Scifi-meshes.com will be back online VERY SOON.
More information and a detailed account of what's happened to follow.
Basically the single harddrive that runs scifi-meshes.com died.
We are attempting to recover the data from that drive.
More very soon.
AcemanSunday's Update:
I have received a lot of messages and emails from people offering to help me get scifi-meshes.com back online. I want to thank everyone for their kind words and understanding. It means a great deal to me that, for the most part, people understand these things happen.
Ok.. today I haven't gotten any new information from the Recovery Center on the status of the HD and the data on it. This is because most recovery centers are closed on Sundays (unless you want to pay thousands). On top of that today is Mother's Day (I hope you called your mothers!) and so I expect that most people are busy. Honestly I wasn't expecting a lot from today.
I do however expect a solid update tomorrow (Monday) as to the status of our data. At that time I will decide what course of action best serves the members of scifi-meshes.com. On the plus side of this, the new installation of the server software has fixed a few nagging issues related to email and server stats. I have even had one customer I host, tell me NOT to replace his data should the data become usable. He's happier with how things are working now and would rather re up his site then have to sort though all the files and remove out dated files.
I promise the moment I have an update.. You'll see it here.. and as soon as I get word.. you will see things happen very quickly either way.
What's happened to the site?
Late Thursday or early Friday morning the server detected issues with the harddrive. When it found problems the server set the drive into a read-only status. It does this to protect the existing data on the drive and prevent further damage. I (aceman) became aware of this when a few members indicated to me that they were unable to upload attachments to the server. I logged into the server via shell access and went to the directory that holds SFM attachments from the forums. Several files in that folder were red and blinking, something I have never seen before. Additionally they had no permissions or owners. I immediately contacted the support center and let them know about the problem.
Tech support tells me that the harddrive appears to be corrupted. The result of extended use, etc.. So they were going to conduct a repair on the harddrive to fix the datablocks that were effecting the server. This repair took a VERY LONG time.. more then 24 hours. But had to be done. After the repair was over they attempted to transfer the data from the single 120GB drive, to a new hard drive (2 - 200GB drives 1 is a mirror of the first and backs up every 3 hours) that's now on the server. These harddrives are new and were not on the server before the current harddrive failure. Anyway - the drive is not recognized by the OS or BIOS. Defiantly NOT good.
What's next?
What your seeing now is the new harddrives. Without the old data. I have to prepare myself and scifi-meshes.com for the possibility that the data from the old drive is not recoverable. That's not to say it is.. that's still up in the air, while we wait for the data recovery unit to attempt to retrieve the data. As of: 7:45 PM EST Saturday.. they are still working on it.
What if the data is recovered?
I scream for joy and we get back online immediately after the restored data is on the new drive.
What if the data is lost? Don't you have backups?
If I get word that all the data is lost.. well I will be devastated. That's alot of hard work on my part and YOU all for that matter. I do have ALOT of the files from scifi-meshes.com on my computer. But my backups are older then what I'm comfortable with using as a restoration (referring to the database/mysql).
Scifi-meshes.com only ran on a single drive. Backups were made every Sunday night. However those backups were stored in a separate partition then site files on the harddrive. This should mean they are protected.. but when the motor fails on the drive. It is possible that data may be lost. I am praying, hoping, etc.. that we get our data.
If the data's gone. What is the plan?
I am currently working under the assumption that the data is lost **But I have not been told that it is** (I have to be prepare for it. - but I hope we get it.) If the database is lost and all the attachments.. the gallery images.. the models etc.. I am going to rebuild scifi-meshes.com.. but I will do so from ground zero. FROM SCRATCH.
When you first come to the newly reopened site, it is very possible you will see that scifi-meshes.com has only 1 member. Myself. You will have to reregister. ALL the forums will be empty. The gallery will be empty. I will rebuild the site so that it's back to pre-crash level.. but the content will be missing. It will be up to you to help me rebuild the site.
This could be a good thing, as everyone will start with a clean slate. Usernames previously unavailable will be usable. (However, if you were a regular and someone takes your user name I will fix that so it's yours. Members first.)
This also means I will be a staff of 1. Meaning there will be no moderators. So until they register I will be all over the site handling issues.
You can expect to see the site rise from the ashes immediately after I get word as to whether or not the data is recoverable. I will keep it closed until I have it setup in a useable format.
It took me a long time to get scifi-meshes.com to where it was on thursday.. it will take me days to get it back to 90%.. so I need you to bare with me.
Aceman - how could you let this happen?
I could not feel worse about this situation. Not only is SFM down. But other sites are also down like military-meshes.com and 3dghetto.com. It's going to take time and alot of work to get them all back. I have already had an ear full about downloading backups, having redundant backup drives.. I do the best that I can. I could never have predicted that the harddrive on the server would die. If I knew drive-CPR I would have it back already.
I know some of you are pissed. And if it's at me.. that's understandable.
To my customers which I host (about 4 of you).. I am sincerely sorry and I will contact you about how I can make amends towards your loss (assuming the data is lost).
To the members of this site. I can only apologize and tell you that I'm committed to preventing this from happening again (installed the mirrored drives to prevent this). I will get us to a state were this event is a distant memory.
I will post regular updates to this TEMP page as I get information to keep you informed. Until we're online again.. I wish you all the best and hope to see you on SFM in a day or so. I will probably spend my Sunday in front of my computer.
Thanks for understanding.
Aceman
-Admin/Owner - scifi-meshes.com
TEMP CONTACT INFO: (ICQ: 74332307 or crcgraphics(at)gmail.com)
PS: Spelling errors were left in so you don't miss me. The Data is gone:
You read this correctly. I have JUST been contacted by the recovery service and the data is unrecoverable. They tell me this crash was the resault of a head crash.. and the data because unreadable.
SO.. we are rebuilding.. starting now. I have a very very very long night ahead of me. I plan on getting the forums open as soon as possible so YOU can register and I can sleep. Tomorrow, and for the for seeable future I will be rebuilding Scifi-meshes.com.
MILITARY-MESHES.com - You will also be restored to greatness.. I just need time.
Look for the forums HERE soon.
Aceman
