Back up has killed my NAS

butterbeanmash

I decided to back up my laptop this morning to my network hard drive using the facility in Windows 7 ultimate. All seemed to be going ok until after about an hour when an error popped up saying that it was unable to complete the back up. But in the process my network hard drive has become innaccessible from any of the computers in the house-the other 2 (with Windows XP) can't see the drive and on mine all I get is "L:\ refers to a location that is unavailable, etc". It would seem that the back up has changed the file system of the drive to CSC-CACHE, and I now have no idea what to do. I've tried connecting by cable with no effect. I can re-map the drive and all the folders are visible but with a grey cross through them, and if I try and open them I get "This file is currently not available for use on this computer".
I'm thrilled that by trying to be conscientious and make sure that I can restore all the data on my PC it seems that I've lost everything on the hard drive. If back up has altered the file system on the drive it would be nice if there were a warning explaining this.
Does anyone have any idea how I can at least recover the information on the drive?
Many, many thanks

diable

What make of NAS is it and have you tried to reset it as the IP address could have gone awol. Does it have a USB connector on it so that you can access it and can you hear it spinning? If the worst comes to the worst you may be able to remove the hard drive and place it into a caddy not sure on this myself as a lot of NAS's use a linux partition to boot and connect to the network.

busenbust

If the device has a usb interface then you could try plugging that into the machine; but it's not Windows backup which is to blame here - not what you wish to hear I know .

But this is the important point about a backup and it's implementation: two drives (backup); one drive (not a backup).

Nice/nasty 'lesson' in not backing up data here.

butterbeanmash

diable wrote: »

What make of NAS is it and have you tried to reset it as the IP address could have gone awol. Does it have a USB connector on it so that you can access it and can you hear it spinning?

It's a Buffalo LinkStation Live. It's working (all proper noises and lights). It does have a USB interface, but I don't have a USB lead to hand. Have tried resetting to no avail. I'm just a little confused as to how it can see the folders but they are "not available to this computer".

debitcardmayhem

I have seen some bits and pieces about CSC-Cache in Google, I think (dont wish to contradict Busenbust ) but it may well be a windows problem. This link gives one example, but I'm not too au fait on Nas

butterbeanmash

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

I have seen some bits and pieces about CSC-Cache in Google, I think (dont wish to contradict Busenbust ) but it may well be a windows problem. This link gives one example, but I'm not too au fait on Nas

Yes, I had a quick search and found a few bits, which is why I think that back up may have changed the file format of the drive with the assumption that it will be a dedicated drive for backing up.

busenbust

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

I have seen some bits and pieces about CSC-Cache in Google, I think (dont wish to contradict Busenbust ) but it may well be a windows problem. This link gives one example, but I'm not too au fait on Nas

In which case you may well be correct debitcard (Vista forum only?). I can only work on my own assumptions here using Windows 7, Windows 7 backup and multiple external drives (but not a NAS) and never once having had a problem. There's always tomorrow, Lol .

butterbeanmash

Thanks Paul_R, I'll give it a go. I don't hold out too much hope at the moment though-I've tried to access the drive through the IP address with no luck. But there's no harm in trying!

butterbeanmash

Paul_R wrote: »

My NAS drive played up last night. Here's how I accessed it.

Switch off NAS drive for few mins.
Switch on NAS drive for few mins.
Use your browser to access your router config pages. Check 'DHCP Client List' for the NAS address 192.168.1.2 or similar.
Use browser to access NAS drive using NAS address (found above) setup pages directly.
Run diagnostics/setup.
Go to My Network places on PC and wait for NAS to appear (may take cup of tea).

Blimey! That did it! Didn't have the option to run diagnostics or setup, but once in the drive via IP address I ran 'check disc'. Then I could map the drive and after a little while all the folders appeared without the grey crosses and innaccessability messages.
Brilliant-thanks for all your help!

geordie458

That's why I love MSE: Happy endings !!

Nice one Paul_R