Linstation ProDuo LS-WTGL/R1 totally dead

[jerrybray]

   

Our Linkstation just stopped working last Friday. Can't access it from any MAC or PC on the network. Tried connecting directly to a pc, nothing. Tried re-installing software, rebooting, etc. 4 years of client graphics files! Have time sensitive projects I can't produce due to no files. Tried calling support - on hold for 1.5 hrs and gave up.

 

[davo]

   deactivate ALL your AV and firewall and run the nas navi with the Linkstation connected directly to the PC via Ethernet. does it pickup any information?

[jerrybray]

   

Tried all that - drive is totally gone. Will have to pay big $$ to a data rescue service. I'm sorry but you should not have to backup what is supposed to be a redundant backup device. What is the point of having a RAID if when one disc goes bad the whole system dies?

 

[PCPiranha]

We do not know that the unit is dead... Are you getting error messages, what have you tried? Understand that the only way to ensure the sanctity of such important data is to have it backed up to several different locations.   Also raid is just  protection against single HDD failure not other problems that can occur with this unit.  It sounds to me like you have had some problems with power irregularities if it "suddenly died friday".

 

For the record, if it is simple HDD failure then the unit will give an error, not completely die.

Message Edited by PCPiranha on 09-08-2009 05:27 PM

[jerrybray]

   Thanks for the info. Pulled the HDD drive and had it tested - totally fried. Unit was on a battery backup/surge protector. Had hoped that I could at least rescue the data off of the other "good" drive. Apparently you use some sort of formatting that makes that drive data inaccessible. Tried putting a new drive in to replace the bad drive. Unit still inaccessible. 

[PCPiranha]

The filesystem that the drives use is XFS, linux filesystem. 

 

When mounting a single disk from a RAID1 array in a Linux machine, you must specify the filesystem type as XFS.

 

If you don't, it won't mount:  

root@linuxmachine:~# mount /dev/sdb4 /mnt/data
mount: unknown filesystem type 'linux_raid_member'  

Specify XFS as the filesystem type with the -t switch:  
root@linuxmachine:~# mount -t xfs /dev/sdb4 /mnt/data  
Then you can see the data:  
root@linuxmachine:~# ls /mnt/data
drwxrwxrwx    2 root     root           22 Feb 13 18:43 FTPTest1
drwxrwxrwx    2 root     root            6 Jan 15 02:39 FTPTest2
drwxrwxrwx   12 root     root         4096 Mar 18 14:36 Share
drwxrwxrwx    2 root     root            6 Mar 13 11:52 restricttest

[jerrybray]

   

Thanks,

This kind of stuff is way above my pay grade - so I just ordered a new ProDuo which will be delivered this AM. Hoping that putting the one good drive from the fried one will result in replicating the data so we can get our files back . THis should work, right?

What would you recommend for backing up the ProDuo? Don't want to go through this again. Really had read so much good about the stability of the Buffalo devices, I guess I never figured on a catastrophic failure of the device. THanks for all your input.

Of course, our failed unit was 13 months old - 1 month out of warranty! 

[PCPiranha]

Not 100% sure as doing this is not supported (and I haven't tried).  If it is like the other units that we make, then you can just replace the HDD and restructure it into the RAID array.

[trichey]

   Hello, Please be sure to follow up with your resolution.  I'm interested to know the final outcome since I just purchase this NAS on Saturday.  I'd also be interested in knowing the recommended solution for backing up the NAS.  If a USB drive is used, what format is recommended.  I have my NAS configured for RAID 1. I'm assuming XFS since that's what the internal drives are fomatted as.  If that is the case, would this mean that you could only access the data on the USB external through the NAS on a Windows machine? i.e. You couldn't plug the USB drive directly into a Windows PC and access the data?  Thank you

[PCPiranha]

Trichey

 

I do recommend backing up to an external HDD.  The HDD can be formatted to Fat 32 or XFS.  Fat 32 would obviously allow windows access

[trichey]

   Do you offer a recommended method of backing up to external HDD.  Fat32 is limited to 4gb file size, correct? And just for clarification, I could not plug the external into a PC and view data if it's formatted for XFS, right?  Thanks again.

[PCPiranha]

" Do you offer a recommended method of backing up to external HDD.  Fat32 is limited to 4gb file size, correct?"

 

Any method is fine.  I think it's a good idea to have a few different backups in different locations (be it external HDDs, CDs, or another file server/NAS).  Yes, fat32 is limited to 4 GB per transfer

 

"And just for clarification, I could not plug the external into a PC and view data if it's formatted for XFS, right?"

 

Correct, I would suggest getting a linux computer (Ubuntu is relatively user friendly).