Problem with a G RAID Dual Hard Drive
Here’s a customer’s data recovery enquiry about a G|RAID NAS storage system. (Note for the purpose of this post, “G|RAID” and “G-RAID” are the same)
The Problem
Hi, i experienced & encountered the following problem when i tried to use G | RAID Dual-Drive Storage System 6 TB (2) 7200 RPM Drives High-Speed Interface eSATA 3 Gbit FireWire 800/400 USB 2.0
As soon as i switch power button on it revs up but then makes a repetitive clicking & croaking sound and won’t boot up properly or mount disk image on iMac27 Desktop
These are the following details, description, specifications concerning my particular external drive:
G-RAID GEN4 6TB EMEA Order PIN: GRADEB6000xxxx (Barcode 7054871xxxx3 | Barcode W80119xxx1)
G | RAID Perfect for Video Audio Photo Every 100GB 8.4 hours of HDV 1080i 1.7 hours of DVCPRO HD 1 hour of ProRes 422 HQ 50,000 Photos* 25,000 MP3s. (Three 3 Year Warranty) [Made in Thailand]
RAID 0 for maximum speed – over 200MB/second using eSATA Two-High-Performance Hitachi 7200 RPM SATA II drives
eSATA, Firewire 800, FireWire 400 (via cable) and USB 2.0 ports
Formatted for Mac*
G-RAID utilises (2) high-performance 7200 RPM, SATA II drives in RAID 0 configuration for maximum performance – over 200MB/sec via eSATA!
G-RAID dual-drive storage system Universal AC power supply
Cables: FireWire 800 (1.8m white). FireWire 800 to 400 (1.8m white), eSATA (1.6m black), USB 2.00 (1m white) Product CD-ROM
COMPATIBILITY Mac OS* X 10.5 + Windows Vista*/Windows 7*
SPECIFICATIONS Disk Drive: (2) SATA II, Hitachi 7200 RPM Chipset: Oxford 936
Interfaced: (1) eSATA 3Gbit, (2) FireWire 800 (FireWire 400 via cable), (1) USB 2.0
SIZE: (LxWxH) 9.25″ x 5.125″ x 2.875″ / 235 x 130 x 73 mm
Weight 3.85 lbs / 1.75 kg
So can you please give me quote as regards data recovery and physically fixing this G | RAID Dual-Drive Storage System 6 TB (2) 7200 RPM Drives High-Speed Interface eSATA 3 Gbit FireWire 800/400 USB 2.0 so that i am able to re-use this particular G-Tech external drive going forward, i have less than 4TB of data on this external drive, if i decided to book with you (Data Clinic Ltd) would i be able to deliver & collect personally from you (Data Clinic Ltd London, 68 Lombard Street EC3V 9LJ, 0207 111 0964) If yes, what times would i be able to deliver & collect this G-Tech external drive and would you accept cash as payment
I trust you find this satisfactory and i look forward to receiving my quote, and if i decide to go ahead with this service can you please give me a booking repair number and i will deliver this drive a.s.a.p.
Advice
Thanks for supplying all the details about your faulty G-RAID. I notice that your system is configured as a RAID 0, this means that your files are split across both hard drives on your system. Because 50% of each file is on the first drive and the other 50% on the second drive, it only takes either hard drive to fail for you to lose access to all your data. RAID 0 is not a popular type of RAID because of this. It’s only saving grace is that RAID 0 systems are extremely quick as the data is read twice as fast (both disks reading different parts of the same file simultaneously) and is really only used these days in systems that require high data transfer speeds (high definition video and audio applications, gaming systems etc).
A far more sensible approach with two disk NAS systems like this G|RAID is to configure it as a RAID 1, otherwise known as a mirror. This is where the contents of each disk ‘mirror’ the other. Because the contents of both drives are identical, it no longer matters if one drive in the system fails – no data loss has occurred and most NAS systems will flag the hard drive failure.
The symptoms you describe above (“makes a repetitive clicking & croaking sound”) suggest that one or both of your G|RAID’s hard drives have a fault with their read/write heads. It’s a serious problem that is caused by a part inside the hard drive becoming physically damaged so that it no longer works. The repetitive clicking is the drive continuously resetting itself as it executes a self test that it will never pass. This is because it’s read/write heads are damaged, the clicking eventually stops when the drive times out.
Recovery of Files
The data should be recoverable – you are welcome to bring your system into our London location at New London House. We’ll assess it and see what needs to be done in order to retrieve your data. Once the assessment has been completed we’ll tell you a cost for the work and it’s up to you if you want to proceed. In the meantime if you’d like to discuss further, please give us a call.
Further Information
> View the most recent help and advice pages here
> View older help and advice pages in The Archive here
> Our NAS data recovery section: https://www.dataclinic.co.uk/nas-data-recovery/
> Our RAID data recovery page: https://www.dataclinic.co.uk/hard-disk-raid-recovery/
