SCSI and SAS drive recovery

Server and workstation drives from the 1990s onwards, singly or as part of an array.

Ask about data recovery Call 020 7237 6805

About these devices

SCSI drives ran the servers, design workstations and audio systems of the 1990s and 2000s, and SAS took over from the mid-2000s. They spin fast, often at 10,000 or 15,000 rpm, run hot and were usually worked hard for years.

They also rarely lived alone. Most were members of a RAID array on a hardware controller, so recovery is as much about the array as the individual drives.

What recovery involves

Single drives

Read with the matching interface and copied. Mechanical and firmware faults are handled as on any hard drive.

Arrays

Every member is copied, the controller's layout is worked out and the array is rebuilt virtually.

Old servers

Tell us what the server ran: Windows NT or Server, NetWare, Linux or Unix. The volumes are examined once the disks are imaged.

Unknown history

If nobody remembers how the server was set up, the layout is established from the disks themselves.

Send every drive from the array, numbered in order, and the controller card if you have it. See RAID and NAS recovery.

Sending older storage

Do not power it up "to see if it still works". Old drives often have one start left in them.
Send any cables, power supplies, enclosures or cartridges that belong with it.
Tell us what computer and system it was used with: Windows 98, Mac OS 9, a server, a camera.
If there are several disks or drives, number them and keep them in order.

Recovery starts with a professional evaluation, charged at £94.80. It tells you what has failed and what can be recovered, and you then receive a fixed price for the recovery itself.

We collect drives and devices by insured courier from anywhere in the UK, or you can post yours tracked and insured, or bring it to the workshop in London SE1. See how to send a drive safely.

Common questions

We only have the drives, not the server. Is that enough?

Usually. The array is reconstructed from copies of the drives without the original controller.

One drive from the set is missing. Can anything be done?

For RAID 5, one missing member can be calculated from the others. For a striped set with no redundancy, every drive is needed.

Get a price from a technician

Tell us the make, the model and what has gone wrong. A technician replies with a price and the quickest way to get your laptop to us – normally the same working day.

020 7237 6805

Creative IT workshop
Unit 1, 80 Willow Walk, London SE1 5SY
Monday to Saturday, 9am–6pm