Basic RAID 4 and RAID 5

RAID 4 and RAID 5 are much similar. You may create and edit a RAID 4 object the same way as a RAID 5 one.

Select Virtual Block RAID Volume if you want to create a virtual RAID4 or RAID5 object.

Available disks	List of disks available for creating virtual disk arrays
Show Partitions	If this check box is selected, Restorer Ultimate also shows partitions on hard drives
Show as:	Select the units in which you want to see object sizes. You may select, Bytes, Sectors, and Bytes and Sectors.
Selected disks	List of disks selected for creating virtual disk arrays
Buttons
Add	Click this button to add the selected disk from the Available disks list to the Selected disks list
Remove	Click this button to remove the selected disk from the Selected disks list
Remove All	Click this button to remove all selected disks from the Selected disks list
Move Up	Click this button to move the selected disk one level up in the Selected disks list
Move Down	Click this button to move the selected disk one level down in the Selected disks list
Add Missing Disk	Click this button to add a virtual disk into virtual disk array that will be created

Note: Components should be placed in the same order and the offsets should be specified as they were in the original volume set. If this order is incorrect, you must change it by using the Move Up and Move Down buttons.

If a component from the objects is absent (due to hardware failure, for example), you can add a "missing disk" to re-construct the RAID. The missing disk should be placed in the same order as in the original RAID structure.

You may turn the objects in the virtual RAID or volume set on-line and off-line by selecting/clearing the On checkbox on the Create Virtual RAID dialog box. It may be useful, for example, if you need to see which disk is non-actual in a RAID5 or 6.

Actually, when you turn an object off-line, Restorer Ultimate substitutes it with a Missing Disk or Empty Space object.

Note: Restorer Ultimate does not write anything real on the disk. A missing disk is a virtual object that does not affect actual data on the drive.

You also need to specify Blocks order for virtual stripe sets or RAID5. You may select it on the Blocks order drop-down or shortcut menu.

The RAID block size parameter must be set the same as for the original volume set. If the order or Raid block size parameter is not correct, data on the parents will not be damaged, but the data cannot be recovered.

The Virtual volume set or RAIDs object can now be processed like regular drives/volumes.

If Restorer Ultimate detects a valid file system on the newly created RAID object, a partition object will appear on the Device/Disk list panel.

Note: You may check how correctly you have reconstructed the original volume set or RAID. Find a file and preview it. If the file appears correct, you have created a correct RAID layout. The file should be large enough. For example, it should have size equal or larger to Block size*(Number of disks-Number of parity disks) for RAID 5 or 6.