Looking to get a storage device repaired

[georgey]

My NAS device ("entry level", Synology brand) recently crashed. I am hoping someone might be able to recommend a competent repair person who may be able to recover some of the lost data & do whatever is required to get it operational again. I'm in central Bangkok. 

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[FritsSikkink]

7 minutes ago, georgey said:

My NAS device ("entry level", Synology brand) recently crashed. I am hoping someone might be able to recommend a competent repair person who may be able to recover some of the lost data & do whatever is required to get it operational again. I'm in central Bangkok. 

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Loads of shops in Fortune Town, Ratchadapisek road

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, georgey said:

My NAS device ("entry level", Synology brand) recently crashed. I am hoping someone might be able to recommend a competent repair person who may be able to recover some of the lost data & do whatever is required to get it operational again. I'm in central Bangkok. 

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

What you want is not repair - it's data recovery.

 

The big question you want to ask yourself is: How important is that data for you and how much are you willing to pay for it.

 

Because if you find someone who claims he can do it and he does it wrong then your data might be irreversible gone. Nobody will be able to restore it.

 

If you know it's important and you are willing to pay then look for a professional data recovery company. You will find them online. The price often depend on how fast you need your data. If you can wait i.e. for a week that is cheaper than "I want it now".

 

The middle way are people who know their limitations. There is pretty good free recovery software out there and if a computer professional knows what he is doing then he might be able to recover your data without changing anything on the original. If he is not able to recover your data then you can still ask an (expensive) professional to do that.

 

 

[georgey]

Thank you vm for both replies. I think it may have originally come from Fortune Town, I just find the whole place a bit bewildering (not being competent in matters of this nature), so was hoping to get a specific recommendation in order to avoid going to (as per OneMoreFarang's reply) "someone who claims he can do it and he does it wrong". I'll have a closer look at data recovery options. 

Thanks again to you both for your trouble.

[GrandPapillon]

1 hour ago, georgey said:

My NAS device ("entry level", Synology brand) recently crashed. I am hoping someone might be able to recommend a competent repair person who may be able to recover some of the lost data & do whatever is required to get it operational again. I'm in central Bangkok. 

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

was your synology self-managed? did you cloud the content on the drive? what was the primary use of the synology?

is the hard disk crash? or is it a soft crash?

 

if the hard disk is still good and it's just a system crash, just re-install everything, and if content was clouded, re-sync everything back

 

that should take you 1 full day,

Edited January 22, 2021 by GrandPapillon

[georgey]

Thank you vm.

I just use it for downloading movies etc. & storing photos. Luckily I've had years of trouble-free use out of it, as, as I said earlier, I'm pretty useless at doing anything more than turning it on & off.

The message under "Suggestion" reads: "Unable to use this volume. The data in the volume may be crashed. Please try to back up the data before removing the volume." Later under "Status" it says simply: "Crashed". 

Problem was caused by the box being knocked on its side (not dropped), on a hard surface . I'm surprised how sensitive it is.

[GrandPapillon]

the box being knocked off on the side wouldn't create such a crash unless the drive was already on a failure path

 

I assume there are 2 drives in the synology, and only 1 drive has crashed, try to "reformat" it if you need how to do it

 

if you didn't use HyperBackup on the Synology to sync or cloud your shared folders data, then it's gone

[gargamon]

Eeek, does nobody here understand what a NAS is? If this is a multi-hard drive box, and depending on how it was setup, the solution is merely to replace the damaged disk and the system will automatically rebuild. There are built in redundancies for just this issue.

 

So, what is the model number of your NAS? How many drives? What type of raid was it set up as?

[georgey]

On 1/23/2021 at 5:53 PM, GrandPapillon said:

the box being knocked off on the side wouldn't create such a crash unless the drive was already on a failure path

 

I assume there are 2 drives in the synology, and only 1 drive has crashed, try to "reformat" it if you need how to do it

 

if you didn't use HyperBackup on the Synology to sync or cloud your shared folders data, then it's gone

Thank you, only one drive, & not backed up, so not looking great. Appreciate your taking the trouble to help.

[georgey]

23 hours ago, gargamon said:

Eeek, does nobody here understand what a NAS is? If this is a multi-hard drive box, and depending on how it was setup, the solution is merely to replace the damaged disk and the system will automatically rebuild. There are built in redundancies for just this issue.

 

So, what is the model number of your NAS? How many drives? What type of raid was it set up as?

Thank you. It's a DS212j - one drive only. As I said I'm totally ignorant about this stuff, the unit was bought for me & set up by a friend who's no longer in the country (otherwise I'd go to him). So RAID is (well) beyond me. Thanks vm again.

[GrandPapillon]

1 hour ago, georgey said:

Thank you. It's a DS212j - one drive only. As I said I'm totally ignorant about this stuff, the unit was bought for me & set up by a friend who's no longer in the country (otherwise I'd go to him). So RAID is (well) beyond me. Thanks vm again.

the DS212j has a 2 drive bay,

 

something is not clear, where and how did you get that message below? in your Windows box? that doesn't really tell you anything, or it could be a simple network connection issue to the Synology

 

The message under "Suggestion" reads: "Unable to use this volume. The data in the volume may be crashed. Please try to back up the data before removing the volume." Later under "Status" it says simply: "Crashed".

 

[gargamon]

I have a DS211j, the 2011 version equivalant to your 2012 model. I no longer use it but for what it is, it works sufficiently well. I subsequently got a 4 disk Synology NAS, but found Synology to be insufficient and recently built one myself. 

 

Your unit has 2 drives and will likely be set up with 1 disk redundancy, where if 1 disk crashes, it can simply be replaced and the system will rebuild it without losing any data.

 

Hard drives spin at a very high rate, and should not be moved when operating, let alone dropped on the floor. Assuming only 1 disk was spinning when it was dropped, likely only 1 disk is toast. Someone needs to log into the NAS and check which disk(s) are crashed. Hopefully you still have the password or can contact the person that set it up to find out what it is. The default username is “admin” and the default password is left blank. Then, depending on what they find, the path to take can be determined. You will obviously need to find someone a bit more technically literate to do this. Hopefully whoever you find has some experience with Synology. If it's only 1 drive bad, replace it with a new one, give it a day or 2 to rebuild the replaced disk and all should be OK.

 

Data from NAS's typically cannot  be recovered the same way as you would from a bad hard drive on your PC or laptop because the NAS has it's own formatting of the data. You cannot take a hard drive from a NAS and plug it into a PC to read the data, so the recovery software used for PC's won't work. My homemade NAS, of course, doesn't have this limitation.

  

Keep us posted as to what you find.

[teacherclaire]

On 1/22/2021 at 6:40 PM, georgey said:

Thank you vm.

I just use it for downloading movies etc. & storing photos. Luckily I've had years of trouble-free use out of it, as, as I said earlier, I'm pretty useless at doing anything more than turning it on & off.

The message under "Suggestion" reads: "Unable to use this volume. The data in the volume may be crashed. Please try to back up the data before removing the volume." Later under "Status" it says simply: "Crashed". 

Problem was caused by the box being knocked on its side (not dropped), on a hard surface . I'm surprised how sensitive it is.

Get somebody to open it. The reader might just be hanging and that would be an easy job for somebody who knows what he's doing. 

 

I had an external 1 TB drive where i thought it's expired and the PC didn't recognize it anymore.

 

   Then after taking it out of the cover, I only  needed a little bit of soldering and back to life it was. 

 

  

[georgey]

1 hour ago, teacherclaire said:

Get somebody to open it. The reader might just be hanging and that would be an easy job for somebody who knows what he's doing. 

 

I had an external 1 TB drive where i thought it's expired and the PC didn't recognize it anymore.

 

   Then after taking it out of the cover, I only  needed a little bit of soldering and back to life it was. 

 

  

Thank you. I was indeed intending to open it; just need to get hold of the right-sized screwdriver.

[touch]

11 hours ago, gargamon said:

I have a DS211j, the 2011 version equivalant to your 2012 model. I no longer use it but for what it is, it works sufficiently well. I subsequently got a 4 disk Synology NAS, but found Synology to be insufficient and recently built one myself. 

 

Your unit has 2 drives and will likely be set up with 1 disk redundancy, where if 1 disk crashes, it can simply be replaced and the system will rebuild it without losing any data.

 

Hard drives spin at a very high rate, and should not be moved when operating, let alone dropped on the floor. Assuming only 1 disk was spinning when it was dropped, likely only 1 disk is toast. Someone needs to log into the NAS and check which disk(s) are crashed. Hopefully you still have the password or can contact the person that set it up to find out what it is. The default username is “admin” and the default password is left blank. Then, depending on what they find, the path to take can be determined. You will obviously need to find someone a bit more technically literate to do this. Hopefully whoever you find has some experience with Synology. If it's only 1 drive bad, replace it with a new one, give it a day or 2 to rebuild the replaced disk and all should be OK.

 

Data from NAS's typically cannot  be recovered the same way as you would from a bad hard drive on your PC or laptop because the NAS has it's own formatting of the data. You cannot take a hard drive from a NAS and plug it into a PC to read the data, so the recovery software used for PC's won't work. My homemade NAS, of course, doesn't have this limitation.

  

Keep us posted as to what you find.

Sorry for busting in but can I have some more info about your NAS build?

[georgey]

19 hours ago, GrandPapillon said:

the DS212j has a 2 drive bay,

 

something is not clear, where and how did you get that message below? in your Windows box? that doesn't really tell you anything, or it could be a simple network connection issue to the Synology

 

The message under "Suggestion" reads: "Unable to use this volume. The data in the volume may be crashed. Please try to back up the data before removing the volume." Later under "Status" it says simply: "Crashed".

 

This is the screenshot 

[georgey]

18 hours ago, teacherclaire said:

Get somebody to open it. The reader might just be hanging and that would be an easy job for somebody who knows what he's doing. 

 

I had an external 1 TB drive where i thought it's expired and the PC didn't recognize it anymore.

 

   Then after taking it out of the cover, I only  needed a little bit of soldering and back to life it was. 

 

  

thank you. I opened it & had a look, & it would appear to my unqualified eye that everything is where it should be

[teacherclaire]

3 hours ago, georgey said:

thank you. I opened it & had a look, & it would appear to my unqualified eye that everything is where it should be

Then try some recovery software you might go for a swim.....in the Bay. 

[gargamon]

13 hours ago, touch said:

Sorry for busting in but can I have some more info about your NAS build?

My NAS build uses snapraid and mergerfs. I based it on the work by Zack Reed, Google "Zack Reed snapraid mergerfs" to find somewhere to start reading. I have enhanced his approach to use encryption on all NAS disks and also to be able to use external disks. I also use Debian instead of Ubuntu. Zack's info should be more than enough to get you going. I looked at some of the standalone packages like freenas, etc., but they didn't allow the freedoms I was looking for for things like the encryption.

[GrandPapillon]

8 hours ago, georgey said:

This is the screenshot 

ok I see now, the system drive seems to be ok, and yes you have 2 drive inside, disk 2 as it says in the screenshot has crashed

 

Just remove the "volume" and add it back, and it will take care of everything, it might be a soft crash. If you can't "add it" anymore, then it's a hard crash. I could take a look in remote mode if you send me your synology "connect.to" id, which should be setup under "General settings" if I am not mistaken. Might need to take a look on mine just to be sure.

Edited January 25, 2021 by GrandPapillon

[georgey]

10 hours ago, GrandPapillon said:

ok I see now, the system drive seems to be ok, and yes you have 2 drive inside, disk 2 as it says in the screenshot has crashed

 

Just remove the "volume" and add it back, and it will take care of everything, it might be a soft crash. If you can't "add it" anymore, then it's a hard crash. I could take a look in remote mode if you send me your synology "connect.to" id, which should be setup under "General settings" if I am not mistaken. Might need to take a look on mine just to be sure.

Thank you for your suggestions. 

Unfortunately I can no longer give you remote access as I cannot, now, get into it myself (which of course I could when I took that screenshot). The machine now emits repeated "beeps" when turned on, as opposed to the single "beep" it normally gives when it's finished booting up. It was generous of you to offer to take a look.

It does, in fact, have just one drive. It lives in bay 2 (which is why that screenshot refers to it as drive 2); bay 1 is unoccupied. 

It looks like I'll need to take it to a place which understands the brand, replace the drive, & most likely lose all its data. Luckily some of it, at least, is replaceable.

[georgey]

On 1/24/2021 at 10:00 PM, gargamon said:

I have a DS211j, the 2011 version equivalant to your 2012 model. I no longer use it but for what it is, it works sufficiently well. I subsequently got a 4 disk Synology NAS, but found Synology to be insufficient and recently built one myself. 

 

Your unit has 2 drives and will likely be set up with 1 disk redundancy, where if 1 disk crashes, it can simply be replaced and the system will rebuild it without losing any data.

 

Hard drives spin at a very high rate, and should not be moved when operating, let alone dropped on the floor. Assuming only 1 disk was spinning when it was dropped, likely only 1 disk is toast. Someone needs to log into the NAS and check which disk(s) are crashed. Hopefully you still have the password or can contact the person that set it up to find out what it is. The default username is “admin” and the default password is left blank. Then, depending on what they find, the path to take can be determined. You will obviously need to find someone a bit more technically literate to do this. Hopefully whoever you find has some experience with Synology. If it's only 1 drive bad, replace it with a new one, give it a day or 2 to rebuild the replaced disk and all should be OK.

 

Data from NAS's typically cannot  be recovered the same way as you would from a bad hard drive on your PC or laptop because the NAS has it's own formatting of the data. You cannot take a hard drive from a NAS and plug it into a PC to read the data, so the recovery software used for PC's won't work. My homemade NAS, of course, doesn't have this limitation.

  

Keep us posted as to what you find.

Thank you for all this information, & for taking the time to share your expertise. 

I'm surprised, in spite of what you say, at just how fragile the disk is; it wasn't in use at the time, & the machine wasn't actually dropped, just knocked over.

Unfortunately, it does only have one drive, so the course of action you recommend isn't applicable in this case.

[GrandPapillon]

2 hours ago, georgey said:

Thank you for all this information, & for taking the time to share your expertise. 

I'm surprised, in spite of what you say, at just how fragile the disk is; it wasn't in use at the time, & the machine wasn't actually dropped, just knocked over.

Unfortunately, it does only have one drive, so the course of action you recommend isn't applicable in this case.

you seem to have a 3TB drive in it, those large drives are usually fragile, hence better to take 2 smaller drives like 1TB each, and setup the "data protection" option in the filesystem when you setup the synology. Who needs 3TB anyway of personal porn anyway when everything is streamed and clouded these days ????

[georgey]

1 minute ago, GrandPapillon said:

you seem to have a 3TB drive in it, those large drives are usually fragile, hence better to take 2 smaller drives like 1TB each, and setup the "data protection" option in the filesystem when you setup the synology. Who needs 3TB anyway of personal porn anyway when everything is streamed and clouded these days ????

Hahaha. Tku, I'll bear in mind what you said about the size of drive

[GrandPapillon]

2 hours ago, georgey said:

Thank you for your suggestions. 

Unfortunately I can no longer give you remote access as I cannot, now, get into it myself (which of course I could when I took that screenshot). The machine now emits repeated "beeps" when turned on, as opposed to the single "beep" it normally gives when it's finished booting up. It was generous of you to offer to take a look.

It does, in fact, have just one drive. It lives in bay 2 (which is why that screenshot refers to it as drive 2); bay 1 is unoccupied. 

It looks like I'll need to take it to a place which understands the brand, replace the drive, & most likely lose all its data. Luckily some of it, at least, is replaceable.

yep not looking good,

 

Synology are great when you are a DIY enthusiast, but if you have no clue on such things, using a synology with no outside help, let alone be in Thailand with no real IT help, then I suggest you buy a small "portable" 1TB drive and use it as you need it.

 

Why did you need a Synology in the first place?

[AlfHuy]

On 1/22/2021 at 6:40 PM, georgey said:

Thank you vm.

I just use it for downloading movies etc. & storing photos. Luckily I've had years of trouble-free use out of it, as, as I said earlier, I'm pretty useless at doing anything more than turning it on & off.

The message under "Suggestion" reads: "Unable to use this volume. The data in the volume may be crashed. Please try to back up the data before removing the volume." Later under "Status" it says simply: "Crashed". 

Problem was caused by the box being knocked on its side (not dropped), on a hard surface . I'm surprised how sensitive it is.

Hopefully nothing naughty.

[georgey]

3 minutes ago, GrandPapillon said:

yep not looking good,

 

Synology are great when you are a DIY enthusiast, but if you have no clue on such things, using a synology with no outside help, let alone be in Thailand with no real IT help, then I suggest you buy a small "portable" 1TB drive and use it as you need it.

 

Why did you need a Synology in the first place?

Yes I take your point about not exactly being able to take advantage of its full capabilities. That said, I have found it very beneficial to be able to control it from my laptop & access it from our other TVs/devices. I think I've had it about 7 years, & it didn't seem expensive then. I just went along with what my friend suggested at the time, & have had, prior to this incident, no reason to regret that decision. I have a few portable drives; I suppose what I need to replace the DS is a wireless external storage device, which I imagine can do exactly what I've been using the DS for (my existing portable drives not being wirelessly controllable). Not sure if those were available back then, that may have been the main reason for the choice.

[GrandPapillon]

19 minutes ago, georgey said:

Yes I take your point about not exactly being able to take advantage of its full capabilities. That said, I have found it very beneficial to be able to control it from my laptop & access it from our other TVs/devices. I think I've had it about 7 years, & it didn't seem expensive then. I just went along with what my friend suggested at the time, & have had, prior to this incident, no reason to regret that decision. I have a few portable drives; I suppose what I need to replace the DS is a wireless external storage device, which I imagine can do exactly what I've been using the DS for (my existing portable drives not being wirelessly controllable). Not sure if those were available back then, that may have been the main reason for the choice.

I think WD has some "WIFI drives" which are basically light version of a Synology that can be setup very easily

 

the Synology is a wonderful device but it can be complex to setup because you can do so many things with it, it's really a full network server, not a simple "shared" drive

 

you can even rent one on the cloud and run your "cloud" network for your business with that little device. There are even "free" alternatives to Synology like "OpenMediaVault", but you need to have min IT skills for a DIY enthusiast to setup those. 

[Nout]

On 1/22/2021 at 6:40 PM, georgey said:

Thank you vm.

I just use it for downloading movies etc. & storing photos. Luckily I've had years of trouble-free use out of it, as, as I said earlier, I'm pretty useless at doing anything more than turning it on & off.

The message under "Suggestion" reads: "Unable to use this volume. The data in the volume may be crashed. Please try to back up the data before removing the volume." Later under "Status" it says simply: "Crashed". 

Problem was caused by the box being knocked on its side (not dropped), on a hard surface . I'm surprised how sensitive it is.

From your description of how you use it you have lost nothing important..not worth the repair/recovery price.

[soi3eddie]

 

I have been using Synology NAS since 2012 and have a DS212 & DS718. Both are twin disc units. They can be used with either a single or double discs. Single disc has no data copy option hence your screenshot showing (without data protection). From your screenshot "volume 1" appears to have on one disk and that it is installed in slot #2. If there were two disks they would both be shown in the "disk info tab". To me it seems that it would be unlikely to recover data easily from the drive. Though as it was not striped over two disks the files should be on the disk and may be recoverable by an experienced data recovery professional.

BTW: I keep my NAS at my UK home and it works great as a VPN (for accessing UK streaming sites) and as a back-up device.