Yesterday I attempted to reboot my EX490. Before rebooting, all lights on the server were blue and the console showed no errors. But during startup, the system would not boot and I eventually discovered that the system drive had failed. Through my attempts so far, I have not been able to recover my system drive. This leaves me with some difficult choices to make going forward, but I have some questions before I proceed.

1) Unfortunately, I moved over a lot of irrecoverable material to the server the day before it crashed (documents and photos). Since I did this using cut and paste maneuvers, there is no trace of the files on the desktop anymore (or in the recycle bin). And since the system drive is gone, I no longer have backups of my desktop from previous days/weeks. The only thing I may have going for me is that most of the share folders were set to duplicate. This leads me to wonder:

1a) Assuming the problem with the system drive was not affecting its ability to copy files before the crash, would the files have been duplicated in 1 day? My understanding of the duplication process is that the files are initially stored on a landing drive (the system drive) and later copied to other drives. Is it 1 day a sufficient amount of time for the files to be duplicated to other drives?

1b) Are the computer backups definitely stored on the system drive, or is there any chance it may have been copied to another drive (and if so is there any way to access the contents)?

2) I know there are problems with finding new hard drives for these systems since they cannot be advanced format drives. Is there a list anywhere of compatible 2TB drives. I am hoping to avoid WD Green drives again, but I am unfamiliar with the other vendors. Seagate says their only non-advanced format drive is a 1.5TB 7200.11 model.

3) I will have access to a WHS v2 system over the weekend and I am considering moving to it to avoid the increasing number of problems with the v1 models. Since the v2 doesn't pool drives like the v2 does, can I simply move my other drives into it physically and copy the data manually, or does it have to be sent over the network?

Going through a similar problem so I may be able to help you with some of your questions:

1a-b I am assuming that you have another drive (in bay 2) that is part of the pool? If that is the case I am guessing that 1 day would have been enough for the server to balance but I don't know for sure. I would suggest that you get a USB disc enclosure and plug the system disc and the data disc (if you have one) into your PC and try and access the data files. The sys disc is partitioned and you want to open the data partition and look for the shared folder (you also need to make sure that you have enabled "view hidden folders") and then look for a "hidden" folder "DE". That is where your data (docs, photos, etc.) is. If your stuff is there, I would back it up to your PC or an external just to be safe. Then check your data disc for your data and do the same thing (if the server was able to duplicate it). [If I have made any mistakes, please some of the more experienced users correct me!!] This is how you can see if your data is there.

2 I am awaiting delivery of a WD Caviar Black 1 TB to replace as my sys drive. I contacted WD and they told me that the Caviar Blacks ARE NOT Advanced Format. The Greens are, however. The HP tech specifically warned me away from Advanced Format discs.

3. Don't know the answer to that one.

Hope this helps.

You are correct that I have more than 1 drive, so I am hopeful that the system was able to balance in time. But unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of free space, so that could have elongated the process.

Unfortunately, the problem with my system drive appears to be mechanical in nature, so I cannot access either partition on it. Basically it won't spin up. I have now tried the freezer trick and the swift tap trick, but neither has resolved the problem. The sounds the drive is making did change from a soft buzz and beep (presumably from the motor failing to spin up) to now a light grainy sound (perhaps the bearings). I am suddenly left with dread that none of my non-server computers are now backed up either (since I presume their backups are on the system drive). But I do have hope that as long as the network backups are taking up space on the system drive, that more of the server data is on the others. But I won't know until I am able to get a new drive in there. I do have a 2TB Caviar Black drive that has been used as an external backup, so I will use that. I don't want to deal with the alignment issues on the green drives again.

Have you checked your other (data drive in bay #2) to see if you can access the data? Once again you have to enable "view hidden folders) and there should be a "shared" folder and then one called "DE". If the server balanced properly your data will be there. Not sure about the routine backups though. Those may be toast with the failed sys drive but I am not sure.

I expect that the other drives are fine. While the system drive is gone, it would be quite unlikely that another drive would die at the exact same time unless there was some sort of system-wide error. I have three other drives installed, and I won't be able to check them until probably tomorrow. Right now I'm trying to back up my other sensitive computer and clear a drive to use for a system recovery attempt. It may be a couple of days until I can combine all the other drives' info to see what may or may not be there. Thanks for your suggestions though.