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One-half of my video storage is missing – an 18 month saga
I put this same post on the HugeSystems forum, but since so few people seem to read that one, I’m duplicating it here with hopes that one of you has crossed this bridge before.
This problem has been with me for most of 2 years, but I have left my system powered on and lived with it.
I am using a Dual 2GHz G5 with 1.5 gigs of RAM. Mac OS X 10.3.8. Final Cut Pro 4.5HD. Atto UL3D SCSI adapter with latest firmware for this OS.
I have kept this Mac OS version because it works for me and the later ones did not do as well.
Follow me, please.
– With a cold boot I get a message with a red stop sign saying something similar to this: “This volume contains no disks that this computer can read.” The choices are (as I recall) EJECT, INITIALIZE and CONTINUE. If I choose initialize I can see the MediaVault however the top entry for the two halves of the array is grayed. The disk size shows correctly, but it is unavailable.– I went through a series of disk diagnostiics 18 months ago when my system was new and this problem first surfaced, and according to a tech a Huge Systems the numbers on the READ test were fine. I never did the WRITE test. I reformatted a couple of times back then. The frustrating and odd thing was that everytime I completed the diagnostic test (2 hours) of reading all of the packets, when I disconnected the PC from the MediaVault, the MediaVault showed up on my G5 desktop acting perfectly normal.
– I then suspected the Atto UL3D host adapter card, but Atto won’t swap a replacement with me. They want this card removed and returned so that I can receive a replacement. I’ve offered my credit card numbers, but they say it is their policy. Frankly, I can’t do without my video editing for a week or two while I wait for a repaired card, so I have just lived with this problem for 18 months, never intentionally turning the MediaVault or the G5 off. As long as they stay on everything works fine.
– Today I rebooted the G5 and, you guessed it, one-half of my MediaVault drives are missing. I’m sunk. Perhaps I could reconnect a PC to the serial port on the back of the G5, do a HyperTerminal connection, wait 2 hours and things would be okay. Maybe not. I need some help.
– In the past when there has been a power failure here I could often leave both units (G5 and MediaVault) running and after 15 or 20 minutes I could restart the G5 and once again the MediaVault would mount and I’d go along fine for a few months until it happened the next time.
My cable connections are tight. My cables were replaced 17 months ago by Huge. If the cables were the problem, would I have been successful editing video for most of 18 months? When I have done some troubleshooting in the past (swapping cables between connection 1 and 2), the same drive always appears grayed, so I don’t know what to think.
Does anyone have a solution or suggestion for me?
Greg Golden
Mobile, AL -
2 Replies
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We have 3 Medea VideoRaid RT3X systems that occasionally exhibit similar behavior where half of the unit will unmount. Usually a reboot will solve the problem but not always. One thing I’ve tried that sometimes works is to use the Atto Config control panel and see if it can rescan the SCSI bus to mount both halves of the Medea. We are using the Atto UL4D with the latest drivers and firmware and the latest version of the Atto control panel.
Doug Olin
Pensacola Christian CollegeG5 DP 2.0, 2 GB RAM, FCP HD, IO, OS 10.3.9, Medea RT3X 1200 GB
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The Huge guys are all over this… as expected… see the post in the Huge Forum!
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer
Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here
Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D
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