NAS Recovery Case Study
One accidental reformat. No backup. Data recovered anyway.
A small business ran its entire working data on a single WD My Cloud NAS, with no backup behind it. A staff reformat wiped the file system — and a DIY recovery attempt still missed the files that mattered most.
The case
No backup, one accidental format.
A single point of failure, and the error message that triggered it.
The client, a small business, kept the entirety of its working data on a single WD My Cloud NAS unit — with no additional backup system in place.
The device began showing an error stating the drive needed to be formatted. While dealing with the fault, a member of staff formatted the drive by mistake, removing the file system that held the company's data — including the records needed for an upcoming VAT return.
What went wrong next
A DIY recovery attempt used up some of the runway.
Before contacting a specialist, the client attempted to recover the drive themselves using third-party recovery software downloaded online.
Most entry-level recovery tools are built to read standard Windows or Mac file systems, not the file systems NAS devices use internally — NAS drives have a very different structure underneath. The software recovered some data, but not the essential files the client needed most: the records for their VAT return were not among what it could reach.
In the lab
Imaged first, rebuilt from the image.
- 01
Imaging, not live repair
Our specialist in Belfast imaged all the hard drives before any further work took place. The original disks went straight back into their enclosure — nothing further was risked on them.
- 02
File system reconstruction
Working from the images, the reformatted file system was rebuilt, reconstructing the folder and file structure the format had removed.
- 03
Completed within 48 hours
From the drives being received to the recovered data being handed back, the job was completed within 48 hours.
Outcome
The VAT records recovered, and the single point of failure closed.
The recovery reached the data the client needed most — the records for their VAT return, which the earlier DIY software attempt had failed to bring back.
The job was estimated at around £350 + VAT before work began, and completed for that quoted price. Once the recovery was returned, the client was also set up with additional backup systems, so a single reformat can't put all of their data at risk again.
Stop before a DIY recovery attempt costs you the files that matter most. Get a fixed quote and a straight answer on what's recoverable.