Data Recovery Guide: Restoring Data from a Faulty RAID 5 Array on Intel Entry Storage System SS4000-E NAS

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to recover data from a damaged RAID 5 array on the Intel Entry Storage System SS4000-E NAS. Whether you’ve encountered disk failures, corruption issues, or other problems with your RAID 5 array, we’ll guide you through the process of recovering your valuable data safely and effectively.

Data Recovery Guide: Restoring Data from a Faulty RAID 5 Array on Intel Entry Storage System SS4000-E NAS

These days, the issue of reliable file storage becomes particularly urgent. Over time, almost every PC user – even if that’s a proverbial ordinary home user without regular access to local or global networks – comes to accumulate gigabytes of information – photos, videos, documents and other stuff. The risk of losing everything in one second and forever only because your hard disk breaks down is quite high.

Yes, modern motherboards let users create fault-tolerant software RAIDs, but there are also considerable reasons to choose a specialized solution in the form of a NAS device, as disk arrays in such devices are built on a hardware level.

Also, increasing the number and volume of hard disks in an individual computer can hardly be seen as a good solution, as it pushes up the noise level and requires better power supply and cooling options.

A dedicated NAS storage will ensure the safety of your data and access to it over the network. The RAID technology is quite a reliable way to store important information, but there are certain factors which cannot be ignored with any kind of technology available these days. Just like any other device, NAS is not perfect and may break down after many years in service. As a result, you will lose access to your files stored there.

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How to Recover Data from a Damaged RAID 5 Array on Intel Entry Storage System SS4000-E NAS

How to Recover Data from a Damaged RAID 5 Array on Intel Entry Storage System SS4000-E NAS

How to configure the storage

For starters, let’s explore initial configuration of a network-attached storage system. Open a browser and type the server’s IP address. Give the default login – admin – and password – storage.

Type the server’s IP address and log in to NAS

After sign-in, you’ll see the disk initialization screen. If you don’t see the connected disks on this list, slick Scan, and then Start to begin the configuration process. Certain information will be written, and the disks will be partitioned; after that, the NAS will reboot, so let’s wait until it is ready for work again.

Disk initialization

Soon you will see the welcome screen. Click Next to continue with the configuration. Accept the license agreement – Next.

At the first stage, you need to give a name to your storage system, and set up date and time, choose network settings, and the disk array type. This device lets you create one of the three RAID types – 5, 0 or 1. What we need is RAID 5.

Give a name to your storage system, and set up date and time, choose network settings, and the disk array type

In the disk space settings, give the disk size and click Finish, then OK to confirm your choice. You can only change these disk configuration settings at the cost of data loss. Also, you will lose common folder, user and group properties. In theory, the last option of disk configuration lets you add more disks later without losing data, but it doesn’t offer you any reliability.

Wait until the system is configured, and when it happens, the device will reboot automatically.

Give the default login – admin – and password – storage.

Enter the login and password to access your NAS

It will open the storage management page; this is where you can create a new user or a group, shared folders, and also access administration features.

How to configure FTP acess

For starters, let’s configure network access to the storage via the FTP protocol. To do it, open the menu tab Advanced and browse to Network. At the bottom of the screen, enable FTP server and click Apply to save the settings.

Advanced – Network

How to create a new user

Now let’s create a user that will have access to a shared folder by FTP.

Open the tab Users and click Add to create a new one. Specify the connection type, the login and the password.

Users and click Add to create a new one

How to create a shared folder

Now let’s create a new shared folder. Open the tab Shared Folders. Click Add, give a name, select a user that will be provided network access, set read / write permissions, and click Apply to save the changes – and finally, click ОK.

Shared Folders – Add

Later, you’ll be able to connect to your NAS by FTP and upload your files. The configuration and current state of the disk system are displayed if you navigate to the tab Advanced – and click on Disks. At the moment, resynchronization process is underway – the disk space is being created. By pressing this button you can edit the configuration by changing the RAID type and volume size.

Advanced - Disks

But as I said before, you can’t possibly make any changes to the RAID type without losing data.

How to recover data from a non-working Intel Entry Storage System SS4000-E NAS

If your NAS is down, or one or several disks in the array are no longer functional, and as a result of that you have lost access to some data which still remains on its disks – a specialized data recovery tool – Hetman RAID Recovery – will help you bring your files back.

Recover data from damaged RAID arrays inaccessible from a computer.

This program supports all popular RAID types and most file systems. It can also help you rebuild a damaged RAID, even if one or several disks within the array are out of order. You’ll be able to restore critical information, which is still on the disks, and do it without actually using the NAS.

Step Action Description
1 Power off the NAS Power off the Intel SS4000-E NAS and safely disconnect all the drives.
2 Connect drives to PC Connect the hard drives to your PC using SATA interfaces or USB adapters.
3 Launch Hetman RAID Recovery Install and launch Hetman RAID Recovery on your Windows computer.
4 Analyze RAID configuration Allow the program to automatically detect the RAID configuration.
5 Scan the array Select the detected RAID array and perform a full scan to locate lost data.
6 Preview and recover Preview the found files, select those you want to recover, and save them to another storage device.
7 Replace faulty drive (if needed) If a faulty drive is detected, replace it with a new one and restore the RAID configuration.
8 Transfer the data Transfer the recovered data back to the NAS or another device.

Take the disks out of the network storage and connect them to the motherboard of a Windows computer. If your motherboard lacks SATA ports to connect all the disks, or you have a similar problem involving power connectors, you can solve the problem by using special expansion cards and adapters.

SATA adapters

With this type of device, RAID arrays are based on IPStorPartition technology, and many recovery tools don’t support it. Meanwhile, Hetman RAID Recovery can properly handle arrays with this technology.

Hetman RAID Recovery

As you can see, the program has built the RAID system automatically and now displays all the information about the array. To search for files, right-click on the disk and select Open. Choose the search type, Fast scan or Full analysis. For starters, we recommend Fast scan – the utility will promptly analyze the disk and display all the detected files.

Hetman RAID Recovery

If the “Fast scan” can’t find the required files, then go for “Full analysis,” select the file system and click Next. In most complicated cases, we recommend searching files by their signatures, by checking the box next to Content-Aware analysis.

The program has found all the files stored on this array. For your convenience, there is an option to search for files by their names. Also, you can check file contents with the preview option. Removed files are marked with a red cross. Look for the ones you need to restore, select them and click Recovery. Choose the folder where you’d like to save the files and click Recovery again.

Hetman RAID Recovery

When the process is over, you will find all the data in the folder you have chosen.

How to build a RAID manually

In very complicated cases, when critical service data was erased from the disks, the program may fail to rebuild the RAID automatically. Luckily, for such cases this program features a manual way for rebuilding the RAID in a special constructor mode. To use this mode, you need to know all the information about the damaged array.

Open RAID Constructor, select Manual mode, click Next and fill in the array data. RAID type, block order, block size, add the disks included into the array and specify their order. As a result, it should appear in this window; if you got all the properties right, you will see the directory tree If you see none, it means the properties are incorrect, or this information is insufficient to identify the RAID. You may have to specify the offset which tells you where the beginning of the disk is located. You can find this information with the help of HEX Editor.

RAID Constructor

When all the properties are ready, click Add. After that, the array will appear in the Drive Manager. Now the last step is to scan it using Fast scan or Full analysis, and recover the files you need to restore.

Vladimir Artiukh

Author: , Technical Writer

Vladimir Artiukh is a technical writer for Hetman Software, as well as the voice and face of their English-speaking YouTube channel, Hetman Software: Data Recovery for Windows. He handles tutorials, how-tos, and detailed reviews on how the company’s tools work with all kinds of data storage devices.

Oleg Afonin

Editor: , Technical Writer

Oleg Afonin is an expert in mobile forensics, data recovery and computer systems. He often attends large data security conferences, and writes several blogs for such resources as xaker.ru, Elcomsoft and Habr. In addition to his online activities, Oleg’s articles are also published in professional magazines. Also, Oleg Afonin is the co-author of a well-known book, Mobile Forensics - Advanced Investigative Strategies.

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