InfiniCLOUD loses customer data despite using RAIDZ3: another reminder that redundancy is not a backup
The InfiniCLOUD storage service has reported the loss of customer data on one of its nodes. The RAIDZ3 configuration tolerated three failed disks, but a controller failure caused several disks to stop responding simultaneously.
News summary
InfiniCLOUD published a report on 8 October 2026 regarding a critical failure in its 'zeze' storage node, which began on 1 October and has resulted in the loss of customer data. The incident is limited to that node; all other services are operating normally.
According to the provider, the storage used eleven disks in ZFS RAIDZ3, a triple-parity configuration that supports the simultaneous failure of up to three disks. Following a single disk failure, other disks connected to the same controller (HBA) also stopped responding, and the redundancy was insufficient to reconstruct the data.
The case illustrates a risk that is often overlooked: multiple redundant components may share a single point of failure, such as a controller, a power supply, or firmware. Redundancy protects availability against expected failures, but it is no substitute for an independent backup.
For any company storing documentation in a cloud storage service or on its own NAS, the question remains the same: is there a second copy on another system and in another location, and has it been verified that it can be restored?
Source: InfiniCLOUD — 8 October 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
- Isn't RAID a form of backup?
- No. RAID maintains service availability in the event of disk failures, but if the entire system fails, a file is deleted or there is a ransomware attack, all disks are affected by the same issue.
- What is the recommended backup rule?
- A common benchmark is the 3-2-1 rule: keep three copies of your data, on two different media types, with one of them stored off-site. Ideally, one copy should be immutable.
Concepts mentioned in this article: Cloud · Redundancy · Storage · Backup
Having redundant disks is not the same as having backups. At Seintec, we design independent backup and managed storage solutions in our data centre, with tested restores. Talk to our team.
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