HELP! How to salvage data from a failed RAID1 setup (Hammer MyShare)

[mindbender9]

Hello all,

Situation:
I purchased a 1 TB Hammer MyShare NAS *almost* a year ago and for some reason, the unit refuses to power on as of last night. The LED on the power adaptor brick is flashing on/off when I plug it into the NAS but is strangely solid green when it is removed.

Anyhow, I contacted Hammer's Tech Support and the tech is going to send a replacement cord out today for me to try. The problem is that I don't think that a new cord will fix things and the unit itself is bad.

My problem is that if I send it back for warranty coverage, Hammer's tech support will only send me a new unit and I lose all my data. The tech support rep said that my only other choice is to break the warranty seal and pull the drives out and have someone extract the data. Although $500 would go down the drain, I would still be able to keep all of my files (which is probably what I'm going to do).

Specifics:
Long story short, I had the NAS set up in a RAID1 configuration where data is mirrored on both drives. I've heard that you cannot simply plug a mirrored drive in and copy the data off to your PC. I'm afraid that there is a way to salvage the data with some specialized software but I don't know what to do.

Can someone help with this? The Hammer tech support cannot advise me how to do this (because it voids the warranty), and all they could say is that I have to take it to "someone who knows how to do this."

Help!
Please help! Oh, and I would avoid the Hammer product line if a NAS manufacturer cannot assist a customer in salvaging data on one of their units.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Unregistered]

Buy another of the same model, put your drives into that unit and salvage your data.

Then return the unit.

And remember that RAID is not a backup solution.

 

[mindbender9]

Can't remove the drives without breaking the warranty seal. So the manufacturer would know right away if I removed any drives.

Thanks though.

 

[scotty]

Try to get your hands on another unit. A lot of manufacturer's these days will send you a replacement before sending the old one back, so that might work for you. Call the Manufacturer's warranty department and explain your problem. Speak to a supervisor if you have to. That's an obvious problem that isn't going to be solved until your drives come out.

 

[mindbender9]

Their tech support was pretty insistent that opening the chassis would violate their terms of agreement regarding the warranty. I've read on some threads that BellMicro/Hammer will not honor any of their units which have been opened.

Which is crazy, because what NAS manufacturer prevents their users from accessing the drives? Don't buy any of their products if you can avoid them.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[jdabbs]

Thanks for the warning; sorry you had to find out the hard way.

 

[justin2net]

try runtime's raid reconstructor; i've heard good things about it. then i would try to get my hands on a replacement "chassis" to put your old drives in.

best of luck!

 

[mindbender9]

I'll look into Raid Reconstructor, and I appreciate your help.

I have a dumb question for everyone: Has anyone actually tried to unplug one of two RAID 1 hard drives and connect it directly to a PC? Does anyone know whether or not the contents of the drive are viewable?

Thanks.

 

[Grab485]

I'll look into Raid Reconstructor, and I appreciate your help.

I have a dumb question for everyone: Has anyone actually tried to unplug one of two RAID 1 hard drives and connect it directly to a PC? Does anyone know whether or not the contents of the drive are viewable?

Thanks.

I had such experience.
I have software RAID 1 on Ubuntu Linux (using mdadm).
When I disconnected one drive, it was impossible to mount the other one - the system reported "disk is already mounted" and, of course, there were no mounted disk.

BUT.... when I started Ubuntu LiveCD (without mdadm), it was very easy to mount one of RAID's disk - just mount bla-bla, and I can see it. I mean as a separate disk I can read and write.

Conclusion: there is something on your system what prevents only one RAID 1 disk mounting. But one can easily do it from another system or LiveCD.

 

[thiggins]

I have a dumb question for everyone: Has anyone actually tried to unplug one of two RAID 1 hard drives and connect it directly to a PC? Does anyone know whether or not the contents of the drive are viewable?

It depends on whether the manufacturer made any modifications to a standard filesystem. Your computer also must support the drive format.

For example, Linux-based systems tend to use ext2 or ext3 (which Windows doesn't natively support). But QNAP uses a modified version of ext3 in their NASes that prevent drives from being mounted in Linux systems.

 

[mindbender9]

Thanks to both of you for helping!

I had such experience.
I have software RAID 1 on Ubuntu Linux (using mdadm).
When I disconnected one drive, it was impossible to mount the other one - the system reported "disk is already mounted" and, of course, there were no mounted disk.

BUT.... when I started Ubuntu LiveCD (without mdadm), it was very easy to mount one of RAID's disk - just mount bla-bla, and I can see it. I mean as a separate disk I can read and write.

Conclusion: there is something on your system what prevents only one RAID 1 disk mounting. But one can easily do it from another system or LiveCD.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what Hammer uses for their MyShare NAS (although I'd have to guess it would be some form of embedded Linux). Either way, it looks improbable that I'll be able to salvage my data by just plugging one of the drives in.

It depends on whether the manufacturer made any modifications to a standard filesystem. Your computer also must support the drive format.

For example, Linux-based systems tend to use ext2 or ext3 (which Windows doesn't natively support). But QNAP uses a modified version of ext3 in their NASes that prevent drives from being mounted in Linux systems.

Tim, what if I got a 3rd party Raid Sata card (Adaptec?) and tried to connect the two Hammer drives to it? Would the Raid card recognize the Raid 1 array or would it force me to format them first (and lose all the data)?

 

[thiggins]

Tim, what if I got a 3rd party Raid Sata card (Adaptec?) and tried to connect the two Hammer drives to it? Would the Raid card recognize the Raid 1 array or would it force me to format them first (and lose all the data)?

RAID cards don't bring any magic to the RAID recovery party. The key is knowing what the drive file format is.
According to the review, the filesystem is ext3. But Jim Buzbee did not try to mount a drive on a Linux system. So it's possible that Hammer might use a modified ext3. There is no way to know unless Hammer tells you or you try to mount a drive.

 

[Mr. Chenevert]

Can't remove the drives without breaking the warranty seal. So the manufacturer would know right away if I removed any drives.

Thanks though.

Don't be so fast to rule this out. You aren't asking for a warranty, you are returning a unit. If they give you a hard time, file a charge back with your credit card.

 

[mindbender9]

BellMicro warranty policy puts customer data at risk if unit is returned

In case anyone was wondering what was happening with this situation, I received the replacement power cord today from BellMicro and sure enough... my Hammer myShare NAS still refuses to power on. The replacement cord is displaying the same activity that the original cord did.

So the unit still refuses to power on, and I have about a week left of warranty coverage. The tech rep stated that if the replacement cord didn't fix the problem, I have to send back the entire unit and they will replace it with another.

Here's the catch(22): I have personal data still on the drives, and the unit cannot be powered on. Therefore, how do I format the drives to prevent personal data (including billing info and job resumes) from being exposed? BellMicro has already stated that they won't salvage the data because they don't have the facilities to do so, but I have to return the unit without opening it if I want to get a replacement?

What's going to happen to my data?

This isn't right. BellMicro is saying that I (the customer) have to abide by their warranty policy and put my data at risk if I want a replacement unit. I don't know of any other NAS manufacturer that prevents its users from accessing the physical drives like this. In case of unit failure, the user's data cannot be erased and must be sent to the manufacturer without any assurances or guarantees that the data will be destroyed.

This should be addressed here. I would recommend that NO ONE buy any BellMicro/Hammer NAS products until they change this horrible policy. If a customer cannot be sure that their data will not be exposed if they do not break the warranty and format the drives, are they stuck with a dead unit (like myself)?

Here's my reply to the tech rep at BellMicro/Hammer:

Hello -------,

I received the power cord this afternoon and as I suspected, my MyShare NAS didn't power on with the replacement cord either. This means that the unit itself is defective and needs to be replaced since it is still under warranty.

My issue with this is that the current warranty policy requires the unit to be replaced, but in the process I'll also lose all data on the drives. In addition to losing the data, I am unable to format the drives since the unit doesn't power on. This results in my personal data (including resumes, and billing information) to be live and intact when it is returned to BellMicro.

As you can imagine, this is not acceptable under any circumstances. A customer's personal data cannot be compromised because of a warranty policy, and I will need to talk to someone in your company's management to address this. The idea of a manufacturer producing a NAS unit that will not allow customers access to that unit's drives is unacceptable.

I appreciate the assistance that you've provided, and I wish to state that your customer service was wonderful. But I have an issue with BellMicro's warranty policy and the potential problem with my data being compromised if I am forced to return this unit to your company without the opportunity to either salvage or erase the contents.

Please let me know how we can proceed. I have only a week left on my warranty period, and I only want my data back.

Thank you.

 

[thiggins]

Unfortunately, I don't have any contacts at Hammer that I can appeal to on your behalf.

You have two choices:
1) Try to escalate to a supervisor or other person higher up who would let you return the unit with the drives removed and still honor the warranty.

2) Chalk this up to experience, forget the warranty and remove the drives and try to recover the data.

There is a chance that you are going through this whole hassle for nothing. Depending on when the main board died, your array could be corrupt
and the data unrecoverable. The only way to know is to remove the drives and to try mounting them on a system that can read ext3. You could do this with any Linux "live CD" distro.

 

[Mr. Chenevert]

It's called Small Claims Court, and it only costs you $25 to file a claim.

I dont care what policies they have, you have the right to protect your personal data (and in this case retrieve it).

If they deny your warranty claim after you have discussed the matter with them, take them to small claims court for the amount of a new unit.

They wont even waste the time/money to show up to court, you will get a default judgement.

Then the company will contact you to figure out payment, you offer them a $100 discount if they pay within 2 weeks. This gives them motivation to pay quickly and not drag things out. They will most likely accept the offer.

You win.

 

[Mr. Chenevert]

Also, since Small Claims Court is intimidating to most people (it really shouldnt be though), many credit cards offer enhanced and extended warranties from the original manufacturer. You may want to contact the credit card company that you used to purchase the device and see what additional coverages they will offer.

American Express has been excellent in this regard for me.

 

[mindbender9]

I heard back from BellMicro's tech rep this morning, who offered to send back an empty NAS enclosure. This is so that I could move my drives there (and hopefully recover the data).

I'm more or less certain that I'll forfeit any warranty replacement, but I'm very happy that BellMicro's tech support were trying to help me more than what I was originally told.

Hopefully the new enclosure will recognize my existing RAID 1 array, and all will be good.

Thanks for everyone's advice and help!

 

[BriComp]

Hi,
I hope you are going to let us know how you got on, good or bad.

 

[mindbender9]

Thanks for inquiring about my situation with my dead Hammer MyShare NAS. It's Sunday night, 9/21, and I haven't yet received the replacement chassis from BellMicro. My one year warranty is also over as of the 17th, so this isn't getting any better.

I'll call them tomorrow and see what's happening, but considering there's been no action from BellMicro for 10 days... you can imagine my (lack of) satisfaction with this company.

If anyone is considering buying any Hammer products, please reread this thread before purchasing anything.

Thanks.