I'm starting this new topic as an addendum to a previous discussion because I feel that this forum will eventually be very a very popular place and this question is surely to be a "hot topic".

I will start it but I'm hoping for others to finish it. I actually NEED this advise.

I will be receiving my new 1TB (2x500GB) in a couple of days and I have also purchased two (2) 1TB "additional" drives. In the prior post Alex recommended that the following



At this time I am hoping for a more detailed tutorial specifically with regard to the "factory reset" option. I would like to make it ridiculously simplistic because after-all this unit is being marketed to beginners and I'm hoping they will eventually end up here.

I will start...

- Take Server out of the box
- Do NOT power it on
- Swap drives as noted above

OK. Someone else fill in the rest with DETAIL regarding when to plug it in and power it up. When to "hit the button". When to install the client software ETC.

I look forward to sharing my experiences once I personally get everything up and running.

Thanks,

Craig

Hi Craig,

The Server Recovery and Factory Reset process are fully documented on the HP support site, and to be honest they are both super easy and darn near foolproof. You can read all about it here, taking off where you left off in your beginning of the instructions above.
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/ ... c.php?t=61

Do feel free to follow up with any questions if you get confused or stuck!
Alex

I read the instructions and honestly feel that they could be better written and even more straight forward but probably sufficient. I will more than likely add my 2 cents to this thread upon actually performing the steps.

The links for "no server found" and "recovery fails" do not work and this leaves me feeling uncomfortable at this time since I will be performing these steps PRIOR to ever having the chance see my server in action. In other words I am attacking this totally in the dark.

With this said I have questions and/or needed confirmations.

1- By placing the system drive in bay 3 I assume that the server will think that NO system software exists when it tries to boot and that it will NOT look in bay 3. This will force the server into the blinking Blue-Red health status light state at which time pressing the Status/Recovery button will allow me to initiate recovery mode and the health status light should blink Purple-Red.

2 - How does the server acquire an IP address if no system software is found? This is important to me since I do NOT use the typical 192.168.1.x convention.

3 - The steps to "uninstall" prior software will NOT be required in my case.

4 - Step 5i is NOT required in my case since the server will have never been on.

5 - What will happen to the data that is now on the drive in bay 3 (original system software)? I assume that it will be gone and that the drive will be totally reformated but I worry that the "rebuild" will try to "tombstone" this data thinking it was "my" data. Wouldn't it be safer to completely wipe this drive prior to start-up or perhaps just put it back in after everything is up and running and "add" it to the array?

I will probably remember more questions so thanks in advance for your patience.

Craig

Let me just reiterate that it's all easier than you're making it out to be.

1. The system only looks in bay 1 for the system disk. The system always enters the blue-red state for the first 5 seconds of booting before rolling over to the HDD to boot. When the State button is pressed during the red-blue blink, it activates the onboard recovery flash, and the health lights will change to red-purple.

2. The server acquires an IP address via DHCP. You MUST have a DHCP server (typically on the router) enabled in your home network to assign an IP address to the server. After configuration you can assign a static IP, but you MUST have DHCP for the initial config.

3. Correct

4. Correct

5. The Factory Reset process performs a quick format on all SATA disks inserted into the server, so all data will be lost. Then, a fresh OS will be laid down on the System disk, and the additional disks inserted into the system will be formatted and added to the volume automatically, and duplication will be enabled.

I hope that helps,
Alex

Good morning Alex and thanks again for everything.

Yes I do suffer from symptoms of OCD so things that usually end up being quite simple are generally over analyzed by me. This also comes from dealing with subordinates in my job where I have found that you can never be to clear on required procedures. I also feel that this thread will eventually be reviewed by persons that have very slight computer skills and hope it is able to assist them.

With all this said I'm sure things will be simple and I anticipate flying right through.

I do however question your last statement regarding formating the drives and truly hope that this is NOT what is going to take place. I believe this concern is justified based upon our disdussions in the last thread. In the prior scenario we discussed what would happen if the system disk went bad AFTER the server was in use and contained data. You insured me (us) that the "tombstones" would be rebuilt and according to the white paper this would take place from data on drives 2 thru 4 as well as any attached storage.

How is this situation different?

Factory Reset is when you want to clean a system to a factory-fresh state, for example if you wanted to resell your system on Ebay.

Our previous discussion was around the Server Recovery feature, which only lays down a new C:\ partition with a fresh OS, but the rest of the disks remain untouched.

I hope this mitigates your concern! And I do understand wanting to thoroughly understand what is going on with the system that is going to be storing all your precious family photos, etc.

Alex

OK. Got it!

I actually downloaded the users manual which DOES contain the missing info regarding "no server found" and "recovery fails" so I now have everything and am even more comfortable.

The one thing that is not defined in the documentation is how to select which "method" (recovery or reset) and I assume that this will be asked in one of the "dialog" boxes that the user is informed to follow.

Indeed, when you insert the DVD one of the steps is to choose which operation you'd like to perform. Glad you're feeling more confident about the process!

I know I read somewhere about a complaint a user had removing the jumper on the Segate 7200.11's and I can certainly see why. This thing is buried.

According to the diagram on the unit the jumper tells the drive to limit operation to 1.5 Gp/s (jumper installed) or allow 3.0 Gp/s (jumper removed).

I have no idea if I need to remove this or not? Anyone?

I will get it off if I have to...

I'd recommend you remove the jumper (3.0 mode) unless you experience compatibility issues.

Alex

I was afraid thats what you were going to say

Time to get some stronger bifocals

OK. All is well...VERY well.

I got the server (EX775) and the two (2) 1TB Drives (Segate 7200.11).

Here is a summary of what I did.


1 - Unboxed everything and found suitable place for server.

2 - Removed "system" drive in Bay 1

3 - Removed jumpers from 1TB drives

4 - Installed 1TB drive in Bay 1

5 - Moved 500GB drive from Bay 1 to Bay 3

6 - Installed 2nd 1TB drive in Bay 2

7 - Left Bay 4 "open". Will install 2nd 500GB drive later.

8 - Hooked up Cat5 and Power Cable. Did NOT power on server.

9 - Placed "Server Recovery Disk" (Version 1.1) in DVD drive on workstation.

10 - Followed all onscreen prompts by hitting NEXT

11 - When the "rebooting your Server into recovery mode" screen appeared I turned the server on using the button on the back and waited for the health/status light to blink RED/BLUE.

12 - Initiated recovery mode by using paperclip on recessed recovery button on front of machine to the left of the USB port. Light changes to RED/PURPLE.

13 - Clicked NEXT. The workstation then attempted to discover server. This took well over 1 minute but it DID find the server.

14 - At this point I attempted to use the printed instructions in combination with the software prompts and quickly gave up. The bottom line is FOLLOW the ONSCREEN instructions. The only interaction necessary is to click NEXT if prompted. The NEXT button will only be available if the software wants you to hit it. I can't stress this enough. There was a point where I thought everything was "stuck" because the printed instructions missed a screen. I noticed that the NEXT button was available, clicked it and everything continued.

15 - Throw printed instructions away and continue with onscreen prompts.

16 - When prompted hit NEXT to reboot server. The server will reboot and the Onscreen instructions will update accordingly. Do NOT expect a solid Blue status light. Mine was purple. One of the screens will specifically instruct you NOT to continue (hit next) until you have a solid blue OR solid purple light. When either case is satisfied, click NEXT.

17 - Continue with onscreen commands and the server will eventually install the client on your workstation, run the client, take you through setting up the server and all hard drive lights and the health/status light will turn solid BLUE.

18 - SUCCESS

I will eventually update this thread with more details on each of the 18 steps referenced above and am upset that I did not keep track of more details as I performed the Factory Reset. I was just too excited to get everything going. Honestly details are probably not even necessary but I wanted to make this a tutorial for future uses that visit this site. The bottom line was this was so simple a "cave man could do it.

Gotta run....

I told ya so.

Seriously though, glad to hear that everything went as planned, and congrats on getting your system up and running smoothly.

Congrats! Now start ripping your DVD's to WMV and stream them to your TV.

Hey necro....

Yeah in my spare time

I actually am fond of ISO's. I have a zensonic streamer that plays them famously.

And now with 3TB of space WOOHOO...