Crashed volume, a box that refuses to start, an accidental deletion of shares, a broken rebuild: regardless of what hit your Synology, QNAP, WD or NETGEAR NAS, and irrespective of the RAID level or whether you are running SHR, Btrfs or ext4, we get the data out. All information stored on a NAS is stored on a Linux RAID array. Therefore, all we do is image each disk and rebuild that RAID array using copies; the NAS enclosure itself never needs to be operational.
Do you have a crashed or degraded volume, a disk that has dropped out, or a NAS that will not boot? Leave it exactly as it is. Do not repair it. Do not rebuild it. Do not re-sync it. Repairing, rebuilding or re-syncing a NAS puts new data onto the disks and can bury the data we are trying to recover, and dropping a disk from a NAS into a Windows PC will simply trigger a format prompt. Turn off the NAS. Note which bay each disk was in. Call us. There’s no better way to protect the data than to leave that first attempt to us.
Of all the NAS recovery jobs that end up on our bench, the most common range from crashed volumes and boxes that will not start to corrupted file systems, failed rebuilds, dead hardware, and shares deleted by accident or locked by ransomware.
Regardless of whether your NAS unit is branded Buffalo, NETGEAR, WD, QNAP, Synology or anything else, and whatever RAID level, SHR, ext4 or Btrfs it uses underneath, our goal remains the same: recovering the array spread across the disks themselves, not the case they live in.
Drobo, TerraMaster and Asustor units; Buffalo TeraStation; NETGEAR ReadyNAS; WD My Cloud; QNAP running QTS; and Synology with DSM, SHR and Btrfs · SHR alongside RAID 10, 6, 5, 1 and 0 · Btrfs and ext4 · two- and four-bay boxes through eight-bay and rack units, expansion shelves too.
Post your NAS or drop it off for a no-charge diagnosis, letting us know the make, number of bays and RAID type used, and an engineer will assess it and put the exact figure in writing prior to any work being performed.
Tell us about your NAS (manufacturer, number of bays, RAID type and what happened) and one of our engineers will look it over and write up a quote, normally within 48 hours.
Every disk, whether healthy or failing, gets a read-only image on dedicated imaging hardware, so each subsequent step is done using a copy and your original disks are never touched.
If a disk has failed due to its heads, motor or circuit board, it goes onto our bench, where only the minimum work required to create an image of the disk takes place, and nothing more.
Using the images, we rebuild your array (be it SHR or RAID), followed by the LVM layer that sits on top of it and finally the Btrfs or ext4 file system, matching exactly the stripe order, block size and parity your box had used.
Once the volume is rebuilt, we extract everything (snapshots, virtual machines, backups, photos, files and shared folders), recovering data even from an array that is degraded or partly overwritten.
No recovered share or file leaves us until we have opened it and confirmed it is intact.
All recovered data ships back to you on a clean drive, or a NAS sized appropriately for the volume, ready to plug straight back into service.
Once you’ve posted your NAS or dropped it off, the diagnosis comes first, followed by a quote. And in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
Tell us what happened and we’ll get back to you, usually within a working day.
We’ll be in touch very soon. If it can’t wait, call 01483 901310.
The cost of recovering your NAS follows a simple tier pricing plan, and you receive a complimentary diagnostic and a written quote before anyone touches a disk.
Some examples of recent NAS jobs, including volume crashes, dead enclosures, failed rebuilds and deleted shares. All identifying information has been removed and each result was verified. See the full write-ups: a ReadyNAS volume that refused to come back, a QNAP RAID 0 with one dead disk and a Synology felled by a power cut mid-rebuild.
One disk had dropped out and it left the Btrfs volume corrupted. All disks were imaged, the array rebuilt and the shares restored.
The hardware was dead, but all the disks came through unscathed. From these disks alone we were able to reform the array and recover the data.
Both disks were failing, but neither was completely dead. Each was brought back and imaged on our bench, and the pair were used to rebuild the mirror.
Due to the rebuild, part of the volume had already been overwritten. So we imaged all the disks and rebuilt the RAID 6 array around the damaged portion of the volume.
The enclosure was dead, but the disk inside was perfectly healthy. We were able to pull the Linux volume directly off the disk and get everything back.
Very little new data had been written since. We rebuilt the original SHR array and volume and recovered the deleted shares.
Send your NAS in for the complimentary diagnostic and provide the make, number of bays and RAID configuration; an engineer will review it and put your exact quote in writing prior to performing any work.
To start recovering your data, first send your NAS (or all its disks) to us. Pack the unit carefully, include your contact information and, if shipping disks only, indicate which bay each disk came from. After we have completed your complimentary diagnostic, we will confirm your exact quote in writing prior to starting any work.
Sending it by post? We’d recommend a tracked, insured service. Dropping it in? No problem: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm. Please package the device as described above first.
Want a scoped quote first? Fill out the form with information about your NAS, RAID type and fault, and an engineer will review it and send you a tailored quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 01483 901310.
The most commonly asked questions about retrieving data from a NAS.
Usually not. On a Synology, this message generally means one of your drives has failed or the Btrfs/ext4 volume has been corrupted; it doesn’t mean your data is gone. We make an image of every drive, reconstruct your array from those copies and then recover your shared folders.
Usually, yes. No power almost always means the enclosure is dead but the disks themselves are perfectly intact. We image the disks, rebuild the array in software and recover your data from these disks without the original enclosure.
No, and it can backfire. Everything on a NAS lives on a Linux RAID array (ext4 or Btrfs), which Windows cannot read. Worse, if you connect a NAS disk to your Windows machine, it may offer to ‘initialise’ the disk, which would wipe it. Do not allow Windows to do this. Instead, send the disks to us and the array will be rebuilt correctly.
Yes. Include all of the disks in the array, ideally labelled with their bay order, including those that appear to have failed. Recovering data from the array needs the full set together, and if any disk is missing, the volume can become unrecoverable. It does not matter whether you send us the individual drives or the entire enclosure.
Our pricing uses a tiered structure: a two-bay mirror from £500 + VAT, and a multi-bay array (SHR, or RAID 5, 6 and 10) from £800 + VAT. Both include a complimentary diagnostic and a written quote prior to starting any work.
You always get a complimentary diagnostic and a written quote first. For mechanical and multi-disk work, we require a deposit against that quote, and the balance is billed only after the recovery has been completed successfully.
All of them: Drobo, TerraMaster, Asustor, Buffalo, NETGEAR, WD, QNAP, Synology and more. Because we are rebuilding the Linux-based array from the disks, we rarely see differences in what we can recover, regardless of the branding on the enclosure.
That depends on the ransomware strain. No one can undo strong, modern encryption of the QLocker or DeadBolt type without the key, and we will not pretend otherwise. What often does work, however, is going after what the malware left behind (older snapshots, anything unencrypted, files it could not reach), all of which is recovered by imaging the disks and rebuilding the array. After we have run the diagnostic, you will get a straightforward account of what can be recovered.
Often, yes. Even when a rebuild fails, most of the original data is usually still intact underneath it. So we image each disk in its pre-rebuild state and then rebuild the array around the damaged areas, recovering anything that the rebuild did not overwrite.
Generally speaking, most jobs are completed in three to seven working days, depending on the number of disks involved, the RAID level, and whether any of the disks need mechanical work.
Either post the entire unit, or pull the hard drives from the NAS and send them to us tagged with their bay order; both options are fine. Make sure the package is fully insured and sent to our Guildford address, or deliver it to us in person, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm.
Rarely. Regardless of the manufacturer, every NAS stores its data within a standard Linux RAID array, and it is this array that we rebuild. While the manufacturer may define some specifics of the implementation (SHR on Synology, QTS on QNAP), they do not determine whether recovery is possible.
We charge nothing for the diagnosis, our pricing tiers start at £500, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Whatever the badge, Synology, QNAP or otherwise, we bring the data back off the box. Contact us now to begin your recovery.