Problems after power outage.

[David Heaton]

Hi there,

Partway through compressing 83 tracks to FLAC there was a power cut(I'm unsure what caused it,possibly the B2?).

When I turned the power back on and wifi restored,the B2 began compression again(skipping through in multiples of 11-then 22,33)but stopped at 44 and turned off.

I pressed to save and turned off.When I restarted the same events occured and so I pressed start and WARNING-HDD READ ONLY! appeared on the rolling display.

There are still 83 WAV tracks according to Settings and I haven't got a clue how to proceed.

I would be very grateful for any advice,

Dave Heaton.

[JFBUK]

Hi Dave,

the first thing to try is a scan disk.

There is a strong likelihood that the B2 index of contents is out of synch with what you have on your hard drive and a scan disk will rebuild the index.

Give that a go and report back.

There are other things to try and  lots of people who can help on here.

If you do not have a recent backup of your B2 then it would be a good idea to make one after the scan disk is complete.

John

[David Heaton]

Thanks for your reply John,

I've scanned the disc as you suggest but the problem remains.

Still 83 WAV tracks in Settings (although on it's last attempt it was compressing 45 of 29) and WARNING-HDD READ ONLY! displaying if I press to start.

I've also noticed then when I press to Save,'Saving' doesn't hold but flashes off instantly to Clock and Date(don't know if that's relevant).

Fortunately I did a backup 48hrs. ago,

Regards,

Dave.

[JFBUK]

Hi Dave,

It seems likely the power outage has corrupted the your hard drive and/or the SD card containing the Brennan software and operating system.

I think its more likely the former, as your B2 seems to be otherwise functioning OK and and the 'Read Only' message normally indicates a hard drive issue.

What version of the B2 software are you using ?

There are ways out of this and the good news is that you have a recent backup (export).

Peter Lowham & Fred Hopper , two of the resident gurus on this forum, has previously posted some great instructions  on how to create/re-build the SD card and on how to format your B2 hard drive and import(restore) from a good export(backup) of a B2 hard drive.

I just tried to find those instructions in a search without success but hopefully they or someone else will be able to point you to them

John

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Dave,

When the HDD drops into 'Read only' mode it is an indication that the B2 has found an area of 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.

In this case, it looks like the B2's internal HDD has become corrupted or probably caused by the power failure. 

Firstly,  you have a backup (Export) of your music collection stored on a USB device, so that is a good start.

The next stage is to format the HDD, followed by an 'Import' of your collection back on to the B2 from the USB device

To Format The HDD And Run The Import

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 USB backup device back into the B2

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

Your B2 should now be ready for normal operation

Note:  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.

[David Heaton]

Thanks again John,

I was the very grateful recipient of some sage advice from both Peter and Fred a few weeks ago regarding disc fragmentation and reformatting.

It was clear that would be necessary at some stage but Fred suggested that I finished the work I was doing first(replacing MP3 files with FLAC).

I wanted to make a new backup before I reformatted.If I use the one from 2 days ago there will be some duplication due to MP3 files still on there but if the hard drive is corrupted then I suppose making a new one now is out of the question?

If that's the case then I will just have to delete them after Import.

I was wondering whether deleting the 83 files that I had ripped today would allow me to make a new good backup now?

I will wait and see if either of the resident gurus(or any others)have any further advice to pass on.They have both been incredibly generous with their time and knowledge in recent months.
Kind Regards,

Dave.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Dave,

You should be able to do another full Export now as this operation only reads the B2's HDD so the 'Read only' condition does not affect the Export.  However, I would not delete your existing Export in case there is a problem part way through the new Export.  Does your USB device have sufficient space to hold two Exports?

Another option would be to copy the USB Export data to a PC for safety, then use the USB device for the new Export.

If you do have sufficient space on the USB device, you can rename the current 'b2Export' folder as something like 'b2Export-20220203' and then run a new Export on the B2.

Regards,

Peter.

[David Heaton]

Thanks Peter,

I had just started to thank you for your last post when I got another helpful one from you.

You are so kind and I am very grateful.

I didn't realise until I communicated with you and Fred recently that you could reformat back up Hard drives.

As a consequence,I've bought a new one every time I've got to a certain stage(Yes,it has proven expensive).

I've got 5 or 6 1TB ones and now have 3 2TB ones.

I've got a brand new one which I was going to use when I'd finished all the work and so could use that now and still have the one I backed up 2 days ago as insurance.

I could then clear that to use as the definitive copy when finished.

Does this sound like a reasonable course of action to you?

Should I delete the 83 files from today that may or may not have been compressed to FLAC?

Again,many thanks for your time,

Dave.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Dave,

Yes, you should be able to do another Export.  Because the internal HDD is only being read from during the Export, that means the 'Read only' situation does not affect the Export.

Regarding the disk corruption, that occurs at the File Allocation Table (FAT) level and this will not be copied across during the Export.

Regards,

Peter.

On Friday, 4 February 2022 at 19:10:25 UTC Daniel Taylor wrote:

How many additional CDs have you ripped since the most recent backup from before the power failure?  If it's just a few, it might be better to re-rip them later.  Speaking only for myself, I would not backup the corrupted hard disk, as that could just carry through the bad files.

[PMB]

Hi Dave,

Sometimes powering the B2 off, waiting 30s and powering on clears the 'Read Only' mode - may have to repeat a couple of times.

If that doesn't work you'll have to format the HDD as Peter suggests.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[David Heaton]

I decided not to make a new export at this stage and saved myself about 30hrs. although it will take some time to re-edit and delete duplicated files.

The reformat and import seemed to go well and so now I continue the work with crossed fingers hoping another power cut isn't imminent.

Many thanks again to John and Paul from Brennan support and Daniel for their advice but especially to Peter who I believe should be in receipt of a Consultancy fee from me for such concise and invaluable support,

Sincerely,

Dave.

[PMB]

Hi Dave,

So it sounds like you are operational again now, great.

Paul

Brennan Support.