How to recover data after accidentally deleting a RAID array
Accidental configuration errors during hardware setup—such as selecting all available disks in a controller utility—can wipe existing RAID structures and leave data stranded without a backup. Restoring the information depends on the specific hardware controller and whether the previous array configuration can be safely recovered.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Recreating the original array shape without initialization
- 2Making disk dumps and using file system recovery tools
- 3Restoring files from backups
- 4Hiring paid professional data recovery services
- 5Using Robocopy to skip affected blocks and log errors
- 6Creating a shadow copy with VSS and symbolic links
- 7Using forensic imaging tools like FTK Imager to capture a drive image
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“When creating RAID5 using Dell Lifecycle Controller --- Hardware configuration --- Configure RAID !, we made a fatal error, checked the "Select all available disks" option to create RAID5, and all the listed disks turned out to be available.”source ↗
“Is there a way to restore RAID1 from SAS disks in this state, while preserving the information?”source ↗
“If I’m dealing with a P800 and a RAID-0 configuration, unfortunately, there is no backup.”source ↗
Where this came up
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