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Recover Your Buffalo LinkStationTM Effectively

BUFFALO QUADSTATION

I purchased a Buffalo Quad Station external hard drive four weeks ago. It was working well until there was a blackout here. After the power cut, the device is only showing red lights beside each of the drive I have. I called Buffalo Tech support, and they told me that the RAID must have become corrupt, and advised me to try recovery programs. I tried to put the drives together individually, and I can see the partition, which is telling me that there is around 2TB out of 5TB used. This is about right, but when I try to look at it in the recovery program, it tells me there is an “Unknown file system” and then describes the partition.

BUFFALO DRIVESTATION

I have experienced a failure with my Buffalo Drivestation, which has Hardware Encryption. It seems to have stopped working, and despite me checking the power supply and USB connections, there does not seem to be anything I can do. When I plug it into the computer, the drive does not start up (doesn’t spin around), and the PC is not recognising that there is a connection. I decided that, as I was not in warranty, I could open up the enclosure. I did this, and then connected the external hard drive disk to another computer. The disk itself appears to be ok, but it is not showing any kind of partition. This worries me, as I had a partition before. I looked at it using a scanning device, and it only seems to be showing some minor Buffalo files, with all the other sectors showing at Zero. I have a lot of data stored on this machine which I need. I have also accidentally initialised the drive through Windows while it was connected, so I fear that it has wiped my drives anyway.

The Buffalo LinkStationTM is an ideal option for providing network attached storage either for home usage or for use by small businesses. These hard drives are ideal for providing data storage and also data back-up for any number of different file types. The ability to centralise your data storage means that you can utilise a number of different computers around your home or office and maintain access to all of the latest versions of your files, or you can also share your files effectively with other members of staff within your location.

The LinkStationTM series offers from 1TB up to 12TB. Therefore there is plenty of scope for utilising these Buffalo drives in a range of different settings. Some of the range, such as the LinkStation LiveTM and the LinkStation ProTM, are designed to be used as standalone single drive systems and are particularly useful for home use. The larger devices are able to support various RAID architectures with the LinkStation Pro QuadTM being the most versatile and able to support RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 architectures. These drives are compatible with a number of operating systems and they also support home entertainment features such as media streaming in addition to their functionality as a business data storage system.

Although there has been progression in the reliability of these types of drive there are still common faults that can occur and that can lead to data loss and corruption within them. The LinkStationTM can suffer from firmware failure in which there is a physical breakage of an element within the drive that will cause the data within that particular disk to become damaged or corrupted. The drives are also susceptible to damage due to electrical surges and overheating of the storage device. There are also non-physical damage mechanisms through failure of the software and operating system and also through firmware updates that are faulty and that then go on to cause physical damage. The final type of data loss is that which is caused directly by the users themselves in the form of accidental data deletion during normal usage of the drive.

The Buffalo LinkStationTM range of hard drives contain a number of standard SATA disks within them so it can be possible to remove individual disks in order to interrogate them and assess whether they are working or not and also the data availability on each disk.

In the event of a failure you should call one of our Buffalo data recovery experts. This is because the type of fault that has occurred will dictate whether further damage to your data if you attempt to power up the drive. Our experts will be able to advise you on the best course of action and will also provide you with a diagnosis over the phone. You can also get a quote and a projected timescale for the recovery of your data. If you are in any doubt then you should trust your drive to our experts as if your data is recoverable we will be able to recover it.