Your share directory has been deleted by accident, your volume has crashed, your NAS won’t boot or your rebuild didn’t complete? We recover Synology, QNAP and all other brands (SHR, Btrfs and ext4), imaging every disk and then building the volume back into its original format, thus a NAS failure doesn’t mean you lose everything.
Do not allow your NAS to repair, rebuild or resync if you are seeing an error message stating that one of your volumes is crashed, failed or degraded; or, if you have lost a drive or it won’t boot. This could cause the data that we need to recover to be written over. If a disk from your NAS is inserted into a Windows PC (and it appears as a valid drive), the Windows PC may prompt you to format it. First, shut down the NAS. Take note of which hard drive was installed in each bay of your NAS. Then contact us. Your best chance at successful data recovery is with the first attempted recovery.
Most of our NAS recovery work involves recovering from the most common types of NAS failure: volume, hardware, rebuild and logical.
All NAS systems come in through the same door (Synology, QNAP, WD, NETGEAR, Buffalo and others), using all RAID levels, SHR, Btrfs and ext4, from a two-bay system to a rack of bay systems. What determines how the data is written is determined by the manufacturer; however, this does not determine if we are able to assist you.
Brands supported include: Synology (DSM, SHR, Btrfs), QNAP (QTS), WD My Cloud, NETGEAR ReadyNAS, Buffalo TeraStation, Asustor, TerraMaster and Drobo. RAID support includes RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10 and SHR. File systems supported include ext4 and Btrfs. Hardware support includes 2-bay systems, 4-bay systems, 8-bay systems, rack-mounted systems and expansion bays.
What does NAS recovery mean? Recovering your files from the disks in the NAS, not from the NAS box. Since a NAS stores its information on a Linux RAID volume that is not compatible with Windows (format), we will image each disk, rebuild the RAID array and file system, then recover each share independently of the NAS unit.
Send us the NAS. Please provide the NAS model, number of bays, RAID configuration and details about why it stopped working. We will assess the unit and provide a written quote, usually within 48 hours. If possible please take a note of which bay each disk resides in.
Each disk in the NAS will be imaged read-only using our dedicated hardware. All work will be performed on copies of your data and none of your originals will ever be touched.
When one or more disks fail mechanically or electronically, we will repair those disks enough to get them to an imageable state: head swapping, board building etc. Any drive-level repairs will require a deposit of 50% of the quoted price.
From the images we reconstruct all components that make up the RAID or SHR array, the LVM layer and the ext4 or Btrfs file system just as they were in the NAS, off the box.
The best possible version of your shared folders, files, photos, backups, virtual machines, and snapshot images is extracted from the reconstructed volume.
We will confirm that each share and file has been successfully opened (and is not corrupted) prior to returning them to you.
Your data will be returned to you on new storage media (or an additional NAS unit), that matches the size of the restored volume, allowing you to immediately begin using it again.
Every NAS (whether you have a Synology, QNAP, Western Digital, NETGEAR etc.) can be recovered through a full-disk image and then rebuilding the RAID or SHR volume directly off the original images; therefore, if your NAS dies your data does not have to be lost.
Tell us what happened and we’ll get back to you, usually within a working day.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 0191 406 1051.
There are clear tiered price options available for recovering your NAS, including a free diagnostic assessment and a written quote prior to beginning any work on the job.
We have worked on several recent NAS recoveries that involved crashed volumes, completely dead NAS boxes, failed rebuilds and configuration changes. As per our usual practice, identifying information has been omitted; however, each successful outcome has been confirmed.
One of the NAS’s disks had failed resulting in corruption of the Btrfs volume. All four disks were imaged and once assembled into an SHR volume all shares were recovered.
The NAS box was found to be totally dead, however all disks were still operational. The RAID 5 volume was rebuilt from the disks and the entire file system was recovered.
Both disks were in an “in-between” state (i.e. neither completely dead) so we restored and imaged both disks before rebuilding the mirror to get back all of their family photos.
The rebuild process partially wrote over the original volume. We created images of all the disks and rebuilt the original volume configuration to get them all back.
Although the enclosure had failed, the disk was still healthy. We extracted all data from the single good disk by reading out the entire Linux volume from it and recovered everything.
There wasn’t much that had been written. We built back the original SHR volume and got the shares and backups back.
When you send the unit in for its free diagnostic, let us know what happened with the unit. An engineer will review the unit and confirm your quote in writing prior to starting on your recovery.
Before you post or drop off your device, please get a quote from us by phone or with the form. Once we receive your device, our recovery process can start. Safely pack your device, include your name and contact information within the packaging and ship it to us. After performing your free diagnostic, we’ll send you a written confirmation of the exact price of our services prior to starting any work.
If you decide to post it, we would advise using a trackable and insured postal service. Or if you prefer to drop it off, we are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, and you don’t need an appointment. Just pack the unit as described in step one before dropping it off.
Would you like a little more background information prior to sending it? Fill in the form to provide more details about your problem; an engineer will evaluate it and reply with a customised quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 0191 406 1051.
Things people usually want to know when recovering a NAS device.
Generally no. Most times when you see an error indicating a volume has crashed on your NAS, this is simply because a drive has failed or the NAS has suffered damage to its Btrfs or ext4 file system. Regardless, we still need to access all of the drives and re-assemble them into their original RAID or SHR configuration so we can repair the damaged volume to successfully recover your shares. Please do not allow your NAS to attempt to fix the problem first.
Typically, yes. If a NAS does not boot then there is almost no chance the issue was with anything other than either the motherboard or the power supply of the NAS itself. The hard drives inside the NAS are usually just fine. We would take the hard drives from your NAS and after they arrive with us, we build the RAID volume back up again off the drive, and thus do not require access to the NAS in order to recover all of your files (shares).
No, please do not try this. Your NAS uses a Linux RAID volume utilising an ext4 or Btrfs filesystem. These filesystems are completely unreadable by Windows. Furthermore, if Windows is unable to recognise the filesystem it will prompt you to initialise or format the volume. Formatting or initialising this volume will destroy all data stored on the volume. Send us the disks and we will restore the RAID volume using safe methods.
We would love that; please send all of them including those that have failed, and if you are able, identify where in the NAS they were located. NAS recovery will utilise all available disks to restore your volume in its entirety. Even a bad disk may provide information needed to help fill in missing pieces of data.
The minimum price for recovering a two-bay NAS mirror is £500 (plus VAT). Recovering multi-bay units (RAID 5, 6, 10 and SHR, from £800 plus VAT) is based on how many disks there are and how much labour will be required. For each job we do a free diagnostic followed by a written quotation, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
In most cases, yes. For drive-level repair jobs we ask for a 50% deposit prior to starting work on your project and charge you the balance when we successfully recover your data. If we cannot recover it, then you don’t pay the remainder of our fee.
All makes (Synology, QNAP, Western Digital, NETGEAR, Buffalo, Asustor, TerraMaster, Drobo and many others) as well as all RAID levels including SHR and all file systems (ext4 and Btrfs). Each make determines how to recover but not whether there is a way to get back the data.
Sometimes. NAS devices are one of the most common types of computers that get attacked by ransomware. Therefore, if some of your files were not encrypted and/or you still have older version(s) of your data (snapshots), it is possible to recover them. If the ransomware has totally encrypted your entire volume then we will need to treat this as a different type of problem and therefore we would like you to contact us regarding this separately; also please don’t pay the ransom prior to contacting us.
Yes, normally. Most NAS volumes are lost due to a rebuild failure. This is true for one reason alone; when a rebuild fails, the NAS writes data back onto the disks. When this happens we stop the rebuild process, create a read-only copy of all the disks in the NAS volume, then use these copies to rebuild the original SHR or RAID array. Hence, rebuilds which go wrong rarely mean the end of your NAS recovery.
Usually most two-bay NAS devices will have been completed within 3 to 4 working days. The time frame for multi-bay NAS devices (devices with many drives) depends upon the quantity of drives and whether any require individual drive-level repairs first. Normally diagnostics are usually complete within 48 hours; however, if you are under an urgent commercial deadline, we may be able to accommodate priority processing.
Either option works well when doing a diagnostic test on a NAS device: send the entire unit to us or extract the disk(s) and ship them to us. We will accept both methods as suitable for completion of the diagnostic test. When extracting the disk(s), please ensure that you identify which bay the original disk was located in and package the disks so that they cannot collide during shipping. You can drop off your unit at our Newcastle location Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm. Alternatively, you can post your unit, fully insure it and include your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address so that we can schedule receipt of the unit and provide a quote prior to commencing any work.
Less than you would imagine. The name on the front (Synology DiskStation, QNAP, Buffalo LinkStation or TeraStation, Netgear ReadyNAS, WD My Cloud, D-Link ShareCenter, LaCie, Iomega) counts for virtually nothing when compared to what’s going on under that badge. Whether it be Linux RAID (mdadm and LVM), or a custom version provided by the vendor, all of the member disks are cloned first, prior to any array-related code being called.
Free diagnostics, clearly defined prices starting at £500 for multi-bay NAS systems, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data: every NAS system recovered, including Synology and QNAP products, off the box. Start recovering your data today.