Buffalo NAS (Non Available Storage)

At work we had a need for some storage but didn't need to make an investment in a SAN. It was really to store Archived Data. We opted for a simple NAS from Buffalo Technologies. We should have spent the money on Buffalo Chips. They would have worked better.

The unit comes in and is easy to setup. We mirrored the drives for some fault tolerance. The Active Directory Integration was quirky but it worked in the simplest sense. We load the data on there and we're humming along! Sweet, an inexpensive NAS with RAID that's helping store Archived Data. What I like a lot is that the unit can email you if there is a problem so we can address it before it becomes critical.

About two months into production we get an email that one of the drives is bad. While annoying, it's not really a problem. We get with Tech Support, end up having to rebuild the array and it's working fine again. Turns out it wasn't a bad drive, something just got screwed up apparently. After moving all of the information back to the array we're rolling again.

Fail on me once, shame on you. Fail on me twice shame on me.

Shortly before the new year we get the emails again that there is a problem. Now were on the phone with "tech support" who tells us the drives are fine but the chassis needs to be replaced. They will send out another. OK, it's a pain in the ass because now the data is down and we need it for end of the year work. I thought the railroads replaced the pony express but apparently it's still running and that's how Buffalo ships their replacement parts. Finally, the Stagecoach pulls up with the part. Take it into the Server Room, throw the drives in, power it up and..... nothing. NO-THING! NADA! ZIP! DONUT HOLE!

Get on the phone with Tech Support and tell them the data is not on the drives. "Yeah, that sometimes happens." WTF? What the hell is the point of mirroring the data? This flipdick is casual about it and tells us to send it off to a data-recovery specialist to get the data back.

We call our vendor out of frustration to see if we can get someone who actually knows the product. They let us know that a Senior Tech with Buffalo will call us. Apparently their Buffalo Rep was at a Convention pushing Buffalo's latest product. "Need to lose a Terabyte of Data and don't know how to do it? Try the all new Buffalo Linkstation StB!" The StB is their technical acronym for "Shit the Bed" which is what it will suddenly do on you once you've gotten it loaded up with data.

So, we're waiting for the Tech Support guy to call. He doesn't call that day. Understandable. The Sales guy probably didn't leave the convention floor until after business hours. I'm sure they'll call tomorrow.

I'm sure some of you are saying "restore from backup" of course we didn't backup the Archive Data. That's our bad but we can rebuild it no problem. The main problem is where to put a Terabyte of fucking data. I don't normally leave a Terabyte laying around the server room "just in case". I usually opt to mitigate the risk with FAULT TOLERANCE. I'm okay with losing a drive since they are RAID. I'm also okay with losing the controller on this since I can put the two RAID drives in a new Controller. I'm astounded that I cannot recover data from this Buffalo device and the tech support people are so casual about it.

Rather than use a Buffalo NAS in the Future I think I'm going to buy a Big-Ass hard drive, load all of the data on it that I want to archive then take it outside and hurl it at a brick wall. I'd have a better chance of retaining the data on that drive.

Day 3 - Still no Call from the Senior Tech. We did get another Chassis yesterday (without asking). Nice Inventory Control.