Terastation E21

[huntermccray]

   

I have searched for E21 in this forum, Google and the Buffalo site; in the two responses in this forum to slmilar inquiries about E21 the response has been, "At this time buffalo is not doing any out of warranty repairs."  Fine, is there a schematic/repair manual available, or, does anyone happen to know if the chip in question is proprietary or generally available?  If the chip is generally available does it require a FLASH prior to being installed, and is the FLASH available? 

 

If there is no way to repalce the Chip, is there a work-around to boot the Terastation and extract the data via the USB port?  

 

Thanks in advance for any information

 

Hunter

[dgkelp]

   Unfortunately there is not a way around that.  What model of the terastation are you using?

[huntermccray]

   

dgkelp,

 

First, thank you for the reply.  The model number of the terastaion that I am NOT using is HS-DH0.0GL/R5; however, there is "another tag" on the unit that states it is an HS-DH2.0TGL/R5.  The latter is next to the serial number, so I must assume that this a late-bound update.

 

There is, of course, a "work-around"; the "work around" is to buy another compatible unit, swap the drives, extract my data and go forward with a company that offers support for their products.  I have a fiar amount of experience with SMD re-work and embedded systems, so repairing this unit is potentially within my capabilities; however, ONLY if the chip/chips are NOT proprietary, AND if they are flash based, that the Flash is accessible. 

 

Why on earth anyone would bother placing RAID on a unit that fails POST on a bad ethernet chip is beyond me (unless the ethernet controller and the USB controller are embedded on the same chip).  Anyway, it is more cost efficient to purchase a compatible unit and swap the drives than map the existing system in hopes of repairing it. 

 

Despite my frustration with this minny-mouse equipment, the data on the drives is of some importance to me, and I would like any information you might be able to provide that will help toward that end. 

 

Again, thank you in advance for your input,

 

Hunter

[tanjl]

   

You can use UFS Explorer. Their website is http://www.ufsexplorer.com/" target="_blank">www.ufsexplorer.com

 

Purchase their product.

 

Install it.

 

Plug in all 4 of your hdds into a computer.

 

Make sure Windows detect the drives.

 

Run UFS Explorer.

 

Under tools, click on Build Virtual Raid.

Select Raid Array on Disk Partitions (...softraid).

 

On the left hand column, select four Linux Native partitions with the biggest capacity (mostly all four will have the same size).

Raid mode: Striped + Parity (Raid 5)

Stripe Size: 64

Leave out the rest and click on Build.

 

You will see a soft-raid on the last row in the left column.

Right-click and choose fast detect.

 

All your folders will appear.

 

You can then choose to backup to another location with a slightly bigger capacity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kevin]

Why on earth anyone would bother placing RAID on a unit that fails POST on a bad ethernet chip is beyond me.

If the NIC is defective, there is no way of access the unit. The idea behind not finishing boot is, Why let drive spin around if they can't be accessed!

 

Yes, you can put these drives into another unit of the SAME model (though drive size doesnt matter) to access the data. You may need to update Firmware so that the FW on the drives are the same as what is on the flash chip.

 

You can also plug the drives into a Linux machine (or any OS that can read XFS) and set them in a RAID5 (or whatever you are using) configuration and then access your data. 

 

Or, you can purchase software (like UFS explorer) and run the drives in your RAID configuration.

[huntermccray]

   

tanjl,

 

 Thank you for a very interesting approach.  The price of the software is very reasonable, and if I had not already ordered a second terastation off ebay, I would seriously consider this option.  I currently do not have a desktop with four open drive connections, but I would have seriously considered buying a new mobo to extract my data.  Again, Thank You.

 

Hunter