204-TE PSU failure - help!

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SPOinNS
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Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 1:10 pm

204-TE PSU failure - help!

Post by SPOinNS »

Last night my AS204-TE died during it's monthly Bad Block scan. It's my best guess that the PSU failed as there are no lights, fans or any other sign of life. It's completely unseen on ACC as well.

The 204-TE was running 4 x 4tb WD Reds in RAID 5.

Asustor no longer sells a replacement PSU and even if they did it would be very expensive. In Canada it would cost well over $200 to repower a sub $400 NAS - if they stocked a replacement PSU.

It was a great machine for the 5 years I ran it so I don't have any regrets about my time with Asustor. I even sold a few friends on Asustor as a NAS brand worthy of consideration.

My big concern now is the possibility of recovering my files from the 204-TE - mainly video media. I have recently finished building a new unRAID box based on a 10th gen i5 so I have a replacement NAS ready to go.

Is there any way to recover my files from the Asustor ? - should I expect any success by taking it's disks and reading/copying into the unRAID box using an USB HDD dock? It seems like a long shot but I'm willing to try.

Short of that easy approach - has anyone ever jury rigged an external PSU to keep the 204_TE powered up long enough to transfer files to a new NAS? Is that even a feasible approach?

Say after me - RAID is not a backup.
SPOinNS
Posts: 39
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 1:10 pm

Re: 204-TE PSU failure - help!

Post by SPOinNS »

I thought I'd post my findings in case it helps anyone experiencing similar problems. The problem wasn't with the AS204-TE, it was the UPS it was plugged into. The battery is obviously dead. It's 6 years old so it doesn't owe me anything. New battery on order.

Once the NAS was moved off the battery protected part of the UPS and into a normal surge protected outlet on the same UPS it began to work fine. No more zombie behavior. The UPS has been a champ over the years but batteries are a consumable. I think one of the real values of a decent UPS (mine is a CyberPower CP825AVRG) is the buffering of mains power. The electrical grid in my city can get wobbly from time to time and the wiring in my building is almost 50 years old. Something that cleans up and levels out the power prior to sending it on to the NAS makes a lot of sense to me.

Believe me - once you get accustomed to having a UPS for your NAS you won't be comfortable without one again.
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orion
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Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 11:09 am

Re: 204-TE PSU failure - help!

Post by orion »

If you are sure your disks being good, there are several ways to recover data.
  • Buy another Asustor NAS. Put those old disks to the new NAS.
  • If your new unRAID box is Linux system, you can mount your data with mdadm command. Data partition should be partition-4.
  • Use a Ubuntu PC to mount your data.
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