Databack success stories: recovering large medical data on NAS
An emergency operation to recover 150 TB of data from a customer specializing in medical research? The year 2022 has got off to a great start for our teams… Recovering large amounts of data always brings its share of challenges, especially when dealing with sensitive, high-value data.
Case study: loss of data accessibility on NAS server
At the beginning of 2022, Databack was called in urgently to recover data from a NAS network storage server. The file server is a SnapServer from Overland, an American company specializing in the storage and protection of high-volume computer data.
Our customer, specializing in medical research, had deployed a SnapServer NAS for its needs, comprising a main bay and four extensions, totalling 60 hard disks of 4 TB each. These volumes were federated by a RAID system, and data was stored under a RAID 5 architecture.
Following an initial diagnosis by our technical department, it became clear that one volume after another was becoming inaccessible. The first action recommended by our technicians to limit data loss or corruption was to shut down the racks immediately.
Databack intervention: targeting critical data for disaster recovery
When faced with high volumes and/or critical data, data recovery plans need to prioritize targets and actions to be taken (which your organization can define in advance through DRPs/CPs).
Building on this experience, Databack set up a rapid and secure intervention process in collaboration with the customer’s technical team. Together, we targeted the data essential to the research laboratory’s activity, in order to keep downtime to a minimum.
We then dispatched our courier to bring all the equipment directly back to our own laboratory. On site, our first concern was to secure the 60 hard disks in the storage bays and isolate the faulty ones.
Our technicians then carried out a logical analysis to establish the RAID sequences and interleaving of the NAS storage volumes. They were then able to re-establish access to the various volumes designated by the customer, and extract all data.
The data was then handed over to our customer as it was recovered, and reintegrated into the new infrastructure of their research laboratory.
Another great victory for the Databack teams!
21 March 2022