Server Data Recovery — Windows Server, Linux, NAS RAID & SAN Storage
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Lost data? Stop using the device and act now — early action is the biggest factor in successful recovery.
✔ Free file list before you pay · ✔ Free phone assessment · ✔ ISO-5 Class 100 clean room · ✔ 20+ years experience
Server downtime costs Australian businesses thousands of dollars per hour. When a server storage failure occurs — whether it’s a single drive failure on a Windows Server, a multi-disk RAID array collapse, a failed SAN volume, or a virtualised environment going offline — The Original PC Doctor provides emergency server data recovery with 24/7 response for critical business failures.
We recover from Windows Server, Linux servers, NAS arrays, SAN storage, and enterprise virtualised environments. Our cleanroom facilities, enterprise-grade recovery tools and Kroll Ontrack partnership mean we handle recoveries that are beyond the capability of typical IT support providers.
Server down? Call 1300 723 628 — emergency response, 24/7.
Server Platforms We Recover From
Server Failure Scenarios We Handle
- RAID array offline after drive failure during rebuild — the most common catastrophic server storage failure. A second drive fails mid-rebuild, taking the array fully offline. We image all remaining drives and reconstruct without writing to originals.
- Windows Server won’t boot after Windows Update — update failures can corrupt the boot partition or system volume. Data on the server usually survives; only the boot environment is damaged.
- Active Directory corruption or domain controller failure — AD database corruption, SYSVOL replication failure, or a crashed domain controller. We recover the AD database (ntds.dit) and SYSVOL.
- Linux root filesystem corruption — ext4 journal corruption, XFS metadata damage, or Btrfs tree corruption preventing the server from booting. We mount the filesystem offline and recover data.
- ZFS pool degraded or offline — single or multiple drive failures in a ZFS mirror or RAIDZ pool. ZFS has strong self-healing, but when the pool goes offline recovery requires specialist ZFS tools.
- LVM volume or volume group offline — damaged LVM metadata making logical volumes inaccessible without destroying data on the underlying physical volumes.
- Accidental rm -rf or del /s /q on server share — mass deletion of server data. Recovery depends on file system type and whether data has been overwritten. Stop all writes immediately.
- Ransomware attack on file server — all files encrypted across the server share. We assess for VSS/shadow copy recovery, unencrypted backup remnants, and partial plaintext recovery.
- iSCSI target or NFS export corruption — storage presented to virtual machines or client systems via iSCSI or NFS that has become corrupted or inaccessible.
- RAID controller failure — hardware RAID controller dies; array won’t import to a replacement controller. We reconstruct the array metadata independently of the failed controller.
- Server hard drive physical failure — clicking, seized, not detected. Cleanroom recovery of the individual drive, followed by RAID reconstruction if applicable.
Enterprise & SAN Storage Recovery
We recover from enterprise SAN and DAS storage systems including:
- Dell EMC Unity, PowerStore, PowerMax, VNX, CLARiiON — LUN recovery, volume reconstruction, filesystem extraction
- NetApp ONTAP — WAFL (Write Anywhere File Layout) filesystems, aggregate and volume recovery
- HPE Nimble, MSA, StoreEasy, 3PAR — all HPE storage platforms
- IBM Storwize, FlashSystem, DS series
- Pure Storage FlashArray — NVMe-based all-flash arrays
- StarWind, DataON, Windows Server SANs — software-defined storage on commodity hardware
Critical Do’s and Don’ts for Server Failures
Initiate a RAID rebuild or resync before calling us. Insert a replacement drive and let the controller auto-rebuild. Run chkdsk or fsck on a degraded RAID volume. Reboot the server repeatedly hoping it will come back. Restore from a potentially corrupted backup without assessing the original storage first.
Halt the server gracefully if it’s still partially running. Note the exact error messages and drive fault lights. Call 1300 723 628 — our enterprise team will advise on safe next steps before any action is taken. We respond within 30 minutes for critical server emergencies.
Our Server Recovery Process
- Emergency phone assessment — call 1300 723 628 immediately. Describe the server platform, RAID level, failure mode, and business impact. Our enterprise team will advise safe next steps within minutes.
- On-site or remote triage available — for critical business failures we can dispatch a technician to your premises or connect remotely to triage the situation before bringing hardware in.
- Forensic imaging of all drives — every drive in the array is cloned to forensic images before any analysis begins. We never work on originals.
- RAID reconstruction and volume extraction — virtual RAID reconstruction, LVM metadata repair, ZFS pool import, or Windows Storage Spaces reconstruction as applicable.
- File system and data extraction — we extract the file system from the reconstructed volume and generate a complete file list. You approve before we proceed to delivery.
- Restoration to new infrastructure — recovered data can be delivered on hard drives, restored directly to a new server, delivered to cloud storage, or via secure courier.
Free Resources
Independent, non-commercial references:
Get your data back — free file list, free phone assessment. Talk to a specialist today.
✔ Free file list before you pay · ✔ Free phone assessment · ✔ ISO-5 Class 100 clean room · ✔ 20+ years experience
Our Data Recovery Specialties
We recover from every device and failure type — go straight to the specialist service you need:
- Hard drive data recovery
- SSD data recovery
- USB flash drive recovery
- SD & memory card recovery
- RAID & NAS recovery
- Email & Outlook PST recovery
- Ransomware data recovery
- Photo recovery
- External hard drive recovery
- iPhone & smartphone recovery
- Mac & MacBook recovery
- Emergency & same-day recovery
- Business & server recovery
FAQs — Server Data Recovery
How much does server data recovery cost?
Server recovery pricing starts at $1,500 AUD for simple single-drive server failures and typically ranges from $2,500–$8,000+ for multi-disk RAID failures, depending on the number of drives, RAID level, and physical condition of the drives. Enterprise SAN and complex configurations are quoted on a project basis. Call 1300 723 628 for an immediate assessment and price range.
Can you recover our server data after a ransomware attack?
It depends on the ransomware strain and your system configuration. We assess for Windows VSS shadow copies (often deleted by modern ransomware strains, but not always), unencrypted files on portions of the storage that were skipped, backup remnants on the server, and pre-encryption file system recovery. We provide a forensic report on what recovery is possible before any work proceeds. If you have the decryption key, we can also assist with decryption and reconstruction of the file system.
How quickly can you respond to a critical server failure?
We aim to respond to emergency server calls within 30 minutes 24/7. Same-day lab intake is available for critical failures when drives are brought in by 2pm. For emergency on-site response in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and other capital cities, call 1300 723 628 and ask for our enterprise emergency team.
Can you recover an entire server including the OS, applications and data?
We recover all data stored on the server’s storage — including OS volumes, application data, databases, mailboxes, and user files. We don’t simply restore a file system; we can deliver a complete bare-metal restore image that can be spun up on new hardware or in a VM, or we can extract specific data (e.g. specific user directories, the Exchange database, SQL databases) depending on your priority.
Call 1300 723 628 for free expert advice — or book online now.
