RAID 1 recovery is still possible even if it was accidentally reformatted but it depends on how it was done. A reformat through the operating system such as Windows or commonly known as a high-level reformat, will produce a so-called “clean” volume but the original data will still be present on the free disk space. On the other hand, a reformat using the controller software or a low-level reformat will overwrite every sector and erases the original data.
Data recovery software utilities may also be used for RAID 1 recovery. Many of the data recovery software may oblige the read-and-write heads to unceasingly travel over areas of the original disk that could possibly make the surfaces useless and make it impossible to recover if there is any bodily damage. That is why data recovery software would not be the safest suggestion.
Things to keep in mind
1. The best method of recovering data from a corrupted RAID 1 volume is to make a block-level duplicate of every sector on each hard drive.
2. The copy is then used to reproduce the original volume and retrieve the required files. This process is actually more time consuming but it maintains the physical quality of the drive media.
3. If both mirrored drives fail, RAID 1 recovery is still possible.
4. The quality of the recovered data will depend on how much damage each failed storage device has.
5. If the mirrored drive was properly working until the point of failure, then there must be duplicates of the data on at least two hard drives which will give two chances of recovery.