MrsC does a lot of photography work, using pretty large RAW files and my stepdaughter is beginning to do the same. We also run a publishing company, which creates a fair amount of data that our authors would prefer us not to lose.
We've never really addressed the issue of keeping everything safe in case of a disaster, but 2 recent failures in the power supply to one of our Seagate external disk drives has made me think about setting up some kind of secure storage system.
It won't surprise anyone to know that my knowledge of such things is limited, but it seems that some sort of RAID device may be the answer?
If I outline the need, I'd be very grateful for any suggestions...
We have a mixture of Mac and PC devices both needing access to the files. Currently it's just a case of plugging in the relevant external drive, of which there are about 5, between 500 and 750 GB.

Could we easily make it a networked solution? We have a decent Virgin (netgear) router with a broadband booster plugged in to serve the kids bedrooms. I'm not worried about restricting access to the data/network beyond the usual password system as the files aren't particularly sensitive.

We don't have a lot of cash to throw at it, but it seems to me to be a prime case of better safe than sorry...

Thanks in advance for your ideas!

I've used Synology and Netgear ReadyNAS systems and have been very happy with their quality and usefulness.

I currently run a 2-drive readyNAS with two extra, small external drives which I run automatic backups to. One sits on top of the readyNAS and one sits in the car. I just swap them over every week to keep them current and this helps guard against possible fire damage.

They're pretty user-friendly (!).

stick it in the cloud and get someone else to look after it. if you're serious about back-ups they really have be off site

Jim,

RAID devices are not really considered a backup, they just allow you to continue to access your data without interruption. They MAY protect you against a failed hard drive, (Suggestion is to go with hard drives from different vendors).

We have a RAID 5 which is quite good, we also have various backup routines, (Apple TimeCapsule, QNAP T219Pii, Buffalo Link Station Live).

My advice is the QNAP, but get the TS119 and a separate USB Drive, You can then set the QNAP up to back up Daily to the USB

For additional photo backup use the new Flickr service, its very good

I make sure we have Apple TIme Machine backing up the Macs, (I have TC, QNAP and Netgear all at same time, it alternates between them), then every day, a separate complete backup is made to the Buffalo via Getbackup Pro this backs up the Boot drive for my Mac Pro.
It also syncs my User account with our other Macs, so no matter which Mac I am on, the desktop, docs etc are the same.

Cloud isn't really popular with MrsC, which means it's not going to happen. This is just about having adequate, easily accessible storage with a safety net.

What do people reckon to this (set up as Raid 1)?

Buffalo Linkstation Duo 2 x 2TB

Seems good value to me. There is one thing to be aware of with NAS drives and that is if the enclosure goes wrong, then you cant just mount the drives in an external case to access the data. So while you may think "Two drives are better than one", remember if the enclosure fails you may be stuffed and that happened to a work friend of mine with a Buffalo and it had to be sent to Holland, they couldn't get the data back and simply sent him a replacement.

The support forum may be worth a look. http://forums.buffalotech.com/

Personally I would go with a QNAP or Synology single drive and a separate USB drive for better data redundancy.

If you really want RAID that can be expanded, these are worth a look http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-Gigabit-Desktop-Network-Storage/dp/B00620CM0I/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ce_1 You can use a single drive, or up to 4 drives.

I have both a Buffalo and a Netgear, and rate the Netgear as better.

Another good alternative may be a DROBO?

Thanks Charlie. One of the chief attractions of the Buffalo is its price; that Netgear is over our budget and seems to be just the enclosure.
We don't need Pentagon levels of data security, just something a bit better than a single external drive stuck into a USB port. With the NAS/Raid 1 option, we can combine a decent probability of keeping the data with access for everyone. All told we probably have about 1TB of data, so a solution like this should give us a bit of breathing space. And we can still back up critical data (such as it is) to the external drive.

If i may suggest another solution you may want to consider a self build system ilike Unriad.

It can be cheaper and far more flexible. No issue with sending kit off if it fails, No issue with limited capacity and upgrade options. No issue with proprietry data formats or transferinf data to new machines.

All you need to start is a usb flash drive, 3 drives (they can be different sizes without an issue) and an old pc and a free copy of the software.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/APPLE-POWER-MA...=item35c828ebd8

You can have up to 4 drives, I have a spare copy of OS-X Leopard Server and Might even have a PCI SATA Card for more storage options.

Not sure if that was meant for me or Jim. Yeah that would also be a option. There are loads of ways to do it. FreeNAS is another option.

To clarify Unraid can run many more than 3 drives, its just free with up to 3 drives. I currently have 10 drives in my array and space for another 4 when I am ready, its only limit is sata ports and case space. Also can start with just 2 drives.

Jim. You have a PM.

Thanks Hyperlink - replied!

And replied back.

I think Unraid may be too much work by the sound of it but have a look at what I sent you.

Google iosafe

fire proof nas.

There are also secure nas and removable driveswhich are encrypted and cesg approved if you need that type of secure. istorage diskG is an example.

Bad news: the new power supply I ordered for MrsC's Seagate Freeagent Desktop external HDD has not reawakened it. I must now enter the murky world of data recovery...

It's probably not a problem with the drive itself, it could just be the small controller board inside the case.

Most of these external cases have to be broken open , but if you do that and then extract the drive you can most likely just plug it into another generic external case or even inside your PC and it'll work fine.

If it is a problem with the drive itself then it may just be the PCB fuses, relatively easy to fix. Other than that you'd be looking at trying to source an identical drive (including firmware revision if possible) and switching the complete PCB.

It this is the one I'm thinking of, it's the same as mine. I'm guessing you'll have damaged the USB connection on the enclosure, like I managed. The contacts will have come away from the board. Perfectly possible to hard wire the cable to the board (if you can solder well).

It's not the USB - the light on the drive doesn't come on. Thhanks for the tips guys, I think I've got an enclosure that will fit. We don't have any desktops, so I don't think that will work!

take the drive apart, most enclosures are just held together with screws (sometimes hidden under stickers)

Then get hold of one of these. plug in the power to the drive, then the sata or ide cable to the USB port on a laptop and you should be good to go.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Decrescent-Trans...ds=sata+ide+usb

The only point I would make about backing up your data is that you really need two copies of the data in separate locations. If you are worried about your data being held unencrypted in the "cloud" then simply encrypt the data using winzip and use the AES256 password option with a suitably complex password.

Use the encrypted copy as an off site backup and the back the rest up to a local drive. (You can use an old PC or you can have a go with something like a raspberry pi and a USB drive).

Almost definitely the enclosure, when a drive fails it normally starts making the click of death.

Take your pick of these Enclosures or pop into local PCworld or Maplins. Your drive will be either a 2.5 inch or a 3.5 inch, buy an enclosure that fits that size. The box will be marked as SATA or IDE, chances are the drive is a SATA one if you bought it in last couple of years

Takes 5-10 mins at tops to transfer a drive to a new enclosure

Neither did the light on mine. Pop it in a new enclosure

Thanks again, all. I'll try the enclosure I have (though it is IDE and I suspect the Seagate is SATA) and failing that I'll go for the kit that sugerbear recommended, which looks useful.

I bought a Zxyel NSA325 enclosure plus 2 (identical, oops) x 3 Tb drives and it works well enough for me, although remote access is not as easy as I was expecting, but having said that I've not spent enough time getting my head around all the options.

With all the RAW images you have Jim (5-10Mb each? More?) I would suspect that 2Tb will fill up quickly (remember that RAID 1 means 2 identical drives) and with around 3Tb already on the 5 USB drives, surely you need more? The above NAS box is £80 and 3Tb internal SATA drives are £100 each from ebuyer, so maybe a bit above budget, but better value than 2Tb. 3Tb might ne the upper limit on most NAS boxes, not sure?

put it all on disc

helped set up a couple of big storage arrays dell and hp with my brothers company ...... put them on dvd or bluray do a copy of each .... thats my brothers words that way no matter what happens you will always have a copy

Years ago, before DVD's when CD's were fairly new on PC's and when we first started taking digital pictures, I used to archive to 2xCD's at a time. With over 100 pairs of CD's I've found that they are not too reliable, despite verifying the write and storing one set back on the 'cake' and the other set all in plastic wallets, 2 or 3 of the CD's became unreadable, luckily all different with the other CD being OK, but with CD's holding only 0.75 Gb and DVD's only 4.7 Gb, I'd rather use hard discs or usb drives.

I suppose you can never be 100% sure to cover all possible data loss.
I think in total, we have about 1TB of data in need of saving. Although there are a lot of RAW files, many of them MrsC only needs temporarily, as once she has sent them off to her employer, she no longer needs them. The idea is that we will empty a lot of stuff off the HDD on the laptop, (a total of about 100GB including all the data I've ever had!) then she can use that for her work images. The art photos (and the movies she makes and the manuscripts for publishing) which she processes on the MacBook are the ones requiring saving/backing up and there's less than 750GB of those. Although my stepdaughter will probably have around 250GB of data, she stores most of her pictures on the cloud.
So, yes, we will be on the way to filling 2TB, but not so quickly that I'll have to worry about buying a third HDD in the next couple of months. With the UnRaid system recommended above by Hyperlink, you can add new drives to the array and it will automatically incorporate them, using the highest capacity drive as the parity drive. If I start with 2x2TB, I'll only have 2TB of storage, but if I then simply add a third drive, I can increase it (if I have understood the way it works!). Unraid software is free for up to 3 drives.

I'm hoping my Father-in-Law may be able to provide me with a donor desktop and - allowing for a few components such as a new PSU/fan and possibly a GB ethernet card, my only other cost will be the 2 drives.

If I manage to recover the data from the Seagate drive and it turns out to be the enclosure that is FUBAR, then I suppose I could even use that drive in my unraid NAS (once wiped and tested). Temporarily at least...

Of course I could keep on improving the spec of any system, or even return to the idea of the Buffalo NAS in Raid 1 that I began this thread with, but I would really like to keep the budget to around £200, with the possibility of growing the capacity later if necessary.

And I like the idea of building something useful out of an old desktop. I mean, what could possibly go wrong...?

Jim let me know what computers turn up and I will try and help.

What size is the Seagate drive? You could quite easily add the Seagate to your 2x 2tb drives and end up with and reasonable size array with room to grow. The preclear test should uncover any issues with the disk before you add it to the array.

Once need more space than the 3 drives you need to make a decision either to stump up for larger (3 or 4tb) drives and swap some drives out or pay a license and just add more drives smaller drives. personally i think its cheaper and preferable to get a license and add more drives.

Jim just PM'd you a link to some pics I promised.

Thanks again, Hyperlink.

I'll hopefully know this evening what the desktops are like. I'm hoping at least one of them will be big enough for 3 or more drives; not sure about the (approx 10-year-old) Dell Optiplex machines...

The Seagate is 750GB, so a reasonable minor addition to an array.

Initially, I'll probably stick to the free 3 drive deal, but in the longer term, I reckon you could be right - tower space and cash permitting...

Yep Thats what I did. No need to spend the cash on a license until your nearing the space limit.

The Seagate can be added no probs and will give you a little more breathing space but you will need to copy all the data on it somewhere else before adding at as it will need a reformat and the preclear will overwrite all the sectors of the drive.
You can just set up the 2x 2tb drives get that running, copy data from the Seagate and then add the Seagate to the array.

Desktops CONSUME power. Raspberry PI is going to be the simplest and cheapest solution.

http://www.howtogeek.com/139433/how-to-turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-a-low-power-network-storage-device/

Very nice, I'm sure. However, this is me we're talking about; I can handle (just about) faffing around with an old PC, but programming a raspberry pi? I don't see it really, do you?!
Also, I'm not sure it will be as cheap as all that; I'm only running 2 or at most 3 drives and they are pretty much all I'm paying for. I'm not sure about 2 or 3TB USB only drives, but I'd imagine they would be quite pricey.

Yeah they can consume more power that is a point - not too much of an issue for me as mine is running newer hardware which is more efficient. The ability to spin down drives does help offset some of the power but not a huge amount.

Drat! It looks as though the free desktops I've got won't cut the mustard. My current choices now seem to be:
a) Go the original route and buy a proprietary RAID NAS server. Cost around £250 for 2 x 2TB RAID1
b) Buy a suitable PC on eBay and adapt it to become an unRAID NAS. Cost around £250 for 2 x 2TB + 1 x 0.75TB unRAID.
c) Build a server from scratch. Cost? I'd guess around £350 for 2 x 2TB + 1 x 0.75TB unRAID config.

What does the panel think? My Dad has built several desktops from scratch and he's 80, so I can't believe I couldn't give it a crack...

Its easy to build a PC, I used to always build my own.

Try using a Dual G4 Mac, they are cheap as chips and can accomodate PCI USB2.0 and SATA Cards, have Firewire, and with 4x internal drive bays. You can get these for £50 ish now.

factor in two USB drives and you can do it for peanuts...

Google it and you will find its a common solution.

I have a spare NAS Case, (Raid 1) if you want it, you will need to supply drives though. You can have the case for cost of postage, (Linksys NMH305)

If you can use lego then you can build a computer. It is silly easy so long as you have the correct cables, the motherboard matches the CPU type and the graphics card it compatible with the motherboard (this is less of an issue on newer machines). It takes no more than an hour to build from scratch and it is very rewarding.

This is all very disturbing though Jim, the next thing you will be doing is offering technical advice

Ok, if anyone could venture an opinion of which, if any, of the following eBay PCs would make good candidates for a Frankenstein conversion to an unraid server, I'd be most grateful...

Contestant number1

Contestant number2

Contestant number3

Contestant number4

<Ben Stein> Anyone...? Anyone...? </Ben Stein>

How about one of these (£109 after cashback). You will need to install linux onto it but if you already have some USB drives you

http://www.ebuyer.com/430446-proliant-microserver-turion-2-2-2gb-250gb-nhpl-sata-lff-in-704941-421

Failing that one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Small-Dell-Des...=item589f88e625 or else try a Dell GX250.

Basically anything with a processor from the past 10 years will be good enough for a file server!

Thanks Sugerbear, that HP proliant looks pretty good at that price. When you say install Linux on it, do you mean to use it for an unraid? Could that work?

Well, I took the plunge. I went for the HP box and 2 x WD Green 2TB drives to put in it. It looks like it will run unraid and saves me making a mess of an old PC. With cashback, it came to a gnats over £250, which was what I was budgeting.

Hope I can make it work!

Thanks to everyone for their help...

That was a good call by SB. Forgot about the microservers.

Shouldn't be any issue running unraid. Do you have a usb flash drive?

Hi Geoff, I was just about to PM you to say thanks for all your help - I think this micro server plus unRAID looks the ideal combo for my needs. I'll doubtless be pestering you again for more assistance in installing the software!
I have a pretty decent quality 4GB USB drive, but I may get a dedicated one if I'm going to need to leave it in place or use it often for this.
I figured that at £109 with the cashback, this would probably work out not much more expensive than an old PC plus any missing bits and bobs. I've got room to expand this to as much storage as I'll need in the foreseeable future too.
Of course, there is still plenty of room for me to get it horrible wrong!

Whos Mick

You need the usb permenantly. Thats what its boots from. It saves wasting a sata port on a boot drive.

This may be useful.

http://www.tekforums.net/guides-projects/hp-proliant-microserver-purchase-upgrade-setup-guide/

As might this

http://www.tekforums.net/guides-projects/unraid-server-setup-management-guide-(using-an-hp-microserver)

Though i would suggest the pre-clear section is more than just optional.

No idea...!

Thanks for the links, Dave.

And Dave is.....?

...everyone's friend

Meh....

So far, thanks to help from here and elsewhere, I've managed to get my UNRAID server almost to the point where it works, but I've now hit a wall and the unraid configuration tutorial plus the software firm that makes it seem to be down or at least unavailable.
Can anyone access lime-technology.com?

It's up for me, Jim.

Thanks Neil, it seems to be back up now - just wasn't available all day yesterday when I needed it! Oh well...

The problem I have is that although I've added the drives to the array, started it and created shares, nothing visible through Windows explorer as either a network drive or part of a workgroup.

Hi Jim

First off can you access the web GUI from another machine? If so is Samba enabled? Its under Settings and then SMB. You should also enable AFP as you have Macs dont you?

You need to ensure the workgroup is set up with the same details which I think is in the network section of settings.

Its wont automatically add drives to My computer so you need to map them using \\tower\share_name (where tower is the server name)

Hi Mark,

thanks for the advice. I can access the web GUI and that's how I've been managing the actions so far. I'll take a look and see if SMB and/or AFP arw enabled...
I was under the impression that the first share would be a kind of parent level, then the next ones would be below it, but they all seem to be on the same level.

I'm right on the edge of my comprehension comfort zone!

Nope each share is on its own so you can control permissions on different shares and also which physical drives each share does and doesnt have access to which may be helpful for you to seperate work and personal files if needed.

I just want to have one folder for each of us, possibly of different sizes...

Yep thats fine then either set folders up under a single share or setup shares for each person. If you want to limit size shares per person may be a better option. You can always have shared share as well

You can map drives in Windows to a folder within a share rather than the whole share if you want to.

Mind...overheating...must...think...clearly...

haha it quite simple really.

I think it'll be easier to understand when I'm at home in front of it... I'll let you know! Thanks again.

Think of it like this;

Share/User1/..
/User2/..
/User3/..
/Shared Files/..

vs

Share_User1/..
Share_User2/..
Share_User3/..
Share_Shared_Files/..

Either way you could map the share or folder as a network drive with either;

\\Tower\Share\User1
or
\\Tower\Share_User1

HTH

Thanks Mark.

As I thought, SMB was already enabled, set to Export read/write; I can't see AFP mentioned anywhere, there's just SMB and NFS. Do I need to install something else on UNRAID. I must say, my GUI is a bit crap compared with yours... Maybe it's because I've gone with the stable 4.7 version, not a fancy Dan 5.x?

For the shares, I've just given each family member a share name plus one that I imagined would be the hierarchical parent share, but could just as easily be the 'shared share'.

As yet I haven't assigned the parity drive, as it will add significantly to the time it takes to populate the array with data. I can cope with the security risk...

I'll try to assign the drive by mapping the network, but as my man-flu kicks in, I may fail dismally...

Excuses, excuses

There is no risk with your plan so long as you copy rather than move as you still have the original copy on the source drive.

If each user has their own shame thats probably a good option as you can limit size taken, permissions and which drives are used more easily than the other option.

If you using 4.7 that will explain no AFP as it was added later. Also your workgroup is probably "mshome" rather than "WORKGROUP" which will explain the other issue.

So, if I continue to use 4.7, does that mean I can't share the network drive with Macs? If so, I'll have to change... By the looks of the timescale, the 5.x versions have been in beta long enough to be stable, haven't they?

Not sure to be honest Jim. Dont use macs. I guess they can make use of samba so you should be able to?

As for stable ive always used 5.x and never had ayn issues other than with my own stupidity.

Jim,

Why do you want to use AFP:? are you trying to set it up for Time Machine?
Macs can map network shares on SMB:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1568?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Well, it's all up and running; In your face, those who scoff at my technical skillz!

The Mac can access the data via SMB (thanks Charlie).

It took a while to upload all the data, assign the parity drive and then to perform the parity check, but it's now sorted.

All I need to do now is set up some kind of VPN/web access so I can play my music from my ipad when I'm not at home! (Also, less frivolously, MrsC wants access to her pics)

Should be easy to do,

Sort out a DDNS, setup a VPN in router and then let port forwarding do the rest. (Hint use a static IP for the Storage system/RAID)

Yes, well, I asked for that...

How does one "sort out a DDNS"? Is it like jumble sale?

I have read that the Virgin superhub router I have can be bolshy when it comes to VPNs. How can I tell and, er, persuade it to cooperate?

If I have a fixed IP address, why do I need a DDNS?

As another FCCUK person might say: other foolish questions are available...

Jim,

http://www.noip.com/services/managed_dns/free_dynamic_dns.html explains DDNS,
Basically you get a web address that always links back to your home network. You are very unlikely to get a fixed Public (internet) IP, your ISP will allocate a DNS from it's pool of addresses, which means that one day you may be 84.23.22.12 and a week later you will be 84.23.22.255

The easiest way to think of this is that imagine you are trying to ring your home telephone but the number keeps changing, an almost impossible task.

A DDNS will for example allow you to have Jim.noip.us and no matter what IP address your ISP allocates, typing Jim.noip.us will take you to your network, (or more correctly to your router).

To accomplish this feat, the DDNS requires you to either run an app on your PC, or a modern router will let you enter the DDNS details and update automatically.

Virgin Superhub is a pile of poo, spend a few quid on an ASUS RT56 or even better RT66 and stick your Superhub in "modem only mode", thats what I have done. The Asus routers make setting up a VPN a breeze, port forwarding etc a breeze and get supported with lots of firmware upgrades.

The Fixed IP address is on your internal network, for example your router will be 192.168.1.1 then other devices will be allocated internal ip addresses dynamically (like your ISP does), same problem, you want to be able to enter Jim.noip.us and be taken to your storage

So setup the router to allocate certain "Mac addresses" to a specific internal ip address. (each network device has a mac address).

So for example my RT66 allocates my QNAP to always be 192.168.1.46, lets assume you will do the same

Now we need to set up the port forwarding on router. Select a port at random, for example,, 12123 now set up port forwarding to forward any requests for that port to 192.168.1.46

So now when you type Jim.noip.us:12123 you will be connected to your storage device.

I hope that makes sense?

Mick

Thanks Charlie, I think that makes sense. Sadly, a new router is not going to be on the menu, so unless I can get the VM superhub to play ball, the project ends here. For now, at least...

There shouldn't be a need to set the router to issue IP address by mac address. Just fix the IP address on the server, preferable to something outside the DCHP range to avoid possible conflicts.

Unraid also has a Dynamic DNS package which can be installed from the unmenu package manager (server_name:8080/pkg_manager) which you can use to fix your external address but heed the warning that come with the package.... Dont use it myself as I use dropbox for remote files.

Thanks Mark - I really ought to give credit where it's due, I wouldn't have embarked on the Unraid venture without your help, so many thanks.
I think the main issue I'll have is the Virgin Media superhub...

I have a spare Asus RT56, its surplus to requirements, we may be able to come to a deal http://www.asus.com/Networking/RTN56U/

Hi Jim, no worrys just hope its all working like you hoped.

I think unless your desperate to use VPN (which does have its benefits from what I understand) you should be fine with your superhub. Unraid can cover the DynDNS duties if needed and the super hub can do the port forwarding needed.

I know there are better router than the superhub, I've had several but I never used half the features to be honest. The superhub is fine for what I use tbh.

As I said i have no interest in web access as my unraid is purely for laptop backups and storing large media files, but if you want to look into it I will help where I can.

Make sure you have the R38 firmware on the Superhub. Personally I found it nothing but trouble. As is so often the case, ISPs go for the cheapest rather than the best Routers.
The ASUS routers are faster, have hardware NAT, better wireless range, faster WAN to LAN performance, and these are common features you would want.

The AI disk, the USB ports etc may not be 100% needed.

Here's an indication of my internet speed

This review of an early version of the RT56 makes for interesting reading
RT56 Review

Some info regarding port forwarding on the Superhub http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Up-t...ed/td-p/1289387

Not totally disagreeing Mick but as I said I have found the Superhub more than adequate for my needs.

I have had uprated routers with better range etc but they never really worked in my situation so I gain nothing. I may be able to eek some more performance but I don't really need to so its just another device to have in my living room.

Not saying this is the case for everyone, just me.

Thanks for the offer, charlie, but I've already overspent on this, so if I can use what I've got then I will.

Basically, I just want to be able to access files (music, photos and Office primarily) when I'm out and about - over wifi and 3G.

I don't have massive worries over security, as there's nothing sensitive on the disks, but obviously password protection would be essential.

I don't know what my options are, really. I understand just about what a VPN is, but if I don't need it and can just type in a URL and get what I want then all the better...

The security issue is not someone else seeing them, but some script kiddy erasing the lot...

If it's for playing music surely the security issue would be someone else seeing what (maybe) poor taste you have?

Hey, I wear my poor musical taste with pride. Often on T shirts.

I take your point, Neil.

There are plugins which may be off jse is you run v5.xx.

Theres a web based media server which might work.....

I seem to have set myself up for a fall...

On Tuesday morning, I switched off and unplugged the server (as well as all other cables for router, TV, etc) when it looked likely that storms were a-coming.
By the evening, everything had calmed down, so I plugged it all back in and got everything going again. Then, twice we had complete power black-outs for a second or so at a time and since then, it's been a nightmare.

I couldn't reach the "tower" (the name the unraid server calls itself) through the GUI on the laptop, so I couldn't power it down. Eventually, I just had to manually turn it off (I didn't have the console screen attached to work on the box directly).

Having forced a shutdown, I restarted it and had the same problem: I'd enter "//tower" intro firefox address bar and just be given google search results including Tower Records. Hugely frustrating.

Finally, I powered it down manually again, then took out the USB stick. I re-flashed this with the last working config I had saved on my laptop and put it back in and switched on.

Thankfully I reached the Tower and performed a clean shutdown.

I then left it switched off and unplugged until an electrician had been and checked our electrics yesterday (our lighting ring main had also gone on the fritz). So yesterday evening, I plugged everything back in and powered up... Still can't reach "//tower" or "tower:8080".

I reconnected the screen to the server and I can log on to the tower using the password, but without the GUI, I can't restart the array or perform a parity check or ensure the data is all safe.

I can't believe that losing power for a second twice can completely render this fubar.

Any ideas...?

First off look at the back on the Unraid and check a) the cables plugged in properly and b) there are lights flashing next to the port. Also check the BIOS for any changes

Directly on Unraid console type; ifconfig eth0

This should show a load of info regarding the network config including IP address unraid is using (eg inet addr:192.168.1.123)

Try typing the IP address into the browser of your choice. Does that work?

Thanks Hyperlink. I checked the cabling, which is fine and the network activity light flickers on the front of the box; I tried the ifconfig eth0 command and it brought back quite a lot of info, but nothing I recognised as an IP address. There was a hex number separated by colons or dots, but nothing obvious. I'll try again later...

I had another look, but I'm no closer to a solution; I found the IP address for the server from the router and when I input it to the browser address bar, it comes back with a page that just says: "It works!"

Still can't log in using //tower

I am afraid that I'll have to go through the whole configuration tutorial again and reconfigure the USB stick. But I would cry if I had to run preclear again and/or lose the data on the disks...

Have you tried \\tower\main ?

I have. Or rather //tower/main. Still no joy

Did you fix the IP address or is it using DHCP?

I find this new talk from Jim very disturbing, please cease and desist.

It's still using DHCP. I was contemplating the fixed IP move when all this kicked off.
The fact that entering the IP address rather than "//tower/" gets the "It works!" response confuses me!

Jim,

Not sure what to suggest. You could try the following;

Checking the BIOS to make sure everything is right there.
Checking the router for its settings
Check the network.cfg file on another computer and/or replace with a new version.

You will NOT have to lose data nor preclear the disks. Preclearing is more to stress test the drives to test for errors before creating an array. Remember all the drives can be read seperately if needed.

Hi Mark,

thanks for the suggestions.

How do I check the BIOS and what am I looking for?
I have checked the router and it seems fine. The settings are all as they were before when it worked perfectly.
I don't understand the bit about the network.cfg file...
That's the trouble - I'm on the edge of my knowledge and ability!

I don't think there is anything wrong with the disks, but I think it's down to the Unraid software. I fear I'll have to begin again from scratch and rebuild the array using the existing disks...

Meh! Serves me right!

I just re-formatted and reinstalled the unRAID software onto the USB stick. I stuck it back into the server and powered it up, expecting nothing. But it works, as does the GUI!
It recognises all the disks, but the parity disk needs to be reinstalled and a new parity check run. Rather pleased!



Cue the next thunderstorm...

Glad its sorted and a (reasonably) easy fix. probably best to backup the flash drive now so you can just copy it again if needed.

Yes, yes, but I only get to make these mistakes because I'm prepared to try!