Had To Get This Off My Chest

[stratman]

Well as we all know, the old axiom "when it rains, it pours" happens when you least expect it or want it. My coveted Panasonic receiver was accidentally trashed by the cleaning lady, I called Panasonic, they directed me to the closest service center, Panasonic by the way, were efficient and polite. Service center charges 53.00 just to look at receiver, after roughly one week they call you with diagnosis (which I figured I knew), then the good news: it costs more to fix a bent hdmi tab than to replace the receiver with a brand spanking new one. Second part of tragic play, I'm working late at night at the home office, getting some drawings ready for an early morning presentation, suddenly a soft whine turns into a series of pops and grunts followed by the sound of a muffled chainsaw, slowly getting louder and louder then quiet, dead calm quiet. As I walked around the office I was puzzled and alarmed, I looked out the window all clear, walked around the house, all ok, checked in on wife and kid, no problems. As I get back to the office, the sound of flatulence gone wild permeates the office, louder and louder to the point where I start to crack up, my wife gets out of bed to investigate when lo and behold we find the culprit, my Buffalo Tech LinkStation NAS has gone loco, the spastic sounds were coming from the hard drive as it slowly fried itself, my wife thought I'd been partaking of Taco Bell. Needless to say I have close to 800.00 worth of gear that's just been rendered useless. All my music is gone, I'll need to replace the NAS and re-rip all my cds again. The moral of the story: don't get too attached, you don't know when it's going to rain.

 

[Sheep]

It rains every day in Vancouver... You sorta get used to it.

So far I haven't had anything blow up on me.

Sucks stratman, hopefully you will be better off then when you started.

 

[Rowdy S13]

Just sounds like some upgrades were a lil past due. So they decided to let you know themselves.

Sean

 

[majorloser]

No, moral of the story is, "Learn more about RAID drive configurations."

NEVER trust just one drive to save your data. You can buy 250GB SATA drives all day for under $100. A stack of those in RAID5 configuration

http://www.lascon.co.uk/d008005.htm

BTW- how does a FPL run the power to these devices in your cave?

EDIT: I guess you can upgrade to a TeraStation now.

 

[billy p]

Sorry Stratman

that make me feel better (jk). I thought, I had the worse luck ever! In our household it's always one thing or another, just when you think you get ahead...

Good luck!

 

[evilkat]

No, moral of the story is, "Learn more about RAID drive configurations."

NEVER trust just one drive to save your data. You can buy 250GB SATA drives all day for under $100. A stack of those in RAID5 configuration

http://www.lascon.co.uk/d008005.htm

BTW- how does a FPL run the power to these devices in your cave?

EDIT: I guess you can upgrade to a TeraStation now.

I was JUST about to say that! I hope you had raid 5/10 going...for ya buddy. But this is good news....it's time for upgrades!!

 

[stratman]

No, moral of the story is, "Learn more about RAID drive configurations."

NEVER trust just one drive to save your data. You can buy 250GB SATA drives all day for under $100. A stack of those in RAID5 configuration

http://www.lascon.co.uk/d008005.htm

BTW- how does a FPL run the power to these devices in your cave?

EDIT: I guess you can upgrade to a TeraStation now.

Yes you're correct sir, RAID is the way. I was just browsing Tom's Networking, I like the Enfrant (spelling?) NAS, also Thecus looks good except their customer service seems a little lax for a few of the posters, funny the TeraStation didn't impress many people and after my episode the other night (which, by the way, I should've recorded the noises, I didn't realize some HDs die like that, it sounded like an episode from Benny Hill) I don't know if I'll go back to Buffalo Tech for a NAS.

FPL? No FPL.......hundreds and hundreds of geckos running in round cage generate my electricity, hey I'm GREEN, maybe I should get Prius

BTW the Linkstation was ony 14 months old.

 

[majorloser]

Why don't you look at going with a SNAP server?

 

[stratman]

Snap Server, I'll look into it right now. Funny, I'm so calm about this whole affair, my wife thinks I'm taking Prozac.

 

[evilkat]

We've got snap servers @ work...expensive, but fast as hell. On the other hand you can just build up a cheap PC for about $500-$800 and have around 500GB of space that's RAIDed. If u are already an audioholic, I'm sure a computer will present very little challenges

 

[highfihoney]

it costs more to fix a bent hdmi tab than to replace the receiver with a brand spanking new one.

Dont that make your head want to explode,how on earth is it as expensive to replace a part as it is to buy a new unit

Kinda like having a leak in your plumbing & finding out it will cost the same to build a new house instead of fixing the problem.

 

[gzyzwc]

It costs a lot of money to train people to fix this kind of stuff, and the techonology changes so fast, the older parts are expensive sometimes if they are outta print (because they have been upgraded).

So it is much more like buying a new car because the amount of damage done to it, costs more than buying another car in similar condition. . Or when the insurance company just pays you what the car is supposed to be worth instead of paying to fix it.

In the world of computers and electronics, most times it is actually cheaper to buy a new one, than it is to fix the old one. And normally technology has increased so much that it makes sense.

 

[MDS]

Audio and Video components are disposable. They cost more to fix than to buy new. I learned that lesson a long time ago and it's one reason why I will never buy a $1000 or more component of ANY kind.

 

[stratman]

To me it's the principle, we're not talking major dollars, but it's money just the same. I paid for the Panny 360.00 2 years ago, Now it's available for 260.00, to repair it 295.00. My Linkstation, 14 months ago 400.00 ,through Dell, (please let's not say Dell again) now about 175.00. I will buy a new receiver, most likely the same Panny, for the money you can't beat it's features, and the big wigs here gave it a resounding review. As for my NAS, well let's just say I'm looking around. The Major suggested the Snap server, on paper it looks out of this world, but it's an arm and a leg. Qnap just brought out a new one TS 201, I can't find it for sale anywhere. Let's see what happens, for the moment the only music in the house is my Strat and Marshall (good thing too, keeps my chops up) and ocassionally the Les Paul comes out for some ZZ.

 

[highfihoney]

Audio and Video components are disposable. They cost more to fix than to buy new. I learned that lesson a long time ago and it's one reason why I will never buy a $1000 or more component of ANY kind.

I'LL buy expensive amps from Mcintosh but as far as most other electronics go i agree,you get hammered at repair time.

 

[jneutron]

All my music is gone, I'll need to replace the NAS and re-rip all my cds again. The moral of the story: don't get too attached, you don't know when it's going to rain.

Bad luck..sorry to hear about it.

My music computer... I bought one of those portable drive shells for a 3.5 incher with usb 2.0 capability, and I backup all my music. Being a paranoid, I have three external drives which are full backups of my collection..I believe I am at low risk for all four copies being destroyed at the same time..

The drive shells can be had for 15 to 40 dollars, I only purchased 1.

Cheers, John

 

[MDS]

Being a paranoid, I have three external drives which are full backups of my collection..I believe I am at low risk for all four copies being destroyed at the same time.

Paranoid yes, but smart nonetheless. I simply buy a new external drive every couple of years before the current one shows any signs that it is on its way out.

You might want to consider a RAID array. If any one drive dies, you replace it and its contents can be recreated from the mirrored data on the other drives.

 

[stratman]

Paranoid yes, but smart nonetheless. I simply buy a new external drive every couple of years before the current one shows any signs that it is on its way out.

You might want to consider a RAID array. If any one drive dies, you replace it and its contents can be recreated from the mirrored data on the other drives.

No doubt, RAID is the way to go. Fortunately I've noticed that the prices on NAS raid capable boxes have come down substantially.

 

[stratman]

Like Gomer Pyle would say: :surprise, surprise, surprise. I was home late this afternoon when UPS dropped off box addressed to my wife, I called the missus and she demanded I open the box. My jaw dropped to the ground and my lips flapped in the wind, right there in front of me was a brand new Panasonic 7.1 receiver, a model that I hadn't seen anywhere: SA-RX 700, it's the replacement model for my old SA-RX70S. It supprorts 1080p, it's the receiver Panasonic designed for their flagship Bluray player, I must say it's beautiful, black with smoked chrome facia and teal lighting. It does everything my old unit did and then some, this unit has 2 hdmi inputs instead of 1, XM ready (not that I care), what I find strange is that there's barely any info on this unit on line anywhere, I did go to the Panasonic Bluray page and sure enough there's the only place where they have it. I just hooked up all the wiring, but I'm leaving the final tuning for tomorrow and the weekend. I called a couple of buddies and they haven't heard anything on this unit. Man it really stinks being without sorround sound. Oh I put L brackets on all shelves to make sure the last episode doesn't repeat itself. Now when I get my replacement NAS I'll be back on the saddle again 100%.