HDD drive - no access.

[Christopher Brown]

Can't understand. I'd ripped a few CDs, left it to compress for about 6 hours, then just came back to HDD read only. Everything else is fine. I've upgraded software, SD ripping is fine, just seemed to be a random switch off of the HDD, I shall wait and see.

Everything else is fine, I've copied the SD contents to device in USBC, I'm able to access the B2 from my PC, but only the SD card. 

[JFBUK]

Hi,

can you run a successful scan disk ?

John

[Daniel Taylor]

Does the front panel display include the line that says "Source: SD card"?  If so, run the Use HDD command (Maintenance menu).  That should reboot the unit and change the music source back to the HDD.  Sometimes you have to run it more than once.

The B2 switches the HD to Read Only status when it detects a problem in a file, often when it has just tried to rip it.  That's to protect the HDD from any potential damage.  But often it's just a corrupted file, that should be deleted and ripped again.  Does the status window in the WebUI show that there are still .WAV files on the disk?  Open the Debug window from the Status window, and clear it.  Then run the Compress Now command (Settings menu).  If it stops again and sets the HDD to Read Only, open the Debug window again and see which file it was on when it stopped compressing.  That may tell you the bad track.

[Christopher Brown]

I tried a scan and debug but before it went into a long list of retrying before timing out I had this message:

initDisks () no cookie - waiting for hdd
Trying sda1................. at 10112 ms
does not exist - retrying

Even from my PC I can't see the HDD information. I don't know enough to tell if I have a fault with the B2 or it's my ineptiitude coming out!

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Christopher,

When the HDD drops into 'Read only' mode it can be an indication that the B2 has found an area of HDD corruption on the HDD.  The B2 goes into 'Read only' mode in order to protect the music collection as far as it can.  But that does not always work.

As you progress through ripping and compressing tracks, the B2 uses more of the unused HDD space, and it may have hit a corrupt patch on the HDD and this has triggered the 'Read only' mode.

In this case, it looks like the B2's internal HDD has become corrupted or possibly has developed a hardware fault.  The message 'waiting for hdd .... Trying sda1' is indicating that the B2 cannot see the HDD.

Firstly, do you have a backup (Export) of your music collection stored on a USD HDD or memory stick?  If you do, then I think that the way forwards is as described below in steps 1 to 8.

If you do not have a backup, can you rebuild your music collection by re-ripping all of your CDs?  (Very painful).

Assuming that you have a backup, then the best way of fixing this is to format the HDD, then 'Import' your collection back on to the B2 from the USB device

1.  Select 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Stop NAS'

2.  Select 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Use SD'

3.  Power the B2 down, wait 30 seconds and power up.  (This step is important)

4.  Select 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Advanced' --> 'Format HDD'

If at this point you see an error message on the front panel display, the it is is probable that the internal HDD has failed with a hardware fault.

If you see a message ‘Partitioning’ briefly followed by another message ‘Formatting’ which should show for a time between approximately 2 and 5 minutes, depending on the capacity of the HDD then the HDD is formatting and you should continue to step 5.

If ‘Formatting’ disappears after a few seconds then the format has failed, then the above steps 3 and onwards should be repeated.  If the problem persists then the HDD is probably faulty.

5.  When the format has completed select 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Use HDD'

6.  Select 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Start NAS'

7.  Plug the USD backup device back into the B2

8.  Select ‘USB Functions’ --> 'Import from C’ (or ‘A’)

If the format fails after a couple of attempts then it is likely that the HDD has suffered a hardware failure.  In this case, contact Brennan through this Forum and request further assistance.

Regards,

Peter.

[Daniel Taylor]

Christopher has replied to me privately as follows:

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I have run use HDD 3 times in succession, then use SD, then use HDD. Each time the message bar is showing source as SD card

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That was nearly seven hours ago, so it precedes Peter's post above.

[Peter Lowham]

I received this PM a few minutes ago from Christopher.

Thanks for that guidance, I 'm not too worried about having to rip CDs again, I put it all down to part of the learning experience. Having been through several evaluation routines I fear the hard drive may be faulty. I will go through your notes and let you know how I progress. I am working on the basis of my problems being operator error, that's why I am persisting with it.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Christopher,

OK, the B2 works really well but my experience tells me that some caution is needed when ripping CDs in bulk.  The main self imposed rule that I follow is to only rip CDs in batches of 20 to 30 CDs and let these compress to completion overnight or through the day.  That prevents a big backlog of work for the B2 to build up.

Let us know how you get on.

Regards,

Peter.

[PMB]

Hi Christopher,

It does sound a problem with the HDD or the interface electronics. If you cannot fix the problem using the suggestions above, email us on -   thebrennanb2   @   gmail   .   com   - no spaces, with a brief description of the issue.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Robert Bull]

Hmm- not so good. " Use SD" then says  " failed"

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Robert,

You have replied to your issue on this thread rather than on your original thread which is quite confusing, so I'll update here and also on your original thread.

It looks like your microSD card (where the B2 software is stored) is corrupted.  There are two ways to sort this out.

1.  Purchase a replacement microSD card from Brennan (£10) or if under warranty Brennan will replace it at no charge.

2.  Reflash the existing card using the software provided on the Brennan website (at no charge) which will take about 30 minutes to do.  Below is a link to the Brennan web page which describes how to do this.  We can also provide additional supporting instructions if you want to try this.  Scroll down to 'New SD Card'.

https://www.brennan.co.uk/itemcontent.php/content/Techy

Regards,

Peter.