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RAID 0 · Striped arrays · Brisbane lab · Australia-wide mail-in
RAID 0 data recoveryfor arrays with no safety net.
RAID 0 splits every file across all of its drives, so a single failure takes the whole volume offline. The data is still there, spread across the members. We image each drive, work out the stripe geometry and reassemble the set.
1300 806 557Free diagnostic · Fixed quote · 24/7 emergency option
Google ★ 4.8 · 95 reviewsFacebook ★ 4.892% recovery rate
How much will it cost?
Tell us about the array. We come back with a free diagnostic plan and a fixed quote before any work starts.
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Failed RAID 0? Don't re-initialise it.
- Completely free, no-obligation diagnostic of every member drive, with a free Express post-in label, Australia-wide.
- See a list of your recoverable files and a fixed quote before you pay a cent. Nothing is written to your original drives.
- 92% recovery rate across 15,000+ jobs since 2016.
RAID 0 is popular in gaming PCs, video-editing workstations and cheap two-bay enclosures because it is fast and wastes no capacity. The trade-off is brutal: the array's reliability is worse than a single drive, because any one member failing breaks every file larger than a stripe.
The good news is that a failed striped set is a reconstruction problem, not a data-destruction problem. Both drives usually still hold their half of every file. Our job is to get a complete image of each member, including the one that failed, and then work out the exact order and stripe size the controller used so the halves line up again.
The 20-second answer
What happens to your data in RAID 0
RAID 0 has zero redundancy. When one drive fails the array is gone as a volume, but the blocks on the surviving drive and (usually) on the failed drive still exist. Recovery means imaging every member, including the failed one, then rebuilding the stripe order and stripe size in software. The only thing that makes it unrecoverable is overwriting the drives: re-initialising, formatting or rebuilding.
Image first, always
Every member drive is copied sector by sector to healthy storage before anything else happens. Failed drives included.
Reconstruct in software
Drive order, stripe size, parity rotation and offsets are recovered from the data and validated against the file system. Your originals are never written to.
Proof, then payment
You see the recovered file list and a fixed quote. If the honest answer is not recoverable, you hear that for free.
How it works
How RAID 0 works: striping, and why it has no margin
A RAID 0 controller chops incoming data into fixed-size chunks (the stripe size, typically 64 KB to 256 KB) and deals them out to the member drives in turn: chunk A1 to Disk 1, A2 to Disk 2, then B1 to Disk 1 again. Reads and writes hit every drive at once, which is where the speed comes from.
Nothing is duplicated and nothing is calculated. Every stripe depends on every drive. Lose one member and every file that spans a stripe boundary now has holes in it. Files smaller than a stripe on the surviving drive can sometimes be carved intact, but anything meaningful (documents, photos, video, databases) is scattered across all members.
Interactive
Watch RAID 0 fail, one drive at a time
Step through the failure stages, or click any drive to fail it yourself. The simulator applies the real RAID 0 rules: which stripes survive, which can be rebuilt from parity or a mirror, and when the array is beyond its tolerance.
Click or focus a drive and press Enter to toggle it between healthy and failed. Real recoveries add one more variable the simulator does not: how well each failed drive can still be imaged in the lab.
Under the hood
The two numbers that decide a RAID 0 rebuild
Every RAID 0 reconstruction comes down to two parameters the controller never wrote down anywhere you can read: the drive order and the stripe size. Get either wrong and the reassembled volume is scrambled even though every byte is present. Our engineers determine both from the data itself, looking for file-system structures (NTFS MFT records, exFAT directory entries, APFS containers) that only line up correctly when the geometry is right.
Software RAID 0 (Windows Storage Spaces, Intel RST, macOS AppleRAID, mdadm) adds a third layer: metadata at the start or end of each member that describes the set. When the metadata is intact it confirms the geometry. When it is damaged, which is common after a controller or motherboard change, the geometry has to be inferred from the data, which is exactly what a lab does.
What killed it
How RAID 0 arrays arrive at our bench
Six ways a RAID 0 ends up needing a lab, and what each one honestly means for your data.
One member drive died
The most common arrival.
The healthy drive is imaged first. The failed drive then gets the same treatment as any single failed disk: firmware repair, head replacement or PCB work until it can be imaged. With both images the stripe is rebuilt.
Good outlook when the failed drive is imageable
Controller or motherboard failure
The drives are fine, the map is gone.
Intel RST, AMD RAIDXpert and cheap enclosure chips store the set configuration in their own metadata. A new board often refuses to recognise the set. We image the members and rebuild the geometry from the data.
Excellent outlook
Array shows as unallocated or RAW
Metadata or file system damage.
The set assembled but the file system on top is unreadable. Usually a partition table or boot sector problem after a power event, fixable from images without touching the originals.
Excellent outlook
Accidental re-initialisation
The controller wrote fresh metadata.
Initialising rewrites the set's metadata and sometimes the first stripes. The bulk of the data usually survives. We rebuild the geometry and recover the file system from what was not overwritten.
Strong outlook if nothing was copied on afterwards
Both drives failing
Age, heat or a shared power fault.
Two drives from the same batch in the same box fail together more often than people expect. Each is imaged separately; the stripe is rebuilt from the two images. Bad sectors on both drives leave small holes in some files.
Fair to strong, depends on sector loss
A member was cloned or swapped
Somebody tried a DIY fix.
Cloning one member to a new drive is fine. Cloning the wrong way, or writing a member back into the wrong bay, is not. We work out what happened from the data and reassemble from the untouched copies.
Case by case
Before you touch anything
The five mistakes that destroy RAID 0 data
Most of the arrays we cannot save were recoverable when they failed. Somebody followed the wrong advice first. Flip each card to see what the “fix” actually does.
Honest numbers
What our 92% means for RAID 0
92% is our overall recovery rate across 15,000+ jobs since 2016, every device type, every fault. RAID 0 odds swing on how the array failed and what was done afterwards, so here is how the scenarios actually stack up on the bench.
| Scenario | Recovery outlook | What decides it | The odds-killer |
|---|---|---|---|
| One drive dead, other healthy | Whether the failed drive can be imaged to near 100%. Most can. | Running the healthy drive alone and writing to it. | |
| Controller failure, drives fine | Nothing physical is wrong. Geometry is recovered from the data. | Letting a new controller initialise the set. | |
| Re-initialised or formatted | How much was written after the mistake. | Copying new files onto the reborn volume. | |
| Both drives with bad sectors | Total sector loss across both images, and where it lands. | Repeated power cycles on a degrading drive. | |
| Head crash on one member | Platter condition under the crashed heads. | Continuing to spin a drive that is clicking. | |
| Member overwritten by a rebuild | How many stripes were rewritten before it stopped. | Any write to the members after failure. |
Outlooks are qualitative bench experience, not per-scenario percentages. We publish a figure only when our job records verify it.
Every level, its own page
Which RAID level do you have?
Each level fails differently and is reconstructed differently. Pick yours for the full guide, the interactive failure simulator and the honest odds.
Striping only. Fast, full capacity, no tolerance: one dead drive stops everything.
You are hereTwo identical copies. Survives one drive; dies to a wrong-way rebuild or a second failure.
RAID 1 recovery guideStriping plus one parity block per stripe. One drive can fail; rebuilds are the danger.
RAID 5 recovery guideTwo independent parity blocks. Two drives can fail; the third is the wall.
RAID 6 recovery guideMirrored pairs, striped. One drive per pair can fail; both in a pair is fatal.
RAID 10 recovery guideInside the lab
Our six-stage RAID data recovery process
The same procedure for a two-bay NAS and a 24-drive server. The order is the point: nothing is reconstructed until everything is imaged.
1
Case mapping
Enclosure, controller, drive order, symptoms and every action already taken are documented before a single drive is touched.
2
Member imaging
Each drive is copied sector by sector with hardware imagers. Unstable drives get firmware, head or PCB work until they image.
3
Geometry analysis
Drive order, offsets, stripe size, parity rotation and nesting are determined from the data and validated against file-system structures.
4
Virtual reconstruction
The array is assembled in software from the images. Your original drives are never written to.
5
File-system recovery
Partitions, volumes and file systems are analysed on the reconstructed array and recoverable data is extracted.
6
Validation and proof
Priority folders, databases and virtual disks are opened and checked. You see the file list before payment.
Transparent from the start
How much does RAID 0 data recovery cost?
The honest answer: it depends on how many members need physical work and how much reconstruction the array needs, which is exactly why the diagnostic is free. You get a fixed quote for your actual array before any work begins. The only choice you make up front is how fast we start.
Standard
$0
Free diagnostic
- Free Express post-in label, or free collection in the Brisbane area
- Full fault findings plus a list of your recoverable files
- Fixed quote, approve it or walk away, no obligation
Critical Priority
$715
inc. GST upfront ($650 + GST)
- Jump the queue, your array goes to the bench first
- Same free-diagnostic findings, fast-tracked
- Recovery itself still quoted after diagnosis
Emergency 24/7
$1,400
Upfront service fee
- An engineer on your job around the clock
- For business-critical and can’t-wait situations
- Recovery itself still quoted after diagnosis
Priority fees are upfront service fees in AUD. The recovery itself is always quoted after diagnosis, and every job sees file-list proof before payment.
Track My Recovery
Watch your recovery happen, live.
Every job gets a private tracking link. Follow your array from arrival to member imaging to “your files are ready”. No chasing, no wondering what is happening on the bench.
Open Track My Recovery
This is the live product, not a mock-up. Every job gets
this link with their unique ID.
Simple by design
3 steps to get your data back
1
Contact & free diagnostic
- Call or send the form. We email a free tracked Express post-in label, or collect free in the Brisbane area, and talk you through labelling the drives by bay.
- Your array gets a unique job ID and every member drive is assessed and imaged.
2
File list & fixed quote
- You see exactly which files are recoverable: shares, databases, virtual disks, project folders.
- One fixed price. Approve it, or walk away with no obligation.
3
Proof, payment & return
- We show you proof of your recovered files before you pay.
- Data handed back on new media or secure download, with tracked shipping.
15,000+Clients since 2016
92%Recovery rate
4.8★Google rating, 95 reviews
24/7Emergency response
PC-3000 by ACE LabVirtual RAID ReconstructionHardware & Software RAIDNAS, Server & VM RecoveryISO Class 5 Rated Clean-Air Equipment
Keep exploring
Related recovery services
RAID Data Recovery
The parent service: every level, every controller, one Brisbane lab.
RAID 1 Data Recovery
Mirrors that failed together or rebuilt the wrong way.
RAID 5 Data Recovery
The most common array we recover.
NAS Data Recovery
Synology, QNAP, Netgear and other NAS volumes, mdadm to Btrfs.
Server Data Recovery
Dell, HP and Lenovo servers, hardware controllers and databases.
Virtual Machine Recovery
VMDK, VHDX and qcow2 recovered from reconstructed arrays.
Straight answers
RAID 0 data recovery FAQs
Can data be recovered from a failed RAID 0?
Usually, yes. RAID 0 has no redundancy, so the array stops the moment one drive fails, but the data on the drives has not gone anywhere. Recovery means obtaining a full image of every member, including the failed drive, and reconstructing the stripe order and stripe size. The risk is not the failure itself, it is what gets written to the drives afterwards.
How much does RAID data recovery cost?
It depends on how many members are damaged, whether any of them need physical work (head swaps, firmware repair) and how much reconstruction the array needs. That is why the diagnostic is free: once every drive has been assessed you get a fixed quote for your actual array before any work begins. The only up-front costs are optional priority fees: Standard is $0, Critical Priority is $715 inc. GST ($650 + GST) and Emergency 24/7 is $1,400, all in AUD.
One drive in my RAID 0 is dead. Is the data on the other drive any use?
On its own, very little. Files are split into stripe-sized chunks across both drives, so the surviving drive holds roughly every second chunk of every file. Small files that fit inside a single stripe can be recovered from it, but documents, photos and video need both halves. That is why the failed drive still has to be imaged.
How do you work out the stripe size and drive order?
From the data itself. File-system structures such as NTFS MFT records or exFAT directory tables only make sense when the chunks are in the right sequence, so our engineers test candidate geometries against those structures until the volume validates. Software RAID metadata, when intact, confirms the answer.
Is a two-drive RAID 0 in a USB enclosure the same as a motherboard RAID 0?
The recovery method is the same, but the metadata differs. Enclosure chipsets (JMicron, ASMedia) and motherboard controllers (Intel RST, AMD) each store their own set description. Bring the enclosure or note the motherboard model so we can identify the format.
Can I plug the drives straight into another PC to copy the files?
Not usefully. Outside the original controller the drives appear as two unformatted disks, and Windows will offer to initialise them. Accepting that prompt overwrites the metadata. Leave them unmounted.
How long does RAID 0 recovery take?
Standard turnaround depends on how long the failed member takes to image. A healthy set with a controller fault can be reconstructed in days; a member with head damage needs a donor and imaging time. Critical and Emergency tiers move the job to the front of the bench.
Do you take RAID cases from outside Brisbane?
Yes, Australia-wide. Call before you ship a multi-drive system: we will walk you through labelling each drive with its bay number, photographing the original order and packing the set so nothing is mixed up in transit. A free tracked Express post-in label is included, and free collection is available in the Brisbane area.
Speak bench
RAID 0, translated
The terms you will hear from us, and from anyone else you get a quote from, in plain English.
- Stripe size
- The fixed chunk of data the controller writes to one drive before moving to the next. Typical values are 64 KB, 128 KB or 256 KB. Unknown stripe size is the first thing a RAID 0 reconstruction solves.
- Stripe
- One row of chunks across every member: A1 on Disk 1 plus A2 on Disk 2 is one stripe. Every stripe needs every drive.
- Drive order
- Which physical disk was member 1, 2 and so on. Controllers do not label the drives, so the order has to be recovered from the data when metadata is lost.
- Metadata
- The controller's own description of the set, usually stored in reserved sectors at the start or end of each member. Damaged or replaced metadata is why a new controller refuses to see an old set.
- Imaging
- A sector-by-sector copy of a drive to a healthy working drive or file, made with hardware imagers that handle bad sectors. All reconstruction happens on images, never on the originals.
- Software RAID
- Striping done by the operating system or driver (Intel RST, Storage Spaces, mdadm, AppleRAID) rather than a dedicated card. Recoverable in the same way, with different metadata.
- Carving
- Recovering files by their content signatures rather than through the file system. Useful for small files on a single member; useless for anything that spans a stripe.
- Re-initialise
- Writing a fresh set configuration to the members. The single most destructive thing you can do to a failed RAID 0.
Your array is worth a phone call before the next rebuild.
Free diagnostic, fixed quote, proof before payment. If it is not recoverable, you get that answer honestly, for free.
1300 806 557