LS-X3.0TL Dead

[gryhnd]

Woke up this morning to discover my 3TB LS-X3.0TL was squealing repeatedly like someone was squashing a rodent.

NAS Nav2 can't see it. Won't respond to webmin.

Power cycled. Made same horrendous noises for a bit then went silent with fast flashing of blue LED. Still not found by NAS Nav2 or webmin.

Of course the unit is 3 weeks out of warranty by way of purchase date, although I didn't install it until about a month after I got it but I'm doubting that makes any difference. One year warranty on a backup solution? Good lord. Really?

It has been attached since installation to a USP/power regulator and has never experienced a power failure or abnormal shutdown. Actually it's never been shutdown at all.  Fully ventilated.

Basically the Seagate drive appears to have given up the ghost. Lovely. Can't say I will purchase or recommend Buffalo again. Sad...

[davo]

Unfortunately this can happen to any HDD at some point, all be it happened to yours fairly quickly.

[gryhnd]

Seems to be happening to many now that I am researching the failure. This isn't just a "oh, too bad" but seems indicative of a greater problem.

Nevertheless, I'll stay away from storage solutions with warranties of a year or less. If you can't warranty past a year, you know what you're selling is junk.

(edit for typo)

[davo]

If you "research" any manufacturers HDDs you will find the same issue, fair point about the warranty, here in Europe the same device has a 2 year warranty.

[gryhnd]

If you "research" any manufacturers HDDs you will find the same issue

True (and I stay away from those), but since the drive is OEM to the Linkstation and not my own, I feel it's up to Buffalo to properly QA the drives they use (so says me, the Director of QA for a software firm). And if some trend appears down the line as a result of your poor QA or a manufacturing defect, you extend that warranty to make good on the situation.

I know this will fall on deaf ears...rather no ears, as Davo seems to be the only person to respond in the forums, lol.

[gryhnd]

Is it possible to install a new 3TB drive in the unit? Is the firmware on the drive controller or on the original HD? If the latter, is it possible to put the firmware on the new drive?

[gryhnd]

bump

[davo]

Yes it should be possible, insert the new HDD, download and run the TFTP image for your unit to put it into EM mode and then install the firmware.

Have a look at this article: http://forums.buffalotech.com/index.php?topic=10185.0

[gryhnd]

Thanks.

Does the LS-TL require the exact same drive capacity? I'm wondering if I can experiment using a spare 320GB drive I have laying around to see if the process you linked me to works, before investing a new 3TB drive.

[davo]

Thanks.

Does the LS-TL require the exact same drive capacity? I'm wondering if I can experiment using a spare 320GB drive I have laying around to see if the process you linked me to works, before investing a new 3TB drive.

I dont see any reason why a 320GB won't work, if you need any help then let me know ;-)