RAID 5 with 2 drive failure

Is it possible to recover data from RAID 5 with 2 drive failure

Tagged: RAID

Raid data recovery

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tarobax

Participant

September 26, 2025 at 11:27 am

Jace, you’re right. With RAID 5, two failed drives usually mean the array can’t rebuild on its own, but recovery can sometimes work if the failed drives are still readable or can be imaged. Software like R-Studio, UFS Explorer, ReclaiMe, or Stellar RAID Data Recovery can try a virtual rebuild without overwriting what’s left. Forcing a rebuild from the RAID controller is risky and can destroy the remaining data.

Have you checked whether the failed drives are still readable or if you can make full disk images of them before trying recovery?

Jace Elric

Participant

September 1, 2025 at 9:22 am

In RAID 5, the array can only handle a single drive failure. Once two drives fail, the system no longer has enough parity to rebuild data, and the array is considered broken.

Recovery is sometimes possible, but it depends on the condition of the drives. If one of the failed drives is only marked bad by the controller and is still readable, or if both can still be imaged, data may be partially recoverable. Software such as R-Studio, UFS Explorer, ReclaiMe RAID, or Stellar RAID data recovery can attempt a virtual rebuild if most of the drives remain accessible.

What should not be done is forcing a rebuild from the RAID controller, as that risks overwriting parity and destroying what’s left. If the data is important and the drives are in poor shape, professional recovery is usually the safest route.

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