The LaCie Big Disk 4-bay NAS is a high-capacity storage solution often used by businesses and professionals who need redundant and secure data storage. However, when a RAID 5 disk constantly disconnects, it can lead to RAID degradation, missing data, and eventual array failure.
This case study details how we successfully recovered business-critical data from a LaCie Big Disk RAID 5 system, after one of the disks repeatedly disconnected, preventing proper RAID access.
As Cambridge Data Recovery, with 25 years of experience, we used RAID 5 parity reconstruction, drive stabilization, and deep file system analysis techniques to restore the lost files after LaCie support was unable to recover the data and recommended our services.
The Challenge: RAID 5 Disk Constantly Disconnecting in LaCie Big Disk NAS
A business client contacted us after experiencing major RAID failures, with the following issues:
- One drive in the RAID 5 setup kept disconnecting, causing the RAID to enter degraded mode.
- The NAS performance dropped significantly, with frequent freezing and slow file access.
- The RAID controller failed to rebuild the array when the disconnected drive was replaced.
- LaCie support attempted recovery but was unsuccessful, referring the client to us.
Since RAID 5 relies on parity for redundancy, multiple drive disconnections can lead to complete RAID failure, making professional intervention critical.
Diagnosis & Evaluation
When the LaCie Big Disk 4-bay NAS (RAID 5 setup) arrived at our cleanroom facility, we conducted a full RAID and hardware diagnostic. Our findings:
- One drive had intermittent connectivity issues, causing RAID degradation.
- RAID metadata corruption detected, preventing proper RAID rebuilding.
- File system inconsistencies (EXT4/Btrfs) due to repeated failures and improper shutdowns.
Since LaCie support was unable to recover the RAID, but the parity data was still intact, we prioritized manual RAID reconstruction and data extraction.
The Recovery Process
1. Cloning & Imaging All RAID 5 Disks to Prevent Further Data Loss
To stabilize the recovery process, we:
- Created forensic sector-by-sector clones of all four RAID 5 disks.
- Used advanced recovery tools to bypass intermittent connectivity errors.
2. Manually Rebuilding the RAID 5 Array
Since RAID metadata was corrupted, we:
- Reconstructed the RAID 5 structure by analyzing the stripe size and parity distribution.
- Restored missing RAID headers and volume information.
3. Extracting & Verifying Business Data
Once the RAID 5 structure was rebuilt, we:
- Recovered all business documents, multimedia files, and critical databases.
- Checked recovered files for accuracy and completeness.
- Transferred the fully restored data to a secure external backup system.
The Results: 100% Data Recovery Success
Thanks to our RAID 5 reconstruction and metadata repair techniques, we successfully recovered 100% of the client’s lost files, including:
✅ Business documents and financial records
✅ Project files, presentations, and marketing materials
✅ Large multimedia files, images, and archived data
The client was able to fully restore their RAID system, preventing permanent data loss and avoiding business downtime.
Why Choose Us?
With 25 years of experience and tens of thousands of successful RAID recoveries, we are the leading RAID 5 and NAS data recovery specialists in Cambridge and the UK. Our expertise includes:
✔ RAID 5 disk failure & connectivity issue recovery
✔ RAID metadata reconstruction & NAS file system repair
✔ EXT4/Btrfs file recovery & RAID parity reconstruction
✔ Secure & confidential data retrieval for businesses
If your LaCie Big Disk RAID 5 NAS has failed due to disk disconnections, degraded RAID state, or file inaccessibility, stop using the device immediately and contact us for expert NAS data recovery.