Acer H340 PC backup problems

Arun2021
Arun2021 Member Posts: 2 New User
edited December 2021 in Servers & Storage
Hi,
I have Acer H340 unit from way back when. It has been working flawlessly and is the best PC backup solution I have seen. I have restored completely dead PC from H340. But recently, it is having major problems and I have tried everything but cannot fix it.

How the problem started: I wanted to shutdown the H340 but for some reason, it kept restarting. So, I held the power button down till it shut off. I have done this several times in the past, but this time it broke the server.

The problem: I cannot access any files in user created shares. When I try to open any file from my laptop or any other PC, I get an error that the file cannot be opened. Windows Home Server connector software fails to launch the GUI. It says that an error has occurred. I can RDP into the server as Administrator. When I try to open any file in user created shares, I get an error that the file cannot be accessed by the system. I also tried to launch the WHS console on the server itself, but it complains that the backup service is not running. When I try to start the backup service, I get an error that it needs 20GB free space. The problem is that the client backup database files have also become inaccessible. When I try to copy any file from client backup database, I get an error that the file cannot be accessed by the system. All other files on C: and D drive are readable. Only the user create shares and client backup database files have become inaccessible.

External Symptoms: There are two disks in the server, one containing the OS and another one to increase storage. No RAID. Both disks are 2TB each. The server boots up fine, the disk LEDs are blue, the status LED (i) is blinking red.

Troubleshooting done:
a) I ran the diagnostics contained in ANNIE.GHO and no issue was reported.
b) I pulled out both drives, connected them to a PC via a USB enclosure and ran chkdsk with /r option. Both drives reported clean of any errors or bad sectors.
c) When I tried to access the files in user created shares while the disks were connected to the PC, I still got the "file cannot be accessed by the system" error.
d) I put a Windows 7 bootable HDD in the server and it worked fine. I was able to RDP into the H340 running Windows 7...!!
e) I have an old WHS v1 OS disk which had bad sectors and I had replaced it several years ago to avoid any problems. I put that OS disk into the H340 and it booted up fine. I was able to access the files it had without any issues.
f) I tried changing the file permissions of only one file to make them same as that of a newly created file, but no luck.

This gives me confidence that hardware and disks are perfectly fine.

Observations:
a) I can create new files in the user created shares, I can delete existing files, but cannot open an existing file. If I create a new file and open it, it opens without problem. I have restored some files from a cloud backup into user created shares and these files open fine.
b) I done ton of Google searches but everything is a dead end. No real resolution.

Last resort: I decided to run the Acer supplied server recovery disk. I put the disk into a PC and did what the instructions say. However, no matter what I do, I get a Server not found error. The status LED (i) is blinking but the network adapter LEDs are off both on the front and back. I checked the DHCP logs and the network adapter does not seem to have obtained any IP address. The adapter itself is fine as I have stated above that I can RDP into the server.

At this stage, I do not know what to do. If someone can provide any direction on:
a) How to fix the "file cannot be accessed by the system" error OR
b) How to make the server recovery utility find the server, so I can try to repair the OS install.

I shall be very grateful.

Sorry for the long post. I have spent more than 20 hours over last 4 days trying out various things.

Thanks,

Answers

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,234 Trailblazer
    IIRC the server recovery disc just reinstalls the full OS, wiping anything that's there already, so isn't a good choice for your situation.
    You might try pulling the drive and cloning it to another, just to verify the data is all good. I've seen a lot of instances where a chkdsk says things are fine, but database index entries were corrupt. Reading the blocks and writing them a different drive was successful, I assume because that process had better error correction than just the read don't by chkdsk. I'm also guessing the source for the files is gone, so you need to recover from the H340 rather than just wiping and redoing the backups?
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,165 Trailblazer

    Check these troubleshooting guides here at Acer Aspire easyStore H340 and see if that will help you out.

  • Arun2021
    Arun2021 Member Posts: 2 New User
    edited December 2021
    Thanks for the replies. I have done complete reverse engineering of the drives. All my files were intact in DE folders and I was able to copy all of them to a 4TB external USB disk from both the H340 disks. No errors. Even PC backups were intact in DE folders. I copied them too.

    I did test the cloning of disks and no issues. I used the Inateck dual USB tray which provides PC-less cloning.

    I think I know what has happened. The Disk Extender and Migrator service fails to run. It is this service which presents the data in DE folders as properly structured folders in shares. The actual files in shares are just "tombstones" (per Microsoft documentation). These are sparse files which are links to actual files in DE folders. The size of sparse files is same as that of actual files in DE folders. So the end user thinks that the files are in shares folder, but they actually reside in DE folders across multiple disks (if there are more than one disk).

    Unless the Disk Extender and Migrator service runs, the link between the sparse files (tombstones) and actual files is broken. This is why I am getting the "file cannot be access by the system" error. Since I am trying to read the file in shares, it is just a link. The Disk Extender and Migrator service crashes whenever I try to start it. No log is generated in Event Viewer.

    There is a registry key which actually defines which folders are managed by Disk Extender and Migrator service. It is only these folders which are having the file access issue, which makes sense as the service is crashing and not running.

    I have run sfc /scannow in the hope of fixing any system file corruption, but no luck. Since I cannot run the recovery disk, have no cable to connect a monitor (don't intend to get one), the server won't boot from an external USB, I will try converting it to Ubuntu server. Windows 10 works fine but I do not have a license for it.

    Thanks,

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,234 Trailblazer
    So Event Viewer doesn't see anything wrong if you try to manually start the service? You would think it would throw some sort of error, even if it's cryptic...
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.

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