Drobo storage systems are widely used by professional photographers and creative businesses for their high-capacity, redundant storage solutions. However, when two drives fail simultaneously, the system may become inaccessible, leading to potential data loss and file system corruption. If the failed drives also produce grinding or scraping noises, it often indicates physical platter damage, making recovery highly complex.
This case study details how we successfully recovered critical wedding photography data from a Drobo 6-disk system containing 6 x 4TB Western Digital Red NAS drives, after two drives failed and grinding noises were detected.
As Oxford Data Recovery, with 25 years of forensic data recovery experience, we used cleanroom head replacement, RAID reconstruction, and deep sector imaging techniques to restore lost data.
The Challenge: Drobo NAS Failure Due to Two Failed Drives with Grinding Noises
A wedding photography business contacted us after their Drobo 6-disk NAS system failed, with the following issues:
- The system went offline after two drives failed simultaneously.
- Grinding and scraping noises were heard from the failed drives.
- The Drobo dashboard showed the RAID volume as inaccessible.
- Years of wedding photos, client albums, and raw footage were at risk.
Since physical damage to drive platters can cause permanent data loss, an immediate cleanroom recovery solution was required.
Diagnosis & Evaluation
When the Drobo 6-disk NAS (6 x 4TB WD Red drives) arrived at our cleanroom facility, we conducted a full RAID and drive-level diagnostic. Our findings:
- Two drives had severe mechanical failures, with read/write heads scraping against the platters.
- RAID metadata was corrupted, preventing the Drobo system from recognizing the array.
- No parity-based redundancy – The failed drives contained essential data, requiring manual RAID reconstruction.
Since DIY recovery attempts could worsen platter damage, we prioritized professional cleanroom recovery and RAID array rebuilding.
The Recovery Process
1. Cleanroom Hard Drive Repair & Head Replacement
Since two drives had physical damage, we:
- Opened the failed drives in our cleanroom.
- Replaced damaged read/write heads with donor parts from identical WD Red drives.
- Stabilized platters to prevent further degradation.
2. Imaging & Cloning All 6 RAID Drives
Since multiple drives were degraded, we:
- Created forensic sector-by-sector clones of all 6 drives.
- Used specialized imaging tools to bypass bad sectors and unreadable areas.
3. Rebuilding the Drobo RAID System
Since Drobo uses a proprietary RAID-like system, we:
- Manually reconstructed the RAID configuration outside of the Drobo environment.
- Recovered missing parity and metadata structures to restore file integrity.
4. Extracting & Verifying Wedding Photography Data
Once the RAID array was rebuilt, we:
- Recovered thousands of high-resolution wedding photos and raw videos.
- Verified image and file integrity to ensure no corruption.
- Transferred the fully restored data to a new external NAS system.
The Results: 95% Data Recovery Success
Thanks to our cleanroom head replacement and RAID reconstruction techniques, we successfully recovered 95% of the wedding photography business’s lost data, including:
✅ Wedding albums, client photos, and raw footage
✅ Edited high-resolution images and videos
✅ Digital backups and client project files
The photography business was able to deliver client projects on time, avoiding reputational and financial loss.
Why Choose Us?
With 25 years of experience and tens of thousands of successful RAID recoveries, we are the leading Drobo NAS data recovery specialists in Oxford and the UK. Our expertise includes:
✔ Drobo RAID failure recovery & proprietary RAID reconstruction
✔ Cleanroom mechanical drive repair
✔ RAID metadata & parity-based data restoration
✔ Secure & confidential recovery for photographers and businesses
If your Drobo NAS system has failed due to multiple drive failures, grinding noises, or file system corruption, stop all further recovery attempts and contact us for expert data recovery.