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File/ Data Recovery for those that Failed to backup or had other problems


dibblejr

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2 hours ago, k6ccc said:

There is really two parts to what is a server.  There is the hardware and the software - and they are not necessarily tied to each other.  First is the hardware part.  Almost any computer can function as a server, but generally when people think of servers, they are thinking of a rack mount computer that has lots of CPU power, gobs of disk space and RAM, and generally lots of redundancy built in.  By lots of redundancy, I mean redundant power supplies, LAN connections, CPUs and cooling fans.  I have had four computers in the last 20 years or so that functioned as a server at my house.  The first two were just Dell desktop computers with nothing special about them.  When the second one died a few years ago I was given an old Dell server that I knew was only a stopgap until I could replace it with something better.  It had redundant power supplies, CPUs and fans (14 of them) in a two rack unit case (3.5 inches tall).  One of the biggest disadvantages of it was those 14 fans were NOISY!!!!  It forced me to build the garage data cabinet that I had wanted to do for years in order to get it out of the house.  That one was used for only 18 months before a planned replacement with my current Dell R710 rack-mount server.  It has dual CPUs, 48 GB of RAM, eight drive bays (five currently populated) a hardware RAID controller, four LAN ports and redundant power supplies, and a few other things that are beyond this discussion.  The hardware for a server is generally beefier under the assumption that it will run 24 x 7.  Particularly for just backing up data, it does NOT take much.

Now for the software.  Generally a server is running a server version of the operating system.  The first computer that I ran as a server used Windows 2000 (not server version), the second used Windows Server 2000, and the last two used Windows Server 2012 R2.  A lot of servers use Unix variants rather than Windows or Mac OSes.  Server operating systems are optimized for server functionality and are generally not a good choice for end user computer use.  Server OSes have the capabilities for things like being a domain controller, and terminal services.  Server OSes cost more than end user OSes as well.  For just file backup, there is very little need to use a server OS.

For file storage, any Windows computer has the ability to share a hard drive across the LAN, and any Windows computer can map a network drive as a drive letter.  In other words, on one computer you share a hard drive or folder, and on another you map that remote drive as a drive letter on your computer.  For example, on both my sequencing computer and primary family room computer, I have an L: drive that is actually a folder on my server.  You could do the same functionality on any old computer.  There are readily available external hard drives that are either LAN or generally USB connected.  This is what I use to backup my server.  I have several external hard drives and I backup the server every weekend to one of the drive and drive it into work.  Then an older backup drive is brought back home and it is used for the weekly backup.  I just rotate between several hard drives.  The most recent drive is the drive kept at work.  Another option is what's called Network Attached Storage.  NAS is a stand alone box with one or more LAN connections, and a simple Operating System and generally a large amount of disk space (usually with disk redundancy).  Another option for data storage backup is one of many cloud based storage offerings.  These include offerings that automatically back up whatever changes you make to your local computer to the cloud, or appear as a drive letter on your computer and you simply copy desired files to the cloud drive.  Lastly there are cloud options that are web based and you copy or drop files to the cloud - I use Google Drive this way.

I mentioned earlier RAID and also redundant drives.  Let me briefly explain that.  RAID is short for Redundant Array of Independent Disks.  There are several different levels of RAID, but the general concept is that multiple physical disks are used to store the data generally in a way that allows for one or more drives to fail without losing any data because of redundancy.  You can do an internet search for RAID to learn more.  My server is using RAID 1 which means that all data is written to two separate disks so that if a disk fails, none of the data is lost.  The RAID controller in the server will notify me if there is a disk failure, and I have a hot standby disk that will take over for the failed disk automatically.

On many occasions on this forum, I have harped on the importance of backups, off-site backups, and multiple backups.  As all of us become more dependent on computer data, it becomes more important that such data is protected.  Even if it's not something that that you can't live without (financial and tax records for example), as JR had happen, you don't really want to lose all the photos of your kids growing up.  Those may not be financially or life critical, but most of us REALLY don't want to lose those files.

And JR, I'm more than happy to chat on the phone for details on this stuff if you want to.

 

I knew as soon as you posted I would get a plethora of great information! I like it because you give names and part numbers! Thanks again Jim. I am going to have to pull my bootstraps up and make a decision. I def don't want to support a Seagate technician again.

Thank you

JR

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Well, I can shamelessly promote my services as a data recovery specialist. Unlike some, who charge for a certain amount of recovered data or recovery tries, I only charge a one time fee and it doesnt matter how big the drive or how much data is recovered.

I can target certain files, if all you want are jpg's or mp3's or lms's.

Been doing this for years for many many people. You can pm me for details. Can discuss over the phone, or if you live close, in person. Im in Florida and have over 20 years of programming experience.

I am also an avid LOR user and active member of this forum.

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6 minutes ago, radarman2000 said:

Well, I can shamelessly promote my services as a data recovery specialist. Unlike some, who charge for a certain amount of recovered data or recovery tries, I only charge a one time fee and it doesnt matter how big the drive or how much data is recovered.

I can target certain files, if all you want are jpg's or mp3's or lms's.

Been doing this for years for many many people. You can pm me for details. Can discuss over the phone, or if you live close, in person. Im in Florida and have over 20 years of programming experience.

I am also an avid LOR user and active member of this forum.

Too late. I also had another great offer a couple days ago by Whitebuck and Ed. Much appreciated, everyone.

Thank you though

JR

"Posted Sunday at 04:59 PM · Report post

Figured I would update my posts. Sorry Ed but I really appreciate the offer.

I ended up recovering about 1500 pics and vids with the Seagate Recovery software.

I then sent it off to Seagate and for $650 they recovered all of the contents (I had a screen shot of all the folders and files before sending). It took them 1 month and I got a new drive with everything on it.

Now I need to figure out a cloud service that I can TRUST. This made my day/ life when I got the new drive. Precious memories!

Thanks

JR

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