How to Recover Deleted Files from an UNRAID server running the XFS file system

 

I deleted about 1.9TB of data consisting of several directories and their contents and multiple individual files,

I  was told there was no way to "undelete" the data in a XFS file system in unraid.

 

I found a program called Recovery Explorer 8.4 which recovered all of my data.

https://www.sysdevlabs.com/product.php?id=rxs6

 

REMEMBER... do NOT do ANYTHING that will write to the array after the files are deleted or

you may write over the files you want to recover

 

Below are the steps I took to recover my data

1.  Stopped doing anything that might write to the array

2. Determined which HD the deleted data had been on

3. Stopped array

4. Power off server

5. Removed the  HD determined in step 2, from the server

6. Connect the server HD to a different computer

7. Install Recovery Explorer software on this computer,  not the server

8. Run the recover software and when the scan is finished the data is recovered.

9. Do a COPY of the recovered directories and files from the software to a hard drive

10. Install the hard drive with the recovered data in the server as an Unassigned Device

11. Reinstall the server array HD

12. Power the server back on

13. Mounted the Unassigned drive

13. Transferred the recovered data from the unassigned drive to the array , in my case back to HD it had been deleted from

 

WARNING  the scan process is LONG .. The array HD I scanned was a 10TB drive and it took about 22 hours

BUT the program recovered ALL my data

Edited April 13, 20215 yr by Anne
MARK SOLVED

'11. Reinstall the server array HD'

What do you mean by this? Aren't there many HDs (hard drives) in an array? Something similar has happened to me for 5 drives, although I can't see why the files were deleted. 

I used the singular "HD" because I was desribing my problem and the solution to my problem where I determined the deleted information was on a single HD within my array. The solution shown was for corrective action on that single HD within a multiple HD array

I see.

So I have a similar problem in which 5 out of 6 disks were mysteriously erased. I have no idea how that's possible, since I'm the only one with write access, and I haven't changed any hardware/software config in over a year.

My game plan is to:
- shut down the Unraid server,
- take out one of the affected HDDs,
- plug it into my Windows desktop PC (which has a brand new HDD connected to it to copy over recovered data),
- run the recovery on the affected drive,
- copy the data over to the spare drive,
- connect the affected drive back into exactly the same SATA port on Unraid,
- boot Unraid, 
- Start array,
- Copy data from spare drive over the network to the original drive 

And rinse and repeat until all drives are done.

I still don't know how I'm going to copy the recovered data from the spare drive (connected to my Windows PC) *specifically* to the original drive once it's plugged into Unraid, since the shares are designed to distribute data evenly across the disks. Any ideas?

My aim is to preserve the file directory structure exactly as it was, because I have a bunch of Dockers that work together and rely on files located in specific directories, and it took me forever to set it up so it works correctly. I also would like to restore my VMs (which have also mysteriously been deleted) exactly as they were.

Does this sound possible?

Edited December 6, 20223 yr by Corvus

 

Sorry, but I can not speak to your situation as my array is not set up the same way as yours, meaning I did not spread data over many disks..

My solution to deleted unraid server data may be unique because of that, I do not know..

 

My main purpose in putting forth my deleted data incident was to let people know that contrary to the popular theory of,

  " there is no way to recover deleted data on an unraid server ",  that

1. recovery of deleted data on an unraid server is possible,

2. to let others know of the software product I used to successfully recover my deleted data,  and

3. the recovery procedure I used was the procedure recommended in the version of the software I purchased.

 

My deleted data situation was fairly simple,

Your situation may require one of the more advanced versions of the software and the procedures that are recommended for that version of the software.. 

The software version I used,  recovered my deleted data and allowed me to rebuild my array without loss of my data. 

 

I see what you mean, but I think our situations aren't that dissimilar. The only difference is in the way the data is stored on the array. Nevertheless, I've found a way to copy the recovered data specifically to that original disk once it's installed back into Unraid. I believe with this considered, that the procedure should otherwise be the same.

Good Luck....

What about 1 file that is in use?  (on the cache drive)

It's 1.30am and I definitely should have gone to bed...... a long time ago

Long story short I deleted docker.img and I really don't want to set up 28 containers from scratch

 

I was doing some work on server 3 (doesn't get much love) when I thought I'd remove libvert (this isn't my vm rig) but i'm half asleep and deleted docker.img to.

 

Docker is fine at the moment and I was told I while ago (cant find that thread now but I've seen it in action before) that if you delete a file that is still in use it just becomes hidden/renamed so docker should be fine until I stop docker and then it will fully remove the file.

 

If I have to set it up from scratch I'd lose aptalca/docker-dolphin since that has been deprecated witch I would hate to lose so another good reason to recover the file.

 

Anyone know how to restore the file?

Edited December 12, 20223 yr by mdrodge

Just want to add another shout out for Recovery Explorer.  I had inadvertently wiped out most of my media share, RE allowed me to recover about 90% of the deleted files to an external drive.  The rest I was able to pull down from an old AWS Glacier backup.

 

It definitely was painstaking trying to figure out which recovered files ended up in which directories - a lot of $RecoveredFile subdirectories - but at least it was possible.

 

And now, I have learned a valuable lesson and set most of my media share directories to read-only. 😒

Happy posting my original recovery success using Recovery Explorer is still helping others ......

 

I am a little confuded by your statement concerning directories, 

as the majority of my files were placed in  their correct directories with few files or directories being orphaned in any way ..

 

Anne

On 8/18/2020 at 8:37 PM, Anne said:

How to Recover Deleted Files from an UNRAID server running the XFS file system

 

I deleted about 1.9TB of data consisting of several directories and their contents and multiple individual files,

I  was told there was no way to "undelete" the data in a XFS file system in unraid.

 

I found a program called Recovery Explorer 8.4 which recovered all of my data.

https://www.sysdevlabs.com/product.php?id=rxs6

 

REMEMBER... do NOT do ANYTHING that will write to the array after the files are deleted or

you may write over the files you want to recover

 

Below are the steps I took to recover my data

1.  Stopped doing anything that might write to the array

2. Determined which HD the deleted data had been on

3. Stopped array

4. Power off server

5. Removed the  HD determined in step 2, from the server

6. Connect the server HD to a different computer

7. Install Recovery Explorer software on this computer,  not the server

8. Run the recover software and when the scan is finished the data is recovered.

9. Do a COPY of the recovered directories and files from the software to a hard drive

10. Install the hard drive with the recovered data in the server as an Unassigned Device

11. Reinstall the server array HD

12. Power the server back on

13. Mounted the Unassigned drive

13. Transferred the recovered data from the unassigned drive to the array , in my case back to HD it had been deleted from

 

WARNING  the scan process is LONG .. The array HD I scanned was a 10TB drive and it took about 22 hours

BUT the program recovered ALL my data

 

Does using this program preserve directory structure and file names?

i accidentally formatted a disk while in place in my array and am currently using testdisk in unraid to rescue data but no metadata is preserved.

T he program I used saved everything in correct structure format, except where the data had been written over from trying other rescue attempts before I found the program I used, and even that data was rescued , but as single files that you would need to know where they belong...  I used the program several years ago now so I would hope it has improved since I purchased it , and who knows, it may do everything you need now..

They had a trial version that let you see if you could rescue your files..... Maybe they still do..... give them a try.

Hope you are successful....

Anne

On 8/3/2024 at 3:01 PM, Anne said:

T he program I used saved everything in correct structure format, except where the data had been written over from trying other rescue attempts before I found the program I used, and even that data was rescued , but as single files that you would need to know where they belong...  I used the program several years ago now so I would hope it has improved since I purchased it , and who knows, it may do everything you need now..

They had a trial version that let you see if you could rescue your files..... Maybe they still do..... give them a try.

Hope you are successful....

Anne

I am using UFS Explorer atm. Scan on 10TB drive takes about 13h. But it did indeed find the data in exactly the right dir structure and filenames. Ill check out your programm too. Another 2 Drives to go!

Edited August 17, 20241 yr by Kees Fluitman

On 8/19/2020 at 12:37 AM, Anne said:

How to Recover Deleted Files from an UNRAID server running the XFS file system

 

I deleted about 1.9TB of data consisting of several directories and their contents and multiple individual files,

I  was told there was no way to "undelete" the data in a XFS file system in unraid.

 

I found a program called Recovery Explorer 8.4 which recovered all of my data.

https://www.sysdevlabs.com/product.php?id=rxs6

 

REMEMBER... do NOT do ANYTHING that will write to the array after the files are deleted or

you may write over the files you want to recover

 

Below are the steps I took to recover my data

1.  Stopped doing anything that might write to the array

2. Determined which HD the deleted data had been on

3. Stopped array

4. Power off server

5. Removed the  HD determined in step 2, from the server

6. Connect the server HD to a different computer

7. Install Recovery Explorer software on this computer,  not the server

8. Run the recover software and when the scan is finished the data is recovered.

9. Do a COPY of the recovered directories and files from the software to a hard drive

10. Install the hard drive with the recovered data in the server as an Unassigned Device

11. Reinstall the server array HD

12. Power the server back on

13. Mounted the Unassigned drive

13. Transferred the recovered data from the unassigned drive to the array , in my case back to HD it had been deleted from

 

WARNING  the scan process is LONG .. The array HD I scanned was a 10TB drive and it took about 22 hours

BUT the program recovered ALL my data

Hello Everyone!

First I would like to thank @Anne for the post!

By mistake I had deleted 4TB of data from my 10TB HDD. I am runnung a scan right now! Hopefully I will be able to recover as I turned off the server just after this "mess".

I am using Recovery Explorer Standard Version: 10.16 on windows 11 Pro 25H2. The HDD that I am trying to recover is formated in xfs.

I followed the steps (still running) but I have some questions:

1. The "spare" HDD that you have copied the recovered files from the original disk was in NTFS file system? I am using the windows version to recover.

2. The software has a trial version. Could you be able to do the recover using trial or had to buy the software?

3. I think UFS Explorer is from the same company. It has a PRODUCT COMPARISON in their page.

I will update as soon as it finishes. 10 hours left. I am looking forward to see the results!

Once again Thank you @Anne and everyone that share all the experiences.

Take care!

Braz.

Edited October 26, 2025Oct 26 by BrazMan

The trial version that I used let me "see" the data I could recover and yes I had to purchase the program to get my files..

I use Linux Mint as my operating system, and I do not remember if I had to use the NTFS at any point during the recovery.

The current software from the company is ;

Recovery Explorer (r-explorer.com)

- & -

UFS Explorer (UFSexplorer.com)

---- There is a comparison page showing differences in each of their respective editions.. link below,,

https://www.r-explorer.com/compare-standard-editions/

These two branded products are from the same company and are very similar,

but there are big differences between the individual editions of each brand (Recovery Explorer vs USFexplorer ) ..

Good Luck

Anne

Edited October 27, 2025Oct 27 by Anne
add new info