configuration search, manufacturer- and platform-based search, and full manual configuration.
The reconstructed result of each candidate configuration can be previewed before it is added as a virtual RAID for further file system analysis and data recovery.
Automatic Configuration Search
The program tests candidate RAID configurations for the selected member disks and examines the resulting virtual volumes for recognizable partitions, file systems, folders, and files. Promising results are presented as candidate RAID configurations for further analysis and verification.
Search by Manufacturer
Manufacturer-based search uses known RAID layouts and parameter combinations associated with specific RAID controllers, motherboard chipsets, operating systems, NAS devices, and storage platforms. Restricting the search to selected device and platform profiles reduces the number of possible combinations and helps identify the original RAID parameters faster.
Manual RAID Configuration
Manual configuration provides control over the RAID level, disk order, block order, stripe size, start offsets, parity layout, parity delay, disk groups, missing members, and other RAID-specific parameters.
A live preview helps verify the resulting virtual disk by displaying recognizable partitions, file systems, folders, and files as the configuration changes.
RAID Recovery™ recognizes and analyzes supported RAID metadata written by dedicated RAID controller cards, OEM server RAID adapters, and external storage controllers. When sufficient metadata is available, the program can automatically identify the original array configuration and reconstruct it after the member disks, disk images, or remote block devices become available.
OEM Server RAID Controllers
- Dell PERC: H330, H730, H740P, H755, H965i and related PowerEdge RAID Controller families.
- HP / HPE Smart Array: P410, P420, P440ar, P840, SR418i and related Smart Array and SR controller families.
- HPE MR: MR416i and related Broadcom MegaRAID-based HPE MR controllers.
- IBM / Lenovo ServeRAID & ThinkSystem RAID: ServeRAID M5015, M5210 and ThinkSystem RAID 530, 930 and 940 series.
- Fujitsu PRIMERGY RAID: D2516, D3116, PRAID EP400i, EP520i, EP680i and related PRIMERGY RAID controller families.
- Intel Server RAID: Intel RAID Controllers and Integrated RAID Modules, including RS25, RMS25, RS3, and RMS3 families.
- Supermicro AOC: AOC-USAS-S8iR and related Broadcom/LSI- and Marvell-based AOC RAID adapters.
- NEC: RAID controllers used in Express5800 server families.
- Oracle / Sun: Sun StorageTek and Oracle SG-SAS controller families.
RAID Controller & Storage Families
- Adaptec / Microchip: ASR series, SmartRAID 3100 and SmartRAID 3200 controller families.
- Broadcom / LSI MegaRAID: MegaRAID SAS 84016E, 9280-4i4e, and related MegaRAID 92xx, 93xx, 94xx, 95xx, and 96xx controller families.
- Areca: ARC-12xx, ARC-1883, ARC-1886 and related RAID controller families.
- 3ware / AMCC / LSI: 3ware 9650SE, 9750 and related SATA/SAS RAID controller families.
- Infortrend: EonStor and related external RAID storage systems.
- Promise Technology: FastTrak RAID controllers and Pegasus RAID storage families.
- HighPoint: RocketRAID and SSD7000 NVMe RAID families.
- Dawicontrol: DC-6xx RAID controller series.
- LSI SAS / Fusion-MPT: SAS3081E-R and related SAS1068- and SAS1068E-based Integrated RAID controllers.
RAID Recovery™ recognizes and analyzes RAID metadata created by motherboard-integrated, firmware-assisted, and host-based RAID implementations. The metadata format is determined primarily by the RAID implementation, storage controller, and firmware stack rather than by the motherboard manufacturer.
Supported Technologies
- Intel: Matrix Storage Manager, Rapid Storage Technology (RST), RSTe, and Virtual RAID on CPU (VROC).
- AMD: RAIDXpert and RAIDXpert2.
- NVIDIA: nForce / MediaShield RAID.
- Adaptec: HostRAID.
- LSI / Broadcom: Embedded MegaRAID Software RAID.
- HighPoint: HPT and Host RAID implementations.
- JMicron Host RAID: JMB363, JMB366 and related implementations.
- Marvell: 88SE9128, 88SE9230 and related RAID-capable 88SE91xx and 88SE92xx implementations.
- VIA RAID: VT6420, VT6421, VT8237, VT8251 and related implementations.
- Promise FastTrak: PDC202xx, PDC203xx, PDC205xx, PDC407xx and related controllers.
- Silicon Image Medley RAID: SiI0680, SiI3112, SiI3114, SiI3124, SiI3132, SiI3512 and related controllers.
- ITE GigaRAID: IT8212F, IT8213F and related controllers.
- ULi / ALi: RAID implementations.
- SiS: RAID implementations.
Standard RAID Metadata
The program also recognizes the SNIA Common RAID Disk Data Format (DDF), a standardized RAID metadata format used by multiple controller and storage implementations.
These RAID technologies have been used across motherboards, workstations, and server platforms from ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, ASRock, ASRock Rack, Supermicro, Tyan, Intel, Biostar, EVGA, ECS, DFI, ABIT, Foxconn, AOpen, EPoX, and many other manufacturers.
When sufficient supported metadata is available, the program automatically determines the array type, original disk order, stripe size, offsets, parity layout, and other RAID parameters.
If the metadata is missing, damaged, or insufficient for automatic detection, the RAID configuration can be reconstructed manually with the integrated RAID Constructor and verified using the live preview.
RAID Recovery™ recognizes and analyzes supported RAID metadata and layered storage structures used by commercial NAS devices, enterprise storage appliances, and software-defined storage platforms.
The program can reconstruct multiple RAID groups, storage pools, and nested storage layers that coexist on the same set of physical disks, disk images, or remote block devices.
Commercial NAS Platforms
- Synology
- QNAP
- NETGEAR ReadyNAS
- Thecus
- Buffalo
- ASUSTOR
- TerraMaster
- UGREEN NASync
- Western Digital
- Seagate
- LaCie
- Iomega / LenovoEMC
- D-Link
- Zyxel
- QSAN
- Promise
- Infortrend
- Fujitsu CELVIN
- Cisco NSS
- Intel Entry Storage System
- Shuttle OMNINAS
- TRENDnet
NAS and Software-Defined Storage Platforms
- TrueNAS Community Edition / SCALE
- TrueNAS CORE (legacy)
- OpenMediaVault
- Unraid
- Rockstor
- StarWind SAN & NAS / StarWind Virtual SAN
Some NAS and software-defined storage platforms use storage layouts that differ from conventional hardware RAID. For example, Unraid stores complete file systems on individual data disks and uses dedicated parity disks for protection, allowing the data disks to remain independently accessible.
StarWind SAN & NAS and StarWind Virtual SAN can use physical disks and supported underlying storage technologies to create software-defined storage pools. RAID Recovery™ can analyze the underlying RAID, ZFS, Linux Software RAID, file system, and other supported storage structures when block-level access to the member disks is available.
Other Linux- and BSD-based NAS or storage systems can also be analyzed when they use supported RAID, volume management, ZFS, Btrfs, and file system structures.
Many NAS platforms combine standard RAID technologies with proprietary or manufacturer-specific storage layouts. RAID Recovery™ recognizes supported manufacturer-specific storage structures, reconstructs their underlying RAID groups, and combines recognized storage layers into logical volumes for further analysis and data recovery.
QNAP
- QTS RAID groups and storage pools
- QuTS hero RAID groups and storage pools
- Triple Mirror
- RAID-TP
- RAID 50
- RAID 60
- Multiple RAID groups within one storage pool
Synology
- SHR-1
- SHR-2
- RAID F1
- RAID TP
- Multiple MD RAID groups
- LVM-based storage pools
- Multiple volumes within the same storage pool
NETGEAR ReadyNAS
- X-RAID
- X-RAID2
- Dual-redundancy X-RAID
- Flex-RAID configurations
TerraMaster
- TRAID
- TRAID+
- Mixed-capacity TRAID storage pools
Buffalo TeraStation
- Standard RAID groups
- RAID 50
- RAID 51
- RAID 60
- RAID 61
- Nested RAID 50/51/60/61 configurations
Seagate and LaCie NAS OS
- SimplyRAID
- SimplyRAID Dual
- Standard RAID groups used by NAS OS
When multiple RAID groups or valid storage configurations are detected on the same set of disks, RAID Recovery™ can reconstruct and display them as separate logical storage devices for further analysis and data recovery.
RAID Recovery™ recognizes and reconstructs software RAID, volume management, and software-defined storage structures used by Linux and Windows systems. It recognizes both individual RAID or volume-management layers and complex configurations in which several technologies are combined.
Supported structures can be analyzed from physical disks, disk images, virtual disks, or remote block devices connected over SSH.
Linux LVM
- Physical volumes and volume groups
- Linear and striped logical volumes
- Mirrored logical volumes
- LVM RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 4, RAID 5, RAID 6, and RAID 10
- Thin pools and thin logical volumes
- LVM snapshots and thin snapshots
- LVM structures layered on top of MD RAID
Linux MD RAID
- Linear arrays
- RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 4, RAID 5, RAID 6, and RAID 10
- Nested MD RAID arrays
- MD RAID arrays used as physical storage for LVM
- Multiple MD RAID groups combined into one storage system
Windows Storage Spaces
- Simple spaces
- Two-way and three-way mirror spaces
- Single- and dual-parity spaces
- Thin- and fixed-provisioned virtual disks
- Storage pools containing multiple physical disks
- Multiple virtual disks within one storage pool
Windows Dynamic Disks (Legacy)
- Simple volumes
- Spanned volumes
- Striped volumes
- Mirrored volumes
- RAID-5 volumes
- Dynamic disk groups
Windows Storage Spaces Direct
- Two-way mirror
- Three-way mirror
- Single parity
- Dual parity
- Mirror-accelerated parity
- Nested two-way mirror
- Nested mirror-accelerated parity
- Clustered Storage Spaces Direct pools
RAID Recovery™ recognizes multi-device storage layouts and logical structures created by ZFS and Btrfs, including ZFS pools, datasets, ZVOLs, and snapshots, as well as Btrfs multi-device file systems, subvolumes, and snapshots.
The program reconstructs the underlying multi-device configuration and provides access to supported logical storage structures, including data preserved in snapshots.
ZFS Storage Layouts
- Single-disk pools
- Striped pools
- Mirrors, including three-way and wider mirrors
- RAIDZ1, RAIDZ2, and RAIDZ3
- Multiple mirror or RAIDZ top-level vdevs
- dRAID1, dRAID2, and dRAID3
- dRAID with distributed spare capacity
- Pools containing multiple supported top-level vdevs
- Pools with special, log, cache, and spare devices
ZFS Datasets and Features
- ZFS file systems and datasets
- Child datasets
- ZVOL block volumes
- Snapshots
- Clones
- Compressed datasets
- Native-encrypted datasets
Btrfs Storage Profiles
- Single
- DUP
- RAID0, RAID1, RAID5, RAID6, and RAID10
- RAID1C3 and RAID1C4
- Multi-device file systems with mixed allocation profiles
- Independent data, metadata, and system profiles
Btrfs Subvolumes and Features
- Multi-device file systems
- Subvolumes
- Nested subvolumes
- Read-only and writable snapshots
- Compressed file data
- Independent data, metadata, and system allocation profiles
ZFS and Btrfs snapshots can be analyzed as historical file system states, providing access to files preserved at the time each snapshot was created, including files that were later modified or deleted from the active file system.
RAID Recovery™ recognizes and reconstructs supported Apple multi-disk storage structures, including AppleRAID sets, CoreStorage logical volume groups, Fusion Drive configurations, and APFS containers spanning multiple physical stores.
AppleRAID
- Striped sets
- Mirrored sets
- Concatenated sets
- Nested AppleRAID configurations
Apple CoreStorage
- CoreStorage physical volumes
- Logical volume groups
- Logical volume families
- Logical volumes
- CoreStorage Fusion Drive configurations
APFS Multi-Disk Storage
- APFS Fusion Drive configurations
- APFS containers spanning multiple physical stores
- Multiple APFS volumes within one container
- Encrypted APFS volumes
- APFS snapshots
The program reconstructs the available physical and logical storage layers and provides access to supported file systems, volumes, and snapshots for further analysis and data recovery.
RAID Recovery™ can create an exact sector-by-sector disk image of an entire storage device, an individual partition, or a selected range of sectors. The image preserves the original block layout and can replace the source device during RAID reconstruction, file system analysis, decryption, and data recovery.
When a storage device is unstable or contains bad sectors, repeated scanning and recovery attempts can place additional load on the failing hardware. Whenever the device remains readable, creating a sector-by-sector image first allows subsequent RAID reconstruction and file system analysis to be performed on the image instead of repeatedly accessing the original disk.
The program also mounts existing DSK, RAW, IMG, ISO, DriveImage XML, and other supported disk-image formats. Raw images can be recognized by their internal structure regardless of the filename extension, and split or multipart image sets can be assembled automatically.
Forensic Disk Images
- EWF / SMART / EnCase: S01, E01, and Ex01 forensic images, with support for segmentation, compression, and encryption where provided by the image format.
- AFF / AFM: AFF forensic images and AFM images with separate raw data and AFF metadata.
- AFD: Directory-based AFF images stored as multiple files.
- AFF4: Physical AFF4 images and directory-based AFF4 containers.
Forensic images are opened as block-level storage sources while the program interprets their internal segmentation, compression, metadata, and container structure. Encrypted images can be accessed when the format is supported and the required credentials are available.
Apple and Mac Disk Images
- DMG — the standard macOS disk-image container, commonly used for software distribution, portable virtual volumes, backups, and encrypted storage.
- CDR, TOAST, and ISO — optical-disc and CD/DVD master images used to preserve or reproduce the complete contents of optical media. Apple DVD/CD master images commonly use the .cdr extension.
- ASIF — Apple Sparse Image Format, a modern read/write sparse image whose physical size grows according to the amount of stored data.
- Sparsebundle — a growable read/write disk image stored as multiple band files, commonly used by Time Machine for network backups.
- Sparseimage — a growable sparse disk image stored in a single file, commonly used for writable or encrypted virtual volumes.
Standard, forensic, and Apple disk images can contain partitions, file systems, encrypted volumes, RAID members, or complete multi-layer storage configurations. After the image is mounted, supported structures found inside it become available for reconstruction, file system analysis, and data recovery.
RAID Recovery™ mounts virtual disks and snapshot chains created by desktop, server, and enterprise virtualization platforms. Virtual machine storage is treated as a block-level source and can be analyzed for partitions, file systems, encrypted volumes, RAID metadata, deleted files, and other recoverable data.
The program supports both file-backed and block-backed virtual disks, including fixed-size, dynamically expanding, sparse, differencing, copy-on-write, and split storage layouts. When the required base disks and snapshot components are available, snapshot chains can be assembled into complete virtual disk states for analysis of both current and earlier versions.
Virtual machine disks and block devices can also contain RAID members or complete software-defined storage systems, including Windows Storage Spaces, Linux MD RAID, LVM, ZFS, Btrfs, and other supported storage technologies.
Tested Hypervisors and Virtualization Platforms
- VMware Workstation and Fusion
- VMware ESXi / vSphere
- Oracle VM VirtualBox
- Parallels Desktop
- UTM
- Microsoft Hyper-V
- KVM/QEMU on Linux
- Proxmox VE
- XenServer
- TrueNAS Community Edition / SCALE
- Unraid
Supported Virtual Disk Files
- VMware: VMDK, including flat, sparse, split, delta, and snapshot-related disks
- Hyper-V: VHD, VHDX, AVHD, and AVHDX
- VirtualBox: VDI, VMDK, VHD, and differencing images
- Parallels: HDD and HDS
- KVM/QEMU: QCOW, QCOW2, COW, QED, RAW, and IMG
- UTM: QCOW2, RAW, and other supported QEMU-backed disk images
- XenServer: VHD, QCOW2, and supported RAW virtual disks
Block-Backed Virtual Disks
- ZFS ZVOLs used as virtual machine disks
- LVM and LVM-thin logical volumes used as virtual machine disks
- Physical disks assigned directly to virtual machines
- Disk partitions used as virtual machine storage
- Other supported block devices exposed directly to virtual machines
Virtual Disk Layouts and Snapshots
Virtual machine storage can be file-backed or block-backed. RAID Recovery™ analyzes supported virtual disk files, block devices used as VM disks, and snapshot or differencing layers associated with them.
- Fixed-size virtual disk files
- Dynamically expanding and sparse virtual disk files
- Split virtual disk files
- Block-backed virtual disks
- Differencing and copy-on-write disks
- Internal snapshots
- External snapshot chains
- Multi-level snapshot chains
- Base disks with multiple dependent snapshot layers
- Snapshot descriptor and data files
When the required chain components are available, snapshot chains are assembled into complete virtual disk states before analysis, preserving the relationship between base storage, differencing disks, copy-on-write layers, and subsequent snapshot levels.
RAID Recovery™ recognizes and analyzes volume-level and file-level encryption used by Windows, Linux, and macOS storage systems. Encrypted storage can be analyzed on physical disks, reconstructed RAID arrays, disk images, virtual disks, and supported file system snapshots.
Encrypted Volumes
- BitLocker
- VeraCrypt
- LUKS
- Apple FileVault and encrypted APFS volumes
- Legacy FileVault 2 / encrypted CoreStorage volumes with HFS+
If an encrypted partition or volume has been deleted, lost, or is no longer listed in the partition table, RAID Recovery™ can search for its remaining file system and volume structures and restore access to the detected encrypted storage when sufficient metadata is still available.
After the encrypted volume is unlocked, the program can analyze its file system and recover existing data as well as deleted files and folders whose contents have not been overwritten.
File-Level Encryption
- Windows Encrypting File System — EFS
- Linux fscrypt
RAID Recovery™ can detect and recover existing and deleted encrypted files and folders on supported file systems, including data located on damaged file systems and data preserved in supported snapshots.
When the required EFS certificate and private key, fscrypt key material, or other supported decryption credentials are available, the program can decrypt the recovered data and save it in accessible form.
After reconstructing the RAID array, storage pool, disk image, or virtual disk, RAID Recovery™ provides the full file system analysis and recovery capabilities of Partition Recovery™. The reconstructed storage can be browsed and analyzed like a regular disk to locate existing and deleted files, examine file system structures, and evaluate the recovery result before purchasing a license.
Analyze, Preview & Verify Recovered Data
- Explorer-like interface, file preview and thumbnails for browsing reconstructed folders, locating required files, and checking supported documents, photos, videos, and other content before recovery.
- HEX Editor for low-level analysis of disks, partitions, file systems, and individual files.
- File system and content-aware analysis for locating existing and deleted files even when file system structures are damaged or incomplete.
- Save scan results and resume recovery later without repeating the complete analysis.
Most importantly, these tools allow you to evaluate whether the files you need can be recovered before purchasing the software. You can inspect the reconstructed folder structure, review thumbnails, and preview supported files in the free evaluation version before deciding to buy a license.
The main system requirements for RAID Recovery™ are a supported operating system, sufficient privileges for low-level storage access, and enough free space for disk images and recovered files.
Windows, Linux & macOS
RAID Recovery™ runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Recovery does not depend on the operating system originally used by the affected storage — supported RAID, volume-management, and file system structures from other platforms can also be analyzed.
Administrative & Root Access
Low-level access to physical disks and block devices requires administrator or root privileges, depending on the operating system. These permissions allow the software to read RAID metadata, partition tables, volume-management structures, file systems, and other system-level storage information.
When analyzing a NAS, server, or other remote storage system over SSH, the remote account must also have sufficient privileges to read the required physical disks or block devices, typically root-level access.
Free Space for Disk Images & Recovered Data
Use a separate destination with enough free space to store all selected recovered files. Additional storage may also be required when creating sector-by-sector images of physical disks or RAID members before analysis.
RAID Recovery™ can save recovered files to local disks, network locations via FTP, NAS devices, USB enclosures, USB flash drives, and memory cards, allowing recovered data to be stored away from the affected storage.
The required destination capacity can be greater than the amount of data previously occupied on the source, because recovery results may include existing and deleted files, multiple recoverable versions, reconstructed files, and data located by different analysis methods.
Do not save recovered files or disk images back to the affected RAID or its member disks. Writing new data to the source storage can overwrite deleted files, RAID metadata, file system structures, or other information required for recovery. Save disk images and recovered data to a different physical disk, storage system, or network location whenever possible.
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Do I need to know the original RAID configuration before starting recovery?
No. When RAID metadata is available, Hetman RAID Recovery reads it from the member disks and determines parameters such as the RAID level, disk order, stripe size, offsets, block order, and parity layout automatically. If the metadata is missing or damaged, the program can search for possible configurations or let you define the array manually in RAID Constructor.
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Can I recover data directly from a NAS or server over SSH?
Yes. If the NAS or server is still operational and provides SSH access to its physical disks or other block devices, they can be added to the program as remote storage sources. The program analyzes them in the same way as locally connected disks, so the array can be reconstructed without removing the drives from the device.
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Can physical disks, disk images, virtual disks, and remote devices be used together?
Yes. Hetman RAID Recovery can combine locally connected physical disks, sector-by-sector disk images, supported virtual disks, and remote block devices available over SSH in the same RAID configuration. This is useful when some original disks are accessible directly while others have been replaced with images or remain installed in a remote server or NAS.
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What should I do if the program finds several possible RAID configurations?
Preview each suggested configuration before starting a full scan. The correct configuration should display the expected partitions, file systems, folder structure, filenames, and file contents without obvious corruption. If necessary, compare several variants and select the one that reproduces the original storage structure most accurately.
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Can encrypted storage be recovered after the RAID is reconstructed?
Yes. After reconstructing the RAID array or storage pool, the program can analyze supported encrypted storage, including BitLocker, VeraCrypt, LUKS, Apple FileVault and encrypted APFS volumes, legacy FileVault 2 / encrypted CoreStorage volumes with HFS+, Windows EFS, and Linux fscrypt. Access to protected data requires the appropriate password, recovery key, encryption key, certificate and private key, keyfile, or other valid decryption credentials.
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When should I use Partition Recovery™ instead of RAID Recovery™?
Use Partition Recovery™ when the storage device is still operational and the RAID is healthy and already assembled by the RAID controller, NAS, server, or operating system. In this case, the assembled storage can be analyzed directly, including through SSH or iSCSI.
Use RAID Recovery™ when the RAID itself is damaged, unavailable, or no longer assembled and must first be reconstructed from its member disks before file recovery.