Server Data Recovery
A failed server can stop your whole organisation – file shares, accounts, email, line-of-business applications and virtual machines all go offline together. Data Retrieval Ltd recovers data from physical and virtual servers of every size, from a single tower server in a small office to multi-node storage clusters.
We recover the underlying RAID or storage first, then the operating system, virtual machines, databases and applications that sit on top of it.
Servers and Storage We Recover
| Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Servers | Dell PowerEdge (PERC H330 to H965), HPE ProLiant Gen8–Gen12 (Smart Array and MR controllers), Lenovo ThinkSystem and IBM System x, Fujitsu PRIMERGY, Supermicro, Cisco UCS. |
| Controllers | Broadcom/LSI MegaRAID, Adaptec/Microchip SmartRAID, Intel RST/VROC, HighPoint, Areca, 3ware. |
| Software RAID | Linux mdadm and LVM, Windows Storage Spaces and dynamic disks, ZFS (RAID-Z1/Z2/Z3), Btrfs, Apple RAID, Synology SHR, Unraid. |
| NAS & SAN | Synology, QNAP, Netgear ReadyNAS, Buffalo TeraStation, Asustor, TerraMaster, TrueNAS, Dell PowerVault, HPE MSA, NetApp. |
| Drives | SATA and SAS hard drives up to 30TB+, SATA, SAS and NVMe U.2/U.3 SSDs. |
Operating Systems and Applications
| Platform | Versions and data |
|---|---|
| Windows Server | 2008 R2, 2012 R2, 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2025 – NTFS, ReFS, Storage Spaces, Hyper-V, Active Directory. |
| Linux & UNIX | RHEL, Rocky, AlmaLinux, Ubuntu Server, Debian, SUSE, Proxmox; Solaris, AIX, FreeBSD, TrueNAS. |
| Virtualisation | VMware vSphere/ESXi 6.x–9 (VMFS 5/6, vSAN), Microsoft Hyper-V (VHD/VHDX), Proxmox VE, Citrix/XenServer, Nutanix. |
| Databases | Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQLite, and accounting data such as Sage and QuickBooks. |
| Microsoft Exchange EDB, Outlook PST/OST, Lotus Notes NSF, Thunderbird mailboxes. |
Common Server Failures
- Multiple drive failures in RAID 5, 6 or 10 arrays
- RAID controller or backplane failure
- Server will not boot after an update or power loss
- Corrupted virtual machine disks or deleted VMs
- Database corruption after an unclean shutdown
- Ransomware encryption of file shares or VMs
Before You Do Anything
If your array has failed: do not force a rebuild, re-initialise the array, run CHKDSK/fsck, or swap drives between slots. Label every disk with its slot number, shut the system down cleanly if you can, and call us on 020 7064 4996. Most unrecoverable RAID cases we see were made worse by a rebuild attempted on the wrong disk.
Free assessment, no obligation. Call 020 7064 4996 or use the form on this page – an engineer will tell you what can be recovered and what it will cost. Book online · Pricing · Locations