Buffalo NAS failed, moving to a Windows based system, any user experiences?

[Greycap]

In short: the data is (probably) fine, the NAS isn't.

Longer version: I've had an old Buffalo LinkStation for years, and one day it simply couldn't be connected to anymore. Lights are on, the fan is running, but it can't be found on the network. I took the HDDs out and tried to reset the entre thing, it was visible for a fleeting moment but still couldn't be accessed for further setup, and then disappeared again. Booting it up with a firmware USB stick does absolutely nothing. It looks like something in the hardware finally gave up the ghost. Everyone always speaks about the safety of a RAID system but forgets that it has to be run by something.

Now, I indeed have two HDDs with the data, in a RAID1 configuration, and I'd very much like to have access to them. This far I've tried putting one of them into a HDD dock and accessing it with Linux and the help of a Linux pro, which according to the internet is a viable choice, but got nowhere as the partitions are in some odd "ee" mode. Does anyone have any ideas that could work without costing a couple of organs?

 

[Danoff]

In short: the data is (probably) fine, the NAS isn't.

Longer version: I've had an old Buffalo LinkStation for years, and one day it simply couldn't be connected to anymore. Lights are on, the fan is running, but it can't be found on the network. I took the HDDs out and tried to reset the entre thing, it was visible for a fleeting moment but still couldn't be accessed for further setup, and then disappeared again. Booting it up with a firmware USB stick does absolutely nothing. It looks like something in the hardware finally gave up the ghost. Everyone always speaks about the safety of a RAID system but forgets that it has to be run by something.

Now, I indeed have two HDDs with the data, in a RAID1 configuration, and I'd very much like to have access to them. This far I've tried putting one of them into a HDD dock and accessing it with Linux and the help of a Linux pro, which according to the internet is a viable choice, but got nowhere as the partitions are in some odd "ee" mode. Does anyone have any ideas that could work without costing a couple of organs?

I'm pretty far outside of my area of expertise, but nobody else has chimed in. Basically I think you have to restore your Linkstation to get it working again. I don't know if you can run the buffalo software on something else just to get access to the data.

I use freenas, and the process would be the same if the freenas system went down. I would install freenas on working hardware to access the data on the drives.

 

[Greycap]

Basically I think you have to restore your Linkstation to get it working again. I don't know if you can run the buffalo software on something else just to get access to the data.

The problem is that the hardware seems to be dead enough to not be restoreable, and I don't think I can get another similar one anywhere at least for a reasonable price. There's apparently a chance a Linux system could read the disks and that's what I'm going to try next.

 

[Danoff]

The problem is that the hardware seems to be dead enough to not be restoreable, and I don't think I can get another similar one anywhere at least for a reasonable price. There's apparently a chance a Linux system could read the disks and that's what I'm going to try next.

Good luck with getting that going. I would also suggest buying a used one, or trying to borrow one.

 

[Greycap]

An update on this, and the title changed accordingly.

The data was successfully rescued using an Ubuntu live stick, an USB dock for the drives, an external hard drive, and Claude AI for the commands. Absolutely no way I could ever have come up with the correct inputs by myself no matter how much time I'd have sunk into it but for once the AI could be put into good use. The entire thing was done in about two and a half hours, of which two hours was the copying phase.

But, now another question as I have new plans. I have a normal desktop PC, running Windows off an M.2 SSD, into which I want to stuff two big HDDs and combine them into a RAID1 style pool. For what I've understood, "Windows Storage Spaces" can be used to do just this with the "Two-way mirror" option. Anyone with actual user experience about it? What I'd like is concrete experience on how it works, if the disks are easily replaceable and the mirror rebuilt if necessary. What I do NOT want is smirky comments about how it's going to suck anyway and I should have a dedicated server with more power than a NASA supercomputer because that's how real men do it and everything else is for dweebs. I get enough of that style from a colleague at work.