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    RANT: At what point do you just say: Enough

    Water Closet
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    • gjacobseG
      gjacobse
      last edited by

      Another hard drive failure.... External drive. being used as a network share.

      But at what point do you just say enough and walk away? I'm not much on the term 'quitting'... but as a one person IT department in position of having essentially build a full BUSINESS network while putting band-aides on what you have...

      I like where I am working,.. there are some awesome people here. But I am completely overwhelmed. I have spoken to my super about some help, and I know it's being addressed. But this is seriously more that I can handle or deal with. I literally don't get a break, and with what I hope to do, there won't be one for a long time....

      Is it is time to walk away.. or should I keep trying- knowing that I really have to do just that,.. keep trying. I know I can fix it,.. I just can't fix it all right now....I can't be in 5 different counties at the same time. And they would prefer my not making more then 40 hours a week...

      gjacobseG Bill KindleB 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • gjacobseG
        gjacobse @gjacobse
        last edited by

        @g.jacobse
        Guess it was bound to happen.. got hit with the post bug.. Yay me.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • ?
          A Former User
          last edited by

          i'd love to come in and fix what ails ya

          gjacobseG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • scottalanmillerS
            scottalanmiller
            last edited by

            Start looking but don't quit yet. See what is out there.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • scottalanmillerS
              scottalanmiller
              last edited by

              Hub is right. Get an MSP in there.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • ?
                A Former User
                last edited by

                Contact @Minion-Queen and get NTG to come to the rescue!

                Another Question begs to be asked? Is there some kind of brand or model of HDD you are using that are failing so much? are you not replacing them with 3 years? is the not enough cooling, or moisture that could be causing it? I'm curious cause you sound like you have a lot of harddrive failures and while of course it will fail at some point, I honestly haven't had too many drives die during use - especially in servers.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                • J
                  jasonh
                  last edited by jasonh

                  How does an external drive start being used as shared storage? I'm assuming it's not mirrored? If not mirrored, you're just asking for trouble (and creating extra work for yourself when it fails)

                  Sounds like that needs to get replaced as soon as possible. Something with mirroring. Even a consumer-grade NAS is probably better than whatever you currently have. If you're really pinched for capital, use a PC with two large hard drives and install FreeNAS (that would be better than the consumer-grade NAS)

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • JaredBuschJ
                    JaredBusch
                    last edited by

                    For an immediate solution, try AetherStore. https://order.aetherstore.com/

                    You can run it for 30 days.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                    • gjacobseG
                      gjacobse @A Former User
                      last edited by

                      @Hubtech said:

                      i'd love to come in and fix what ails ya

                      I want to fix it too.. It can be done,... and I know that once it's put right that it WILL be more manageable.

                      @scottalanmiller said:

                      Start looking but don't quit yet. See what is out there.

                      I'd like to not leave,.. but at this point I'm overwhelmed. I know it's a 'How do you eat a elephant?' type thing,.. but in this case it's almost as if the elephant is sitting on me. We all have had (at least I would wager) tough spots... And we manage through.

                      @thecreativeone91 said:

                      Contact @Minion-Queen and get NTG to come to the rescue!

                      Another Question begs to be asked? Is there some kind of brand or model of HDD you are using that are failing so much? are you not replacing them with 3 years? is the not enough cooling, or moisture that could be causing it? I'm curious cause you sound like you have a lot of harddrive failures and while of course it will fail at some point, I honestly haven't had too many drives die during use - especially in servers.

                      It's not so much as there are so many drives that are failing... it's how this are arranged. You JUST don't used a external USB hard drive as a network share. You just don't - double that in a business environment. When you do, you are saying that you WANT to cause your organization misery but creating multiple failure points that YOU have to then fix - and risk failure of not just the HDD,.. but the organization as a whole.

                      This drive is a simple WD My Book Essential. Single Drive,.. connected to a Desktop,..doing what a Server and disk array in RAID configuration should be doing. And this was one of four that I have counted.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • ?
                        A Former User
                        last edited by

                        I get that this is frustrating, and i'm sure that there is much more going on, but dont let it get to you like this. The best you can do is document to whomever you report to that you think changes should be made, explain why you think these changes should be made, and also explain what a failure cold "cost" the company. I agree this is not the way network shares SHOULD be handled. What size is this business? how many employees? how much profit lost if one of these drive should fail? How long would you guys be "out" if a drive failed?

                        gjacobseG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • gjacobseG
                          gjacobse @A Former User
                          last edited by

                          @Hubtech said:

                          I get that this is frustrating, and i'm sure that there is much more going on, but dont let it get to you like this. The best you can do is document to whomever you report to that you think changes should be made, explain why you think these changes should be made, and also explain what a failure cold "cost" the company. I agree this is not the way network shares SHOULD be handled. What size is this business? how many employees? how much profit lost if one of these drive should fail? How long would you guys be "out" if a drive failed?

                          Yes it is very frustrating. I don't know of any IT person that would just toss stuff together like this was done. It is the worst example of what a 'IT' person could do. I mean really?

                          Change have been stated needed to be made. Consolidation, replication, and off site backups. And they are good with them. They know things need to be changed - My case was made exactly one year ago today ... Happy 1 year anniversary....

                          We are a Non Profit, about 300 people across 9 counties. Everyone is pretty much stand alone - some shares are on server class boxes, but the majority is desktop based with an external drive in some capacity. Of course, I have a server that was built with JUST.ONE.DRIVE! REALLY?? I mean WT* I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed,.. but ... I just don't have words to express (well I do,.. but I'm also trying to be professional about this...)

                          I'm looking at recovery options outside of the office... nothing I can do with it.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • DashrenderD
                            Dashrender
                            last edited by

                            It's interesting that they can afford an onsite/on-staff IT person yet they what? Don't want to spend money to make their IT infrastructure strong and stable?

                            Are you their first on-staff IT person? If so then having locally attached drives off PC's doesn't surprise me at all.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • thanksajdotcomT
                              thanksajdotcom
                              last edited by

                              I'm guessing it's a regular WD style external HDD via USB shared through a server? I agree with @Dashrender . If it's SMB, not surprising, especially if no previous IT department existed.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • thanksajdotcomT
                                thanksajdotcom
                                last edited by

                                At some point, you need to just tell them that you will work your time each week, but not extra, unless a major outage occurs. Right now they need major work done. I agree with @scottalanmiller to bring in an MSP, like NTG. If they don't want to hire someone on full-time, an MSP can at least get the environment to a manageable level for a fixed cost. Also, with an MSP, you're bringing on the expertise of an entire team, not just one person. The value for a situation like this is infinitely higher. It still sounds like, based on the geographical size of your business, that you need at least one more person. However, getting your business to a point where you can manage it to a reasonable degree yourself, without having to put out new fires daily, would be advantageous.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • Bill KindleB
                                  Bill Kindle @gjacobse
                                  last edited by

                                  @g.jacobse Are you not able to just get a proper NAS? Attack the problem by building a better case for one, use this situation as an example. Document the time it takes you to fix it, the costs (both labor and equipment, as well as lost time due to the failure) and then juxtapose that with a quality NAS with proper redundancy and a better backup mechanism. It's tough, but this is where the skills of persuasion have to prevail.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • scottalanmillerS
                                    scottalanmiller
                                    last edited by

                                    I think a lot of people have gotten the right idea - build some business cases to support your needs in IT. This can be a problem in a non-profit as people who run non-profits normally do so because they cannot run a real business and don't understand how to accomplish goals. So logic and math often will fail there. Non-profits are a special type of disaster. If they actually care about the goals of the non-profit, they will want to make things better. But few people running non-profits do it for the altruistic goals of the organization but actually do it to make a quick buck because donations rarely have good oversight.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • scottalanmillerS
                                      scottalanmiller
                                      last edited by

                                      It sounds like a good storage strategy is needed as a starting point. How will all data be stored, who will it be backed up, etc.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                      • gjacobseG
                                        gjacobse
                                        last edited by

                                        Someone stick a fork in me...

                                        I think I'm done... just plain done.. I feel like I'm in the middle of the NY Stock Exchange surrounded by users screaming wants/needs/issues/ complaints/ rants/etc and shoving tickets in my personal space....

                                        It's a wonder I haven't ran out of here screaming yet.... but I do have a bottle of whiskey in the truck...Fishing anyone?

                                        thanksajdotcomT Bill KindleB 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • thanksajdotcomT
                                          thanksajdotcom @gjacobse
                                          last edited by

                                          @g.jacobse said:

                                          Someone stick a fork in me...

                                          I think I'm done... just plain done.. I feel like I'm in the middle of the NY Stock Exchange surrounded by users screaming wants/needs/issues/ complaints/ rants/etc and shoving tickets in my personal space....

                                          It's a wonder I haven't ran out of here screaming yet.... but I do have a bottle of whiskey in the truck...Fishing anyone?

                                          You need to put your foot down. Tell your company/organization that you need help, no ifs, ands, or buts. Get an MSP to come in and blast out a lot of the projects for you. Nudge nudge at NTG on this one. Seriously.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • Bill KindleB
                                            Bill Kindle @gjacobse
                                            last edited by

                                            @g.jacobse Time for a sit down with your boss. You need some assistance as you are only one person. If they don't want to give you additional help then walk. No job is worth sacrificing your health for.

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
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