A client submitted a data recovery request after experiencing a sudden NAS failure caused by a power trip. The NAS, configured with a RAID 5 array, became inaccessible when one of the hard drives failed. An attempted drive replacement and rebuild was unsuccessful, leaving the client unable to access critical documents, photos, and videos.

Our engineering team conducted a structured evaluation and identified the following:

• One drive had suffered a complete mechanical failure
• The replacement drive was blank, causing the RAID controller to halt the rebuild
• The remaining three drives were degraded but still physically functional
• No encryption was present, enabling direct data‑layer recovery
• RAID 5 parameters were intact but required manual reconstruction

To ensure data integrity and prevent further degradation, we adopted an industry‑standard, forensically sound workflow:

• Sector‑by‑sector cloning of all healthy drives
• Manual RAID 5 reconstruction using the cloned images
• File system repair and structured data extraction
• Integrity validation of recovered files

The RAID 5 array was successfully rebuilt in a controlled environment, and all requested data types were recovered. The client regained full access to their operational files without any data loss.