Old RAID HDDs/New TS-464

[Enquiries]

Hi there, I have two old HDDs that I had in a computer that no longer functions. I recall them being in RAID 0 or 1, but unsure which. I'd like to try to get the data off them. I have a new QNAP TS-464 on the way, and was wondering if I attach them in the system, will I be able to read and retrieve the data, will the QNAP recognize their RAID or is it specific to the RAID controller from my old PC? Please let me know if you need more information! Thank you!

[ed]

Thanks for getting in touch. If those drives were originally in a RAID set managed by your PC’s motherboard or a dedicated RAID controller, your new QNAP TS-464 will not automatically recognize that array. QNAP’s RAID system (mdadm under the hood) is specific to its own setup and can’t import arrays created by Windows, Intel RST, or most hardware RAID cards.

The safest approach is not to insert the old drives directly into the new NAS yet. Instead, connect them to a computer using SATA or a USB dock and check whether they mount individually. If they were in RAID 1, each drive may still contain readable data and can often be accessed directly. If they were in RAID 0, the data is striped across both drives and will only be recoverable using software tools that can rebuild the RAID metadata manually (like R-Studio or ReclaiMe).