My Unitiserve has died for the fifth time. I am not wasting money sending it back to Naim
Can I remove the internal hard drive to retrieve my albums as not all of them are backed up
Depends what is wrong with it. If the hard disc has failed then you probably won’t be able to get anything off it. But if it just needs a new backup battery (a CR2032 you can buy in most supermarkets) then your dealer could fit it for very little money.
What are the symptoms?
Logo continues to flash. It was battery last time.
How long ago was the last time?
About 2 years and £350
It’s probably not the battery then, but it’s easy to change. You have to reset the BIOS afterwards, but a good dealer will take a couple of minutes to do it. There are lots of postings in the forum that tell you how to do it. The battery costs two or three pounds and it’s a standard consumer consumable. If you are in UK then any supermarket sells it. You need to be able to connect a keyboard and a monitor to the US to be able to do it yourself, but that’s all.
If it were me, I would change the battery again just in case it’s that.
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Thanks for the info
If the US does unfortunately turn out to be rooted for whatever reason and you do just want to get your unsaved files off from there, you should be able to save your files from the HDD one way or the other…
I will state I haven’t done this, but – I wouldn’t expect the HDD to be formatted in anything proprietary to Naim, so you should be able to crack open the case, remove the drive and hook up via a SATA lead (probably) to a PC which should then at least recognise the drive…From there, it’s potentially an easy copy of the files/folders to a new location and personally from that point I would use SongKong (software) to process the metadata and re-save the files (there is a Naim Import action that can extract the metadata stored within the proprietary external text files that the Naim rippers create to store album metadata and then subsequently embed the data in the new files in a more universal format)….
Even if the HDD is the failure and there’s been some sort of mechanical fault or a high degree of corruption, all is not lost – it’s highly likely that data can be rescued by a specialist data recovery outfit…I don’t know where you’re based, but in the UK I’ve used a company in Brackley/Oxford that were superb…they basically source a ‘donor’ HDD of the exact same type and have high level methods of being able to clone over and recover….Obviously, this is something that comes with expense, but if the files are important, have no backups and you have no other options re recovery, then it’s something to consider….
As I say, if there’s no major fault on the actual HDD, it’s quite likely you can copy off the contents yourself at home….
Or, as David suggests, it may just be the coin battery, fingers crossed…!
SC
p.s – David, re the battery, do you know if this is something that drains through use of the US over time or does it also drain regardless of use, i.e if it’s not being used…? I have a US-SSD that has basically hardly been used since new and certainly been powered off and in storage for the past few years….Just wondering if/when I power it up again, if the battery issue is likely to raise its head…??
I wouldn’t say I was certain, but the US is a very old PC and the battery is keeping the CMOS memory alive, so I think the answer probably is that the battery does gradually become exhausted if the US is stored and not used.
I always thought that the CMOS battery in such PCs didn’t have to keep the CMOS alive if the PC was left on all the time, but I might be wrong about that. My Unitiserve was left on all the time for about 5 years until I sold it on and never needed a battery. But a friend bought one at the same time as me and also left his on all the time and he had to get the battery changed after about 3 years. I think he may still have it as he could never bring himself to accept the very low prices he was offered. It’s probably not on at all. I will ask him whether it can still start up properly and report back idc.
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Mine is about 10 years old, is usually on, and has never needed a battery replacement. Obviously it’s only a matter of time, as all batteries degrade regardless usage.
My friend said his US won’t start up now, so probably his battery did fail in storage.
Even when they first came out I thought ‘that’s a bog standard and soon to be very obsolete PC in a very expensive box…’
Surprised you’ve managed so long.
A regular issue with both UnitiServe & HDX products (not to overlook NaimNet servers either). Have replaced many a CR2032 CMOS battery on behalf of US/HDX owners over the years, so something any retailer can do, assuming they have a S-VGA screen & USB keyboard to hand.
And, if it helps, had exactly this same issue with an Innuos ZENith-MkII recently. Yes, even these have a CR2032 holding up the CMOS memory. And that particular server was left powered up for the majority of the time it has been owned… I know this for a fact as it is mine!!! And also needed the screen & keyboard to get it working again, post battery replacement.
Cheers,
Tony
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Well, out of curiosity I thought I’d fire up my old (purchased new but never really used) US-SSD just to see if the battery had nodded off for good whilst it’s be in storage….
Few LED blinks as it was starting up…but to my slight surprise it then did go solid….So I presume the battery is still holding up – has been a good few years in a cupboard switched off! Seems somewhat random what mileage people have got from the battery….
I guess there’s no status indicator of the battery anywhere in the UI…it’s a guessing game ?
SC
I think in many cases the battery is a red herring or at the most reset bios because you removed it. The far more likely issue is a dead hard drive.