Violin Memory / Violin Systems Data Recovery
Violin Memory, later renamed Violin Systems, built all-flash arrays around a custom flash module design rather than commodity SSDs, aiming for low, predictable latency for databases and virtualised workloads. The company went through bankruptcy proceedings and wound down, which means many deployed units are now end of support and any recovery must work entirely from the array's proprietary internal structures without vendor assistance.
Platform Lineage and Naming
Violin Memory shipped the 3000 series and 6000 series arrays using its own Violin Intelligent Memory Modules (VIMMs) rather than standard SSDs, followed by the Flash Storage Platform FSP 7300 and 7600 and the later XVS 8 hybrid/flash system after the company rebranded as Violin Systems.
Violin's later financial difficulties led to bankruptcy and cessation of normal operations, leaving customers with hardware that receives no ongoing vendor firmware or support updates, which raises the stakes of any hardware fault since replacement parts and vendor diagnostics are difficult to obtain.
- Violin Memory 3000 series, 6000 series
- Violin Systems (post-rebrand name)
- Flash Storage Platform FSP 7300, FSP 7600
- Violin XVS 8
- VIMM — Violin Intelligent Memory Module
- vRAID protection scheme
Generations and Models We Evaluate
| Generation / family | Models |
|---|---|
| Early | Violin 3000 series, 6000 series |
| Flash Storage Platform | FSP 7300, FSP 7600 |
| Later | XVS 8 |
Architecture and Data Layout
Violin arrays used custom flash controller hardware built into VIMMs, addressing raw NAND directly through Violin's own logic instead of relying on standard SSD firmware, which was intended to reduce latency but also means the modules cannot be read with generic SSD recovery tools.
vRAID distributed data and parity across VIMMs within a shelf, giving protection against individual module failure; because the modules are proprietary, understanding the specific vRAID layout of a given system generation is a prerequisite to any reconstruction.
Controller software presented block volumes to hosts over Fibre Channel or iSCSI, with management and snapshot capabilities layered on top of the vRAID pool.
Protocols and formats: Fibre Channel, iSCSI, VMware VAAI (select models)
- vRAID spreads data and parity across VIMMs within a shelf, a proprietary scheme rather than a standard RAID level.
- Because Violin's controller firmware is no longer actively maintained, unusual controller behaviour after a fault has fewer vendor diagnostic options available.
Failure Scenarios
Logical failures
- Deleted or reformatted volumes
- Firmware faults with no vendor patch available given end-of-support status
- Snapshot or replication configuration errors
- Host file system corruption inside presented volumes
Hardware failures
- Multiple VIMM failures exceeding vRAID tolerance
- Controller failure with no replacement part available from the vendor
- Backplane or shelf interconnect faults
- Power-loss events during in-flight writes
What Not To Do Before an Evaluation
- Do not run rebuilds, reconstructions or re-initialisations against an array that has already lost more drives than its protection level allows.
- Do not recreate pools, aggregates, disk groups, storage pools or clusters — these operations write new metadata over the structures a recovery needs.
- Do not swap drives between slots, and do not reorder shelves. Record the original slot and shelf positions before removing anything.
- Do not run file-system repair tools against production volumes before the underlying storage layer has been evaluated.
- Do not restore a backup or replication set over the affected volumes until the recovery scope has been assessed.
- Do not eradicate deleted volumes or empty recycle/destroyed states on platforms that hold deleted data for a retention window.
Our Evaluation and Recovery Process
- Intake and platform identification — array model, generation, firmware, protection layout and the sequence of events that led to the failure.
- Read-only evaluation of the media and array structures, including assessment of drive health and the extent of any physical damage.
- Forensic imaging of all contributing media, with cleanroom work where drives require it. Originals are preserved unaltered.
- Reconstruction of the storage layer — pools, aggregates, parity groups, chunklets, extent groups or objects — from the images.
- Extraction of the layers above: file systems, virtual machines, databases, mailboxes and shares.
- Verification against a file list and customer-nominated critical data, followed by secure return on encrypted media.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we still get vendor support for a Violin array?
Violin Memory / Violin Systems ceased normal operations after bankruptcy, so formal vendor support and spare parts are generally unavailable, which is why independent recovery evaluation is often the only remaining option after a serious fault.
Can VIMMs be read like standard SSDs?
No. VIMMs use Violin's own flash controller logic rather than a standard SSD translation layer, so generic SSD tools will not interpret them correctly.
Is data recoverable from a single failed VIMM?
It depends on the vRAID configuration and how many modules in the same protection group are affected; a single module loss within tolerance is very different from multiple concurrent failures.