Hi all

Was wondering if anybody can help. I am trying to recover my HP MediaServer EX495 with 4 x 2TB Drives. I have uninstalled the connector software. I have connected it directly to my Win 7 desktop PC. I Have disabled mcafee AV and firewall. I have run the recovery program but it fails at step 4 of 4.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

I have now used a HDD dock and discovered the bottom drive with the system has corrupted files. Even though I can see a directory listing of all my shared files and directories no individual file will open. Fortunately I have been able to recover all my files from the other HDDs

What I would like to do now is use the HDD from bay 4 as the system drive and run with 3 HDDs.

Can anybody advise if this is straightforward or not. Will I have to wipe this drive first or not?.
If I have to reset and loose all the data that's not an issue

Thanks in advance

As far as I know only the bottom bay can be used for the os.

Recovery or reset can be very fickle at times.

Some items to try beyond what you have done is boot the pc in safe mode with networking.

Also a big item is the os drive may have issues such as bad sectors, which WHS1 is very unforgiving. on.
I assume you have added the SMART add-in which will tell you if the drive has problems.
Using the built-in server heath check is not enough.

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Hi Thanks for your reply. What I am intending to do is remove the apparent failed HDD from the bottom bay and install the one from the top in its place at the bottom. My challenge will then be to get a recovery or reset to install the OS on this previously used HDD now in the bottom bay. I am not intending to purchase a new HDD so the top bay will now be empty. I will certainly look at trying the pc in safe mode with networking.

Well now you are attempting to convolute things.
But if you have preserved your media data somewhere else..
It may be the time to start from scratch ..
Meaning to recycle a drive, you may need to wipe it using your pc first.
If you just move the drive to the bottom bay and do a recovery or reset, it may just erase what media you currently have on it.
Since the os drive require a 20GB partition for the OS.
It will attempt to do so.

If it were me I would attempt say a chkdsk on the existing OS drive with fix errors and try again.
Then if success install the SMART add-in and verify the system disk is okay.

Hopefully you have used SMART or chkdsk for the drive.

_________________
VGA/PS2 Keyboard/PS2 Mouse/Serial debug board
Popcorn C-200
Popcorn A-200
Dune HD Connect
Rasberry PI OSMC(KODI)
ReadyNAS RN316
Amazon FireStick
Amazon ECHO
AnyDvD
MyMovies

One other item I thought about
I have always used a 32bit os to recover or reset. the server.
If you are using win 7 64bit then it may cause a issue.

Guessing of course.

_________________
VGA/PS2 Keyboard/PS2 Mouse/Serial debug board
Popcorn C-200
Popcorn A-200
Dune HD Connect
Rasberry PI OSMC(KODI)
ReadyNAS RN316
Amazon FireStick
Amazon ECHO
AnyDvD
MyMovies

I am nearly certain my original HDD is defective. I have tried chkdsk which doesn't indicate a problem, but no deep scan with any utility will complete. I have also tried to analyse it with Seagate tools but the program freezes when it tries to find this drive. All my data has been backed so happy days for a play.
My PC is running Win 7 64 as it happens so I will try my laptop which is running XP 32

I did eventually get into recover mode. This was on my laptop running XP pro and in safe mode with networking. First attempt still failed step 4/4. Finally suceeded , but only by racking out drives 2/3/4. I then shoved them back in again and 45mins later I got a message saying happy days rebuild completed successfully. The only snag is the unit didn't reboot itself. I rebooted but the bay lights haven't come back on. Has anybody seen that before.

Despite what I initially thought all the drives individually checked out healthy. I was able to read from them and I have rescued all my data.

I ran out of time, as I am now heading offshore for a couple of weeks. I am wondering what my next steps might be when I return. I guess I will see if it fires up with just one or more drives. I am also beginning to wonder if I have got drawers 2/3/4 mixed up. Not sure if that would cause that.

If anybody has any thoughts I would be happy read them

My 2 cents:
You now know how to load the OS and how to save your data, That is the hard part.

What I would do now is check all the drives you have in a sata to usb dock on your PC.
You can download the smart app and use it for a 30 day trial. Find your biggest/best/newest drive and use that for the bottom OS drive. Format and delete any partitions it might have. Then;

Put it in the bottom bay of the server and then do a factory reset. When your done and get all the updates and make all your users.
Get the free SMART app for the server and then start adding drives.

You should be good to go....

I just bought (2) 2tb red drives from newegg, they were on sale. Always a good idea to have a drive or two extra around.

Goodluck.

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