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Volume Sets and RAIDs


R-Studio detects and processes valid hardware volume sets and RAIDs like regular drives/volumes.

R-Studio can analyze and recover data from software volume sets and RAIDs . If a software volume set or RAID is present in your system, R-Studio detects it, and a Volume sets and RAIDs object appears on the Drives panel. This object can be searched for files, scanned, and files found on it can be recovered the same way as from normal drives/volumes.

If, due to hardware failure, a hardware volume set or RAID cannot be accessed, or due to data loss your system does not recognize a software volume set or RAID , and you know what hard drives were in it, you may create a Virtual volume set or RAID and process it like a real software volume set or RAID or hardware volume set or RAID .  

You may find more information on RAID types in our article What is Hardware RAID .

Volume Sets, Stripe Sets, and Mirrors

Basic RAID 4 and RAID 5 Operations

Working with RAID 6 Presets

Working with RAID6 (Double Xor)

Working with RAIDs with Parity Delays

Working with Advanced RAID Layouts

Nested and Non-Standard RAID Levels

Finding RAID Parameters

Checking RAID Consistency

Syntax of a Description File for RAID Configurations

Description Files for RAID Configurations

Reverse RAIDs

Various Disk and Volume Managers

Connecting Virtual Objects to the System

Creating and saving your own RAID configuration

You may create and save your own RAID configurations for non-standard RAIDs. You may specify Offset, Block order/size and Row count. See Working with Advanced RAID Layouts for details.

To save your own RAID configuration

1 Select <New> in the Blocks order drop-down list
2 Specify the name for the configuration on the Preset name dialog box.
Click to enlarge

Preset name dialog box

> The new RAID configuration will be saved

The configurations are stored in the user's RAID layout file . The path and name for this file is specified on the R-Studio Settings dialog box. If no file is specified, R-Studio will ask you to enter the name.

Loading your RAID configuration

If there're objects in the Parents tab, the preset will be applied to them. If the Parents tab is empty, R-Studio will search the disks listed in the Drives tab for the parents in the user's RAID layout file . If the search fails, R-Studio will show the Reference Parents not found message.

To load your RAID configuration

* Select your configuration in the Blocks order drop-down list
> The new RAID configuration will be loaded

To edit your own RAID configuration

1 Select <Edit> in the Blocks order drop-down list
2 Select the required configuration on the Edit Block RAID Layout Presets dialog box.
Click to enlarge

Edit Block RAID Layout Presets dialog box

3 Edit the parameters of the configuration and save it
> The new configuration parameters will be saved.

Turning Disks On-Line and Off-Line on-the-fly

You may turn the objects in the virtual RAID or volume set on-line and off-line by selecting/clearing the checkbox on the Parents tab. It may be useful, for example, if you need to see which disk is non-actual in a RAID5.

Actually, when you turn an object off-line, R-Studio substitutes it with a Missing Disk or Empty Space object.

Missing Disks

If one partition from a hardware volume set or RAID or software volume set or RAID is absent, due to hardware failure, for example, you need to add a virtual missing disk in order to correctly re-construct the hardware volume set or RAID or software volume set or RAID structure. The missing disk should be placed in the same place as the missing partition.

Note: R-Studio does not write anything real on the disk. Missing disks are virtual objects that do not affect actual data on the drive.

To add an Missing disk object

1 Select a Volume sets and RAIDs object on the R-Studio's Drives panel
2 Control-click in the Parents tab in the right pane and select Add Missing Disk on the contextual menu or select Add Missing Disk in the Create menu
> A Missing Disk object will appear in the Parents tab