I'm the original owner of an EX495. I've been following the health of the Seagate system drive deteriorate using the SMART add-in. It slowly increased bad sectors, about 1 every few months, then suddenly jumped up to over 70 bad sectors. I decided it was time to replace the system drive using a Server Restore.

I thought it would be frugal, since I have excess capacity on my server, to reuse one of my existing WD Black drives. I removed it using the Drive removal function of the HP mediasmart and replaced the Seagate with it. I succeeded, sort of, with the Server Restore, but after the restore was finished, the server would not reboot itself and I never got the breathing aqua lights. The health indicator would eventually go from blinking violet to blinking red. After, researching this forum, I realized that replacing the system drive with a used storage drive was not such a brilliant idea, so I purchased a fresh 2TB Toshiba drive for the system drive. After, successfully, sort of, restoring my EX495 again, now my server would finally reboot and I had breathing aqua lights.

This is where I run into an insurmountable (so far) issue. After connecting both PC and server to my network, I can't get the PC client to reconnect to the server using the connector software. Actually, my first attemp was very close to working. The connector software found my server and downloaded the setup content to my Windows 7 PC. I was able to name server and give it a password. But on the next step, it lost connection with the server. I retried several times, but no success. I uninstalled the HP update and MS connector and tried to reinstall using the disc and also by downloading from the server (http://servername:55000), but I can't get the connector software to find the server again.

I RDC'd into the server and ran Windows update, but that didn't help. Time/Date is synchronized between PC and Server. I can see the server on my network. I just can't get the connector to work. Should I run through the entire Server Restore again?? I know there are issues with the connector software on Windows 7 Clients, but it's strange that it was working fine before the Server Restore. I don't have a Window XP machine to run the connector software from. Does anyone know of a workaround for the Connector issue?? I had been fearing the day my system drive would fail and I'd be forced to perform a restore, it's turning out that my fears were warranted. Thanks for any and all assistance!!

I had a hard time with my clients that had window 7 as well. I finally fixed it by downloading the connector software for windows 7 from microsoft. Here is the link http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download ... px?id=1622

I hope this helps you.

Thanks! I'm pretty sure I've already tried with that version of Connector, but I'll try again when I get home from work.

So, I think I'm closer. I transferred the connector software from the server's C drive to a USB stick and put it on my Client PC. From there it ran through the setup all the way to the point where it attempts to prepare computer back ups. Then it fails. It think I may have a bad storage disk causing problems. That's what I'll look into next. Any other ideas?

You said you had SMART on your server and it was telling you the system drive was going bad, it should have told you if any other drives were having problems.
Since you used a storage drive (which you had to remove) and that would have caused a lot of disk activity moving data, it is possible that another storage disk went bad during that process. It only takes one drive to cause problems.

Question, do you have a backup of your data (shares) and could you live without the client backups? The reason I ask, sometimes due to a chain of bad events you may have to start over.

Generally, when you do a recovery or reset there are a ton of HP and Windows updates that need to be completed to get 64 bit (win7 pc's usually are) connector working. Just when you think you have all the updates for one, HP, then windows will have 50 more updates and vise versa till eventually you will get them all.

I would remote to the server and make sure you have all the windows updates and all the HP updates before doing anything else. Also, you need to confirm if you do indeed still have a bad drive.

(http://servername:55000) is the best way to re/install the connector on a pc, but, you have to use the software to setup the server to start with and then getting all the updates and everything on the correct version is critical.

P.S. And reboots all around, server and clients. And I always have an extra new drive setting on the shelf, just in case, you will need it so catch one on sale and have it ready.

I read somewhere that people polled said they would only pay about $300 to protect their data, but would pay thousands to recover it when a drive died and they didn't have a backup.
Frugal is not bad, as long as you have backups

Goodluck and let us know how it's going...

_________________
[X510 CPU/RAM/All 2 TB Red's] [X510 CPU/Sync'ed Backup/All 2 TB Hitachi's]
[X510 /2 in box]
[X710 LIAN LI DIY W2016E] Stablebit Drivepool [EX-503 LIAN LI 5-bay USB3 External]
Fear the Cloud

Thanks Guardian,

I can live without the PC/Mac backups, but I would like to save videos I have stored on the server. SMART said I had one other disc that had pending bad sectors, don't remember which disc now.

I've updated the server with all of the Windows updates by RDC into the server and running Windows update from the programs tab. How do I run the HP updates? I don't have the server console functioning.

Big blue E Type in this and hit enter. (http://yourservername:55000)
You have to get the connector and the HP patch at some point... You could fireup the console on the server when you are remote desktopped in.
But I would be working on getting the connector installed. If you have a connector and patch already installed, I would uninstall them and get the with the browser address listed above.
Goodluck and shout back on how its going...

_________________
[X510 CPU/RAM/All 2 TB Red's] [X510 CPU/Sync'ed Backup/All 2 TB Hitachi's]
[X510 /2 in box]
[X710 LIAN LI DIY W2016E] Stablebit Drivepool [EX-503 LIAN LI 5-bay USB3 External]
Fear the Cloud

Well, I finally gave up. I just couldn't get the server back up and running. I finally resorted to installing a new disc for the system drive, removing all of the data drives, and performed a Factory reset. This worked. I've been slowly adding back my data one drive at a time. So far, it appears all of my data is intact. I think the problem I was having with the restore was with a data disc with errors. I'm hoping the new system disc (a nice hitachi deskstar) will last for a good long time. I don't want to have to ever go through this again with my MediaSmart server. Thanks for all of the help. This site is a great resource for an aging product.

I have had very good luck with the Hitachi Deskstars aka Deathstars. I was so happy with them I actually stopped buying WD Blacks because they actually give me less issues then the Blacks and I have a ton of them running in my servers.

After this last Server Restoration ordeal you experienced you can see how WHSv1 is very sensitive to drive issues so keep an eye on your drives and try to be less tolerant of the drive issues when then pop up. Pending bad sectors does not always mean they are bad just on probation but then they do go bad and you start seeing bad and relocated sectors then its time to consider replacing the drive in the server and repurpose it possibly for some other low priority use. I will often reuse an old server drive as a temporary storage area for ripping movies or downloads sort of using the drive to save wear and tear on my other more important drives. If the drive does fail and its under warranty I RMA it and if its out of warranty I will drill a hole through it and dispose of it.

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Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

I sound like a broken record, but I think if you have a NON-pooled drive and backup your shares it makes life a lot easier.
When you add a new drive, in a bay or external, WHS will ask if you want to add it to the POOL or just use it for data storage. NON - POOLED, If you pick non pooled and look on the backup page in the console, you will see a server backup, that is the non pooled drive, if you backup your stuff "Shares" on that, you can pull it out and keep it in a safe place, update it now and again (I do monthly) and if you have to do a reset, you just put it back in as a non pooled and do a restore and it will copy back all the shares you have on it, same as what you are doing with the drives, it is just easier and less clicking.
I have 2 non pooled drives and I rotate them and keep one offsite.

Either way, having a spare new drive around is always a good thing. Catch one on sale!
Good luck

P.s Having SMART is a must have, good job.

_________________
[X510 CPU/RAM/All 2 TB Red's] [X510 CPU/Sync'ed Backup/All 2 TB Hitachi's]
[X510 /2 in box]
[X710 LIAN LI DIY W2016E] Stablebit Drivepool [EX-503 LIAN LI 5-bay USB3 External]
Fear the Cloud

----- to do a system recovery -----------


disable public/private/domain windows firewall

disabel ms security essentials real-time protection

disable your any dhcp servers on your network (like for example apache webserver) (dont fully understand this stuff I'm afraid)

copy recovery software from dvd to desktop

uninstall hp mss connector and other software

restart into safe mode with networking

run whs recovery from desktop as administrator



---- to get files off sata --------------


put sata drive into a usb enclosure

reveal hidden files and folders

find data in _DE folder



---- to connect to server after recovery ----


visit: http://hpstorage:55000/ in browser

pull out system drive and reinstert if wizard fails

remote desktop into server if necessary

make sure connector is allowed through windows firewall.

remove duplicate exceptions in firewall

Hi folks, its been a bit, but back now for help from the "Brain Trust"... Posting here as am having same issue as Will above... I did not really see a final fix here, so am looking for help... I have a V1 EX495, good drives as far as I know (disk check good on all 4 drives), got tired of blinking blue health led. Decided to tackle a system restore to clear (had done similar action a few months earlier after a power surge (but was successful at doing a restore to clear that event). The blinking health did come back though, folders/data were still accessible, so have been putting off until today. Restore (as usual) took some attempts to complete, but do now have "breathing blue" lights.. Install of connector loads (from HPSTORAGE), loads MSS3.0 ok, Starts connector, backup config step ok, server setup starts, Server name has HPSTORAGE "autofilled" and have tried both it and a new name with same error scenario, add password, click recommended update settings... then... when I click "Next" I get the error message "an error has occurred in windows home server setup" (I will try and post).

I did try the connector cd mentioned above, same error...

I am using a win7 x64 bit machine... saw that mentioned above as a potential problem? Any other options? I have no 32 bit device...

Help!! Thanx in advance for reading thru....

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EX495
WHSV1

ps.. I can use remote desktop to get into server using HPSTORAGE name...

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EX495
WHSV1

and windows update is still running....

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EX495
WHSV1

PS.. Remote desktop now seems to be failing, Pingable network name has changed to HPhomeserver (old name from before recovery)...?

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EX495
WHSV1