My EX485 has been acting up over the last few months... It started dropping from the network and locking up, forcing me to manually power cycle the server (unfortunately, I had to press and hold the power button to power it down...nothing else worked).

Well today, the server finally died... The server won't connect to the network, the 3 drive bays that are occupied are not lighting up, and the status indicator just blinks forever and never mounts to the network...

I tried to reimage the system drive by performing a recovery, but during the recovery process the server cannot be found...

I am afraid that all of the stuff I thought was safe is now lost... I hope I am wrong...

I had duplicate folders enabled, and I have 3 drives: 1.5TB system drive and two 2TB data drives... Are these drives all readable if I slide the drive into a SATA enclosure and use windows explorer to copy the data to another drive? Or are all my documents, photos, music and videos lost forever?

Is there any way for me to recover this server?

Thanks everyone... I am a bit depressed now... I hope you can help me recover my valuable files (and maybe even my server)!

_________________
HP EX485 - In Production Since March 27, 2009
- Bay1 - Seagate 1.5TB HDD (Replaced in 2011)
- Bay2 - Empty
- Bay3 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD
- Bay4 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD

History
- 10/24/2011 - HP EX485 Server Failure (System Drive Failed)

Quick answer is YES these should all be readable in another non WHS system. Maybe an idea to recover the data before you attempt to repair the system as it sounds as if you are using duplication as your 'backup' method.

Others here will assist to get server up and running but not being detected on network sounds like you may need a VGA cable to see what it is exactly doing during boot.

jarrod

Thanks jarrods... Where would I plug a VGA cable into? USB-to-VGA?

What should I expect to see when I mount my drives to a non-WHS system? Will the files be nicely organized by folder, or will the files be a little disorganized? If I have the three drives (including the system drive), can I assume that the system is wise enough to keep the data on the system drive redundant to the other two drives, and that it likely contains duplicate/redundant data?

I have some old server backups on external drives... Are those worthwhile to keep, or is it better to overwrite them with the contents of my WHS data drives? My concern with the external drives is that they are backup drives that have been used for incremental backups...so I don't know what to expect when I look at them from Windows Explorer...

Thanks again... I am feeling at least a tiny bit better that my data is likely NOT lost... I'd still love to recover my MSS if possible... But data is king...

_________________
HP EX485 - In Production Since March 27, 2009
- Bay1 - Seagate 1.5TB HDD (Replaced in 2011)
- Bay2 - Empty
- Bay3 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD
- Bay4 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD

History
- 10/24/2011 - HP EX485 Server Failure (System Drive Failed)

The VGA cable is not a quick install but given failed recovery if it was my server I'd hook one up to see what is going on. This forum has the technical detail of the cable and marketplace here has sellers of prebuilt cables. Other users here may have recovery ideas that will debug without vga but personally I was so glad I fitted a cable so anytime anything odd is happening I can see rather than guess.

The files are on the disks in the correct directory structure. The same structure is likely to be on all disks since you have rpelectation on but you will not some files missing in each folder and the same file on two different disks. Collection all files from 3 disks (ignoring duplicates) will give you all your media. If I was you if the files look sound then I would sacrifice the sus[ect backup and do a copy of good files to the backup drive.

An installation of PerfectDisk a few years back screwed my system and before I did anything in terms of WHS recovery I put each drive into my main PC and took a copy of all media files. Very good to know I had a good copy of my media files before I started my first WHS recovery.

Here is a good overview of the DE... http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/de ... x?id=23876

and I quote "If the home server fails completely, all the surviving drives can be attached to a computer that is not even running Windows Home Server Drive Extender, and you can copy the files from the drives to that computer. Because the files retain their original names and paths (under the \DE directory), the files can be used with no specific recovery steps."

Thanks again jarrods...

I am in the process of copying my files from the non-system drives now (I have 2 of them... The system drive makes 3).

I called HP support, and they believe that my system drive is failing/corrupt...

My plan is to copy all the files off of drive 3 (see my signature), and then copy all the files off of drive 4 (ignoring duplicates to save time). That should result in a copy of all files... Let me know if I am making a bad assumption here...

Question about the system drive: While I was able to add the two data drives to my desktop as an internal SATA drive, my system drive simply will not mount correctly... It results in my system trying to boot into Windows 7, trying to load the drivers to add the WHS system drive as a data drive, but failing and causing the boot up process to completely fail... Very weird... I really want to mount it so I can do a chkdsk and/or wipe the data off the drive before returning the drive to Seagate under warranty... Is this typical?

I'll probably go and buy a 2TB drive at Fry's this Friday and recover my server... What do you recommend: a clean factory reset followed by copying all my data files back to the data drives? Or a non-destructive server recovery and skip the copying of the data?

On warranty...if I can't mount the drive and wipe it, do you think I should still exercise the warranty? My fear is exposing my data outside of my household...

Thanks for your opinions and guidance!!!

_________________
HP EX485 - In Production Since March 27, 2009
- Bay1 - Seagate 1.5TB HDD (Replaced in 2011)
- Bay2 - Empty
- Bay3 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD
- Bay4 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD

History
- 10/24/2011 - HP EX485 Server Failure (System Drive Failed)

Hi,

If you get all files off the two drives (ignoring duplicates) then you should have all your files. As you have duplication ON any data files on the DATA partition of the system drive will also be on one of the other two drives. Once you get all files off safely then do a quick audit through them to make you what you have is what you think you had.

If the system drive has failed completely then that might be stopping the WHS boot but I recall I have done a restore before with a dead system drive and it boots OK but then the recovery process reports it cannot find a suitable drive. I do not know why it would stop the boot of your Win7 box though. I purchased a couple of USB to SATA convertors from eBAY (so cheap evn comes with power supply) and I connect drives that way. YOu can power up the drive then plug the USB into your runing Windows 7. Go into Disk manager and see what is there. If not then it is really dead (and less risk of data leaving house if you claim warranty.)

If you get a new 2TB system drive (maybe not an advanced format one with the large sectors) then try a full factory recovery with only it in the MediaSmart (all other data drives out). That way you will see if the server is ok and can be found on network.

If you can get the MediaSmart rebuilt then it is up to you if you want to copy files you have recovered or put in the two data drives and atatmept a non-destructive recovery (over top the system you just built).

If youu are claiming warranty on the Seagate and it works but has data errors then there are tools to wipe it. I use Acronis DriveCleanser (pay for) which has all types of military level wipe algorithms. The will be freeware drive wipe software if you google it.

jarrod

Hi jarrods,

Data recovery complete!

Now I just need to get a new drive and restore/reimage it... Which brings me to my next challenge...

What drive to buy/use...

- AF (with alignment or jumpered) or standard sectored drive?
- 5400RPM versus 7200RPM
- Large or smaller drive

I currently have the 750GB original hard drive that came with my MSS (I had immediately replaced it with a 1.5TB drive out of the box before first putting my MSS into action)... It's a relatively small drive, considering today's capacities... It's a standard sectored drive running at 7200RPM...

Problem is: I don't plan on expanding beyond the four standard drive bays on the MSS chassis... So having a larger system drive may make more sense for me...

There is a nice Hitachi 5K3000 2TB drive on sale at Fry's for under $100.00 (the specs show that it is a non-AF drive). But it's a 5400RPM drive... It's also a "green" drive, and my understanding is that these power savers are typically not configured optimally for server usage (auto parking, variable speed, etc...).

I have also heard from other postings in this forum that the system drive should be running at 7200RPM for the best performance...

Can you please provide some guidance/advice around this topic? I want pull the trigger, but don't want to make a mistake...

_________________
HP EX485 - In Production Since March 27, 2009
- Bay1 - Seagate 1.5TB HDD (Replaced in 2011)
- Bay2 - Empty
- Bay3 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD
- Bay4 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD

History
- 10/24/2011 - HP EX485 Server Failure (System Drive Failed)

I'd recommend a 7200 RPM drive for the system drive, though I've heard of others using green drives for the system drive with no reported issues. The Western Digital Black drives seem popular.

_________________
Alex Kuretz
Remote Notification: Monitoring and alerting for your Home Server via email, Twitter, text message, RSS, push notifications, and on your Mac desktop
Have you tried our Add-Ins?

Wow... I am the OP of this thread and am back after nearly two years...

My system disk is going south, and I need to replace it... I have three bays occupied (including the system disk) and am hoping that there is a simple and straightforward way for me to yank the system disk and somehow throw a new drive in it's place and recover without losing any data...

I have duplicate folders turned on...

What are the steps I need to take to replace my system disk without losing any existing data?

And is it normal for something like this to happen every two years???

Thanks all!

_________________
HP EX485 - In Production Since March 27, 2009
- Bay1 - Seagate 1.5TB HDD (Replaced in 2011)
- Bay2 - Empty
- Bay3 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD
- Bay4 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD

History
- 10/24/2011 - HP EX485 Server Failure (System Drive Failed)

If, and that's a big IF, all the other drives are good, Then you can run a recovery (not factory reset) with all the drives in place (except the old system drive of course) and be back up and running after it gets all the updates and patches/etc.

Three things:
1) Any one of the drives being bad or problems will cause a recovery to mess up.
2) The free addin SMART is a must have to keep an eye on your drives.
http://dojonorthsoftware.net/HomeServerSMARTClassic.html#all
3) If you have an open bay or can attach a drive external, I would recommend do so in the future and adding it as a NON - POOL drive and then look for it in the backup tab of the console, it will show up as a way to backup the shares on the server.
Duplication is good, gives you a chance to replace drives and do recoveries, but I like having that nonpooled backup of just the shares also for extra safety.

I have 2 of these non-pooled drives that I rotate out so that way if all else fails at least I have a backup of my shares that I can quickly restore back.
I keep one of the drives offsite just in case of fire.
Goodluck

There has been plenty written about how to do a recovery and replacing a bad system drive doing so in these threads.
Shout out if you have any problems, as you know there are lots of awesome people here to help.....

_________________
[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

Gardian beat me but I am not rewriting my post!

Chose a new system drive 80GB - 2TB in size.

Remove the client software from the computer your going to use to perform the recovery with.

Power down the server and change out the system drive then turn the server on an wait for the health light to start blinking its recovery code. Because the EX485 will not find a bootable device it will automatically boot into its recovery mode.

Run the Server Recovery disk it will explain about removing the client software and will tell you to press that Status/Recovery button with a paperclip but you can ignore that because your server should already be in its recovery mode and you should have removed the client software.

The software will search for your server and when it finds it, it will ask you what type of recovery you should perform. Select Server Recovery which will preserve your data. If you select Factory Recovery you will lose your data.

Follow the prompts and if all goes well your server will recover and you will have to give it a name, password and then you will want to download all the HP and MS updates and ignore warnings about the Client Backup Database being corrupt until all the updates have been installed. Just ignore it because if you act on it you will lose some or all of your client data.

After its all done you will need to setup user accounts, shares, remote access and anything else you were using. You will need to reinstall any addins you were using before. Its a process.

Cloning Option:

If you System Drive can be read then you may want to consider cloning the drive which is a process as well but its a viable way to not have to go through the hassle of performing a recovery.

Check out the following link on how to clone your system drive: http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/01 ... tem-drive/

Things to think about before your attempt a recovery:

WHS is sensitive to drive issues and you will want to make sure your storage pool drives are in good working order both with the file system and with the actual hardware by using a program that can read the drives SMART Info. WindowSMART 2013 is a good choice for your clients if you connect your storage pool drives to a client. HomeServerSMART Classic is an add-in which will keep an eye on your drives and report issues when they exist. You can download these programs from the following link: http://www.dojonorthsoftware.net/

If your client data is important to you the I recommend installing the add-in BDBB available from the ADD-INS Tab on this site.

If your running the v2.x software your recovery may seem to fail when the client software is installed on a client running WIn7 or Win8 but this will not be an issue if your running v3.x. The v2.x shipped with your server and is often best to use a 32 bit client. If the client software fails to load during the recovery all you need to do is exit the recovery software and install the client software from the client software CD and the recovery will pick up where it left off.

All new hard drives are Advance Format aka AF and some may need to be prepared a certain way before you can use them in your server, I believe if you stick with Hitachi Deskstar 7200 RPM Drives you will be fine they are actually quite reliable and one of my preferred drives but that just makes me BIAS but I also use Western Digital Blacks. Some are now using Western Digital Reds so this is where searching the forums to see what others are using. I have a ton of older drives to keep my servers running so I have not really used AF Drives in my WHSv1 servers so I will defer to others on this matter.

Search the forums for additional information:

The forums contain a wealth of information about Server Recoveries specific to the EX485 but so be sure to perform a site search for information or you can ask in this thread should you run into issues.

Quick Question:

What makes you think your System Drive needs to be replaced? Have you tried connecting it to another computer and run a CHKDSK on the system drive or are you already running something like HomeServerSmart which is indicating your drive is failing or is WHS telling you the drive is failing or is there some other reason like booting or rebooting issues which can be PSU related. Personally a Server Recovery for me is a last resort especially for WHSv1 but not so much for WHS2011 or WS2012 because of the backup drives used to backup the System Drive.

_________________
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

Wow...thanks Gardian & Comp1962! Great stuff!

So...why do I think my system drive is failing?

There are a number of reasons... Some history... All my drives have been reporting "hot" by the SMART utility almost from day one. Not critical hot...but hot nonethless... That has always concerned me (but has nothing to do with why I think my system drive is out...I just thought I'd mention it).

Oh, and yes...I do have the SMART utility installed...

For the last two months my clients have been intermittently disconnecting from the server (a behavior that seemed to lead up to my last system disk failure). I simply did a hard power down (because a soft power down was not possible), and powered 'er back up... The server connection would remain, but would inevitably disconnect from all clients... Again, this has happened for the last two months...

Two days ago I got a SMART toast message warning that one of my drives went "critical". I went into the MSS UI and tried to figure out the fault, but couldn't find anything (I don't think I knew where to look to be honest...so it might have been right under my nose). All the disk health indicators showed "green" (I think I wasn't looking at the SMART tab though)...

Yesterday, I got a SMART warning that one of my drives was critical and was going to have an imminent failure (the message said as soon as "within the hour"). This scared the crap out of me... I went in to the MSS UI panel and while the non-SMART status showed green and okay...the SMART utility showed that there was trouble with my system drive. The Reallocated Sectors Count (ID 5) has a threshold of 36 and a value count of 100. The status shows "degraded". The SMART utility also reports that I have 1 bad sector (which doesn't seem terribly bad)...

This morning the server again disconnected from my clients again...

The other two drives have no warnings from the SMART utility...

Fortunately, I do have the original 750GB system drive from when I first opened the box... I never used it because I had always planned to have a larger system drive... But now that I have offloaded my server of all my video (because I decided I did not need instant access to any of the video content and it was taking up lot of room), I am thinking about swapping that 750GB bad boy back into the server...

With that history, does it sound like a bad system disk? Or something else?

No...I did not run chkdsk on the drive...maybe I should try that too?

_________________
HP EX485 - In Production Since March 27, 2009
- Bay1 - Seagate 1.5TB HDD (Replaced in 2011)
- Bay2 - Empty
- Bay3 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD
- Bay4 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD

History
- 10/24/2011 - HP EX485 Server Failure (System Drive Failed)

Interesting... I just entered the serial number and model number at seagate.com in their warranty checker, and I am good for a replacement through March of 2014...

Nice...

_________________
HP EX485 - In Production Since March 27, 2009
- Bay1 - Seagate 1.5TB HDD (Replaced in 2011)
- Bay2 - Empty
- Bay3 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD
- Bay4 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD

History
- 10/24/2011 - HP EX485 Server Failure (System Drive Failed)

Seagate will want you to run their Seatools utility to test the drive out to see if it has issues or not. 1 Bad Sector may not be a big deal as all drives are designed to anticipate sector failures which is why they have reserved areas. Its when you start seeing sector issues start to increase.

As you know some drives run hotter then others but also the temperatures are affected by the enclosure and how well it can move air to keep the drives and other devices cool. One of the things I never was a fan on was how HP setup the MSS cooling to balance noise with cooling which often leads to devices running warm to hot. Alex did an awesome job when he put out his MSS FAN SPEED ADD-IN for the EX470 and I pushed my fans to run at full speed and so everything in my EX470's would stay cool. I have worked on a couple EX485's and I have set the fans to run 100% at all times in the BIOS and let me tell you it makes a big difference but to get to the BIOS you need a DEBUG Board and a lot of patience to find that fan setting because it buried in the BIOS.

Anyway the thing about heat is that it kills devices like hard drives by causing them to fail prematurely but then again how hot is hot and the temperature of your MSS is not just related to fan speed but also the ambient temperature around the server and humidity. At best the fans running a full speed can reduce the air temperature flowing through the server by 4 degrees F and then one has to factor in how much air the fans can pull through the server which is measured in CFM.

So when it comes down to noise for keeping my devices cool I will take the noise but you can always change the fans to ones which still pull the same amount of air and do not make as much noise but that's another topic.

Your NIC Issue:

Losing network connectivity is something I would me more concerned with as to why that is occurring. It could be a bad port on a switch or router it could be a bad cable or could be an issue with the hardware and again heat can cause components to act up. Can you place a small 4" desktop fan in front of the server and see if your connectivity issues go away. Also while your still able to connect to the server can you install a USB-LAN NIC this way if your onboard NIC shuts down you can move the cable to the other NIC to restore connectivity and think of it as an insurance policy. You may also want to consider a DEBUG Board so that if you do lose connectivity you can still logon to the server to troubleshoot it.

_________________
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

Question: So are you saying that it is unlikely that my NIC issues are directly related to my failing hard drive (assuming it's failing)?

For some reason, I thought that two years ago, my early symptoms were the same... constant client disconnects to the server...

And actually, I guess I did not give you more details... when my clients disconnect...it's all of them that disconnect... AND when I try to do a graceful power down using the brief press of the power button, it won't shut down... I have to press and hold to shut it down because the server is unresponsive...

Now that I mention that...it sounds like a bad system disc creating the server to become unresponsive, no?

_________________
HP EX485 - In Production Since March 27, 2009
- Bay1 - Seagate 1.5TB HDD (Replaced in 2011)
- Bay2 - Empty
- Bay3 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD
- Bay4 - Hitachi 2.0TB HDD

History
- 10/24/2011 - HP EX485 Server Failure (System Drive Failed)