DiskInternals RAID and Dynamic Disk Support
The latest data recovery software from DiskInternals Research includes native support for hardware RAID and Windows Dynamic Disks. This is essential when recovering data stored using either of these disk subsystems, using different hardware or software.
RAID support
RAID, or Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, is a system for storing data on multiple, identical disks. There are several different RAID options, which can provide redundancy (protection against disk failure), increased performance, or both.
RAID is supported natively by many PC motherboards, as well as by plug-in controllers. However, the precise implementation is hardware dependent. This means that if your motherboard or RAID controller fails, and you cannot obtain an exact replacement, the contents of your hard drives may be unreadable.
DiskInternals data recovery products overcome this problem by providing built-in support for the RAID implementations in popular motherboard chipsets, directly in software. These products can recognize and mount RAID arrays created with all current Intel, nVidia or VIA chipsets, using Simple RAID (RAID 0), Stripe (RAID 0), Mirror (RAID 1), RAID 5 (with complete recovery of all data if any one disk is missing or damaged), and RAID 0+1 (RAID 10). DiskInternals data recovery products can repair broken RAID arrays and recover data if any disk is corrupted or damaged.
Windows Dynamic Disks
Dynamic Disks are a technology available in Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Server, that provides functionality similar to RAID. However, it is implemented directly in software, and does not require any special motherboard or hardware controller.
The problem with Dynamic Disks is that the implementation is not compatible between Windows versions. Dynamic disks created in Windows 2008 Server are not recognized by earlier versions, and RAID 5 dynamic disks are not recognized by Windows XP.
DiskInternals data recovery products provide built-in support for Dynamic Disks, so that a dynamic disk created using one version of Windows may be mounted, and data recovery performed, on any other version. You may even boot using a boot CD and recover data!
