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NAS - QNAP - Recover RAID or move data from broken NAS

NAS - QNAP - Recover RAID or move data from broken NAS

Most NAS brands run Linux as a backbone, so it is usually easy to recover data by connecting the disks from the NAS to a system running Linux.

Remove the drives from your NAS

IMPORTANT: Remember the order in which the disks were arranged in the NAS; as this may be needed for the recovery process.

It is usually good to place a sticker with the drive number onto each disk.

Connect the disks from the NAS to a PC running Ubuntu

Prepare a PC with enough hard drive slots available to install the hard drives from your NAS.

For RAID or SHR configurations, connect all the hard drives (excluding hard drives used as hot spares) to your computer at the same time.

NOTE: Ensure the file system running on the hard drives of your NAS are EXT4 or Btrfs.

If the computer does not have enough SATA ports or power connectors; then use some power splitter adapters and expansion cards as needed.

If the NAS only had a single disk, then this disk should be immediately accessible and no further steps in these instructions are needed.

Install mdadm

sudo apt-get install mdadm

NOTE: When prompted for Postfix Configuration.

Select No configuration and complete the installation.

Install lvm2

sudo apt-get install lvm2

NOTE: This is needed for vgchange.

Mount all of the hard drives

sudo mdadm -Asf && vgchange -ay

NOTE: The files on the hard disks should be accessible.

mdadm -Asf: Assemble a pre-existing array. Scan config file or /proc/mdstat for missing information. Insist that mdadm accept the geometry and layout specified without question.
vgchange -ay: To activate all known volume groups in the system.