Fileserver crash - how YOU can help!

[HystericalParoxysm]

Downloads were down for a while...

If you're a regular visitor to MTS, you probably noticed the big message across the top for a few days saying that downloads and uploads were down, with an expected fix date that kept getting pushed back.

This was due to an unexpected crash of the fileserver (Chii). Chii had been running just fine for months since the server switch in mid-October of last year, but then all at once wouldn't boot. Turns out both her primary hard drive running the operating system and the backup drive failed at the same time, corrupting a portion of the files on both drives in the process.

More technical information (for those who understand such mumbo-jumbo and are curious) is available in this thread: http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=321390

But they're back up now...

We have gotten a new dataserver (since for both drives to fail in Chii at the same time means there is definitely a Very Bad hardware issue) and Delphy has set up Chii v2 with all the needed technical gubbins to function as our download server. He has also transferred over all of the recovered files from the old hard drives and downloading (and uploading) is working again on MTS.

However... (dammit)

There are still quite a few missing files. Much of the files since October of last year were corrupted in the crash and were not able to be recovered - yet. We are looking into getting the hard drives from the server host so we can do a more intensive file recovery, but in the mean time, there are a lot of threads which are missing files.

Any threads that has lost files will display this message:


Attention! This thread may have one or more missing files, as per the recent fileserver crash. See here for the details. Want to help? See here for details.


Which links to this thread (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=321390) for more info, and this one (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=321844) on how to help.

How you can help...

There's a lot more info in detail on those two links above, but in short:

If you are a creator:

Check your threads for that banner. If you see it, it means your files are missing. Please reupload them ASAP. See here (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=321844) on how to do that properly without losing your download stats.

If you are a downloader:

Check your Downloads folder (or any zips/rars you have of MTS2 downloads still hanging around) against this list (http://db.modthesims2.com/missingfiles.html) to see if you have any of the files - or check to see if you have any needed files if you notice a thread with that banner.

If you do have the files, zip or rar them up using the original filename, attach them to the thread with the missing files in a new post, and report the first post. here (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=321844) for more detailed instructions.

In summary...

Server went boom in a freak technological wtf. In an even greater wtf, the backup which should have covered our asses went boom at the same time. This sucks. We got back most of the files, but some are still missing - help us recover them by re-uploading any files you have.

Sorry, and thank you...

We apologize for any inconvenience, and thank you for your patience and understanding. The messages we've gotten about this have been overwhelmingly supportive and positive, sympathetic to the giant headache this has been, with relatively few whiners, and we really do appreciate that.

We're also amazed at the response from the community on helping upload the missing files already - we're inundated with reports and files to fix, which, while a lot of work, is a very good thing and just goes to show how many fantastic, helpful folks we have in the MTS community. You guys rule! :)

[pmpsimgirl2]

i <3 modthesims2!

[play jarus]

I´ve upload some of my files, but most of my other files are on my 2´nd pc and i cann´t upload them because my pc has a crash :cry: . And now I want to know what to do???

[Pixelhate]

You guys there, severly rule ! Thanks for all the pain you're goin' throught for us !

[CatOfEvilGenius]

play_jarus Put a note in your journal asking downloaders if they have some of your files. They can attach them in a post in your threads, and then tell the mods. I'll see if I have any of your missing files.

[Christine11778]

I uploaded four of mine that were lost. I do have a question, should i check all of my uploads as I checked quite a few from before oct 2008 and they all seemed to be there.

[plasticbox]

Christine11778, look at this list: http://www.modthesims2.com/missingfiles.html -- it's not up to date right now, since we've already recovered about 2000 files I think (the list is still the one from right after the crash), but anything that is NOT on the list has never been lost in the first place.


(Search for your user name with cmd-F / ctrl-F, that way you'll see all your threads that were affected)

[psycotic_rose]

I'm glad you guys are back up and running. It's a shame you had to go through the technical abyss but I'm glad you found your way through it and are back!

[tree4me]

Well, this will teach me not to keep a backup of my uploads. :P Ah well. I have got a few of the files back though, so I'm happy and very grateful for that. :)

At least it's up and running, and if things go belly up, I can always do a "back to basics" thing and delete and upload all over again. Oh well, it will be fun! :D

[LingTina]

Thank you all so much for your hard work in getting things working again!

I'll definitely be looking through the list and my download folders to see if I have any of them.

I'm sorry it had to happen in the first place, but I'm happy things are where they are now.

I'm happy to be apart of a community of people helping each other like this.

[Delphy]

As pbox said in chat...

crowdsourced backup. very web 2.0.

:P

[AzureDragon]

I have a question. I uploaded missing files to several threads, but can't use the report function because someone else used it earlier. How do I let you know where files have been added in such a case?

Concerning my uploads you could just go through the list of my posts to find them, I never posted anything else here until now.

But probably I am not the only one with this problem?

[Delphy]

AzureDragon, you can report one of the other posts in the thread instead. :)

[plasticbox]

http://www.modthesims2.com/missingfiles.html

[bobbythehacker]

I WANT TO HELP!
I've run a quick search on my main data Drive and found ''7196'' files starting by ''MTS2_'' in their Original Container eg (.rar & .zip)
Most of them between now and Summer 2008 ,I have lots more on other disk.

is there a quick way to find the ones you are missing!!!

[AzureDragon]

Thank you for your answer, Delphy. I must admit I just found it in the thread with the detailed instructions because I missed to read all of it earlier and only got as far as neccessary for uploading. :faceslap:

Sorry for not paying better attention.

*runs off to find more files and to avoid wasting other people's precious time further*

[bobbythehacker]

I know i've downloaded the list, but its a mile long and i probably have about 20% of them,it would take days to search them 1 by 1
(any suggestion)!

[Tom Duhamel]

Funny, I have recently cleaned up my download folder of the thousands of MTS2_*.rar I had there lol

[Netjera]

WTG on the recovery! (Sorry about the headaches.) Having just gone through this with BOTH my PC and my laptop within the last three months, I definitely understand your pain.

I'll do my best to figure out where I put my file package, and put it back up. Since I've been downloading quite a bit over the last 30 days, it should be easy to check and see what I've grabbed and if it's been updated since October. If it has, I'll try to add back in files.

NOTE - COMPLETELY UNRELATED NOOB QUESTION FOLLOWS (Apologies for posting this here and not somewhere else!)

Dumb question: How do I start a forum thread for a question? I .. hate to even say this (I feel so dumb!) but I can't even find a normal forum link. All I can seem to find is downloads, and no topic list. (Sorry!)

[snowflake74339]

Thank you guys for all your hard work getting things back online. It is really appreciated!


Netjera,

It depends on the question. Game help is here:
http://www.modthesims2.com/forumdisplay.php?f=31

Creator help is here:
http://www.modthesims2.com/forumdisplay.php?f=13

[Cocomama]

Thank you for all the work your doing to get everything back and for the step by step directions to reupload missing files. It toke me about 5 hours yesterday to check the list, find my backups and get all my own files back in place again.
I noticed that some of my threads were not tagged as corrupted although they appeared on the missing files list, so just to be sure I reoploaded them too.
I'm sorry I can't be of much help with files of other creators, as my new download police is to immidiately unwrap and discarding of the .rar or .zip file.
I wish you the very best of luck with the whole recovery operation and thank you for the best sims-site ever!!

[play jarus]

play_jarus Put a note in your journal asking downloaders if they have some of your files. They can attach them in a post in your threads, and then tell the mods. I'll see if I have any of your missing files.

Thank you.

[plasticbox]

I noticed that some of my threads were not tagged as corrupted although they appeared on the missing files list, so just to be sure I reuploaded them too.
Ouch, you didn't need to do that -- no flag means they had already been repaired! The missing files lists are only compiled once a day or so, they don't necessarily reflect the current state. Well, it can't hurt that you repaired them a second time =)

Other creators: don't just go by the list -- if an upload has no flag, it's likely that the files are already restored. To be sure whether or not a file is ok, just try to download it -- if you get a 404 error, that file is missing; everything else (even a 503 error; server too busy) means the file is there.

[Cidira]

I'm just amazed by how fast the site was up and running and almost-all-there again after this kind of hardware disaster. Can't imagine how much of the last several days Delphy must have spent up to his elbows in computer guts (hard AND soft), and now here we are with most of the site just fine and the last several months being pieced back together (and that part is pretty amazing too).

[BritneyBritofldw]

All I have to say is THANK YOU FOR TAKING UP 3 GIGABYTES OF HARD SPACE ON MY COMPUTER WOOT! :D

[SassyTeffie]

Well, I'm not much help. My uploads appear to be fine. I had just cleared out my CC folder and started redownloading everything, so I don't have much. I did donate the tiny amount I could afford to. I figure that while losing a bunch of files sucks, and having everyone pitch in to get them all back up, it also probably ended up costing a lot of money...

[Netjera]

Thank you guys for all your hard work getting things back online. It is really appreciated!


Netjera,

It depends on the question. Game help is here:
http://www.modthesims2.com/forumdisplay.php?f=31

Creator help is here:
http://www.modthesims2.com/forumdisplay.php?f=13

Thank you thank you! *bookmarks those two links*. I thought those menu options only led to FAQs which couldn't be used for posting. >.<

[BeeTaisho]

I'll help if I can, I'm here alot, LOL BTW this site takes up over 10 gigs of my Mac's HD. XD

[OrlandoNightOwl]

Thanks for your hard work and dedication. Wish I could help, but I never save the original zip files because of low disk space. The one question I have is Sexy Sims going to be updated as well and if so, is there any estimate of at least how long that will be.
Thanks again.

[porkypine]

Thanks for the list. It helped a lot. It looks like a lot of my uploaded files in the HighRollers development thread got zapped but that's ok - they weren't release versions. The final files that were uploaded to skuld all seem to be intact so the theme doesn't seem to be damaged as far as I can tell anyway. :)

[LynnMar]

Sorry about you losing almost everthing. Thanks for getting MTS back up and running and all your hard work.
I will check through some of my older download cds and see what I have. I sure hope I have something you need. Right now I can't get to the site that has the list, it says ie can't connect right now.
I love this place and you are really a trooper for getting back some of what you lost. Most people would have just thrown in the towel. I salute you, Delphy.

[Delphy]

Current status is:

Total files: 4420
Threads affected: 2373

Good work so far everybody. :)

I've uploaded a new missingfiles.html file.

[HystericalParoxysm]

LynnMar - Hehe, I wouldn't call it "almost everything" - I think the site-wide announcement would have head a LOT more profanity if that were the case. It is a sizeable chunk but it was actually more like 5.63%, which really isn't all that much. ;)

[Rapsheba555]

You guys did an amazing job getting the site back up so fast. You guys + MTS = EPIC WIN!

[tree4me]

I've recovered three of my files! Yay! (Thanks Mootilda! :))

Well, five more to go! :D

[iamwolfspawn]

:alarm: Delphy, reading your info on the events that happened leading up to this, sounds like Chii got successfully attacked with a binary bomb routine. That, our someone tried to cleab the H.D.s by sandblasting :blink: Have a huge back-up of downloads, will start compareing to your list tonight. Have fun :rolleyes:

[Delphy]

iamwolfspawn, no known virus or attack that I know of results in the kind of corruption and general filesystem damage that I am seeing - therefore I do NOT think it was anything malicious - it's a simple failure of the RAID array that then resulted in the drives being reverted back to a point in time that they where "clean" (probably automatically via journal recovery).

[caramelchick4u22]

:lol: You guys rock my socks... :lol:

[Eloissa]

I like to thank everybody thats works so very hard to restore the site as it was! Specialy for Delphy, I could inmagine what a lot of stress you've got from this issue. But great work! MTS2 rules and that's also the fact for Delphy and the rest of the staff;)!

[tommi86]

A quick question, do you know when the sexysims2 downloads will be back online? Thanks alot for all the hard work you all have been putting in, you guys are the best!!!!

[Gwenieviere]

You guys have done great managing the site, and I have been logging in since the whole fiasco happened, checking in on your progress with the fixes. I will definitely check my downloads folder for anything that might be missing *squeaks* Good luck guys! :bunny:

[porkypine]

ok... me is tired now... I've gone through all my MTS2 downloads. People beat me to most of them. I only managed to restore Elvira's and fix a couple of false positives. lol I'm done. What's the current status?

[Cutiemimic]

O: The files were working today but now they don't work anymore? :o

[whiterider]

Most likely you're getting a 503 error, which means the server is overstressed. If not, we'd need more information than "it's not working". ;)

[taybay24]

You guys rule!

[afgw]

I'm currently helping LyricLee recover Exnem's Sims' lost files (caused by a hacker), but once that's done, I'll see what I've got that can help. Good luck!

[Fafy]

A quick question, do you know when the sexysims2 downloads will be back online? Thanks alot for all the hard work you all have been putting in, you guys are the best!!!!

Sexysims2 downloads are up again now. I just downloaded the pole. :giggler:

Just joking, eventually I'll see if I can help somehow. ;)

[simsy89]

I know i've downloaded the list, but its a mile long and i probably have about 20% of them,it would take days to search them 1 by 1
(any suggestion)!

I have about 900 zip files from mts on my pc. Here is how I'm going through it. If you have excel this may help. I saved the web page of the missing files link from here to my documents. Then opened it, select all, and copied and pasted the list into excel. I then am going down the list of zips I have and doing a find in excel for the number. But wow you have a lot more than we have. As I find them and upload them I fill color the cells from that line so I know I have done it, and fill color the ones I know I don't have with a different color... Eventually the list of missing files will all have fill color and all done... Hope that helps.

I don't create or recolor and my daughter and I have just began downloading custom content for our game a couple of months ago. I figure this is the least I could do for all the wonderful free downloads of custom content we got for our game from here :). BTW I have found and uploaded 4 files I had and have only just begun going down the list. Unfortunately I go back to work tomorrow so I don't know how far I will get.

[Delphy]

Another few hundred down. :)

Current status is:
Total files: 4088
Threads affected: 2189

Missingfiles.html updated

[simsy89]

I pulled an all nighter and went through all of my 900 some files on one drive and uploaded 39. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. I will check my external and other hard drive to see if I have more on my next days off next week.

[kimmiekayes]

Ok, so I have saved to disk almost everything I have ever downloaded and am I glad, I accidentally deleted my downloads folder. Some of the files from the list first posted look familiar. I am not computer literate and have trouble finding my way around, clearly. Is this the most current list? Do you still need help?

[tree4me]

I have got all my files back! Hoorah! :)

[clw8]

I found it pretty ironic that the 5 or 6 things that I was missing, were all things that I had still saved to my "projects/packaged lots" folder.

Wonder how that could've ever happened?!

[Bea_ap80]

Hello, all my files are ok. Thank you for all the hard work.

Bea

[kylebeans]

Oh man, it sucks to have both drives crash on you :cry:
I'm going to go through all my downloads and creations now to see if I can help anyone out! ;)
[This may take awhile -_-' *suddenly regrets downloading everything he sees*] :lol:

[LingTina]

Well, I found two things and uploaded them.

Glad I could help! :)

For people who are looking into how to cut down the time going through the list and their downloads, this is what I did.

(I have Windows XP)

1. Go to Start
2. Search (The Magnifying Glass)
3. click "All files and folders"
4. In all or part of file name type "mts2 * rar" for the .rar files, and "mts2 * zip" for the .zip files.
5. Wait for the search to finish.
6. Go to the list of missing files on MTS2
7. Click the "Name" tab on your downloads search. (That organizes it in alphabetical order)
8. Go to the MTS2 page, and hit "Ctrl+F" to pull up the find.
9. Type in the name of the creator of the first file in your list. (Example if the file says something like "MTS2_LingTina_Whatever_the_content_is.rar," "LingTina" would be what you type)
10. If the person name comes up, look through the results to see if it's your file.
11. If it is go the page and follow the provided instructions in the topic.
12. If not, or if someone already uploaded it, go to the next name and do the same thing.
13. Do this until you have went through all of your downloads.

I hope this helps.
I used Firefox to do this, but you also can do this in other browser.

Have a nice day, everyone!

[alexratman]

i have had a problem getting any files off the skuld fileserver

[Delphy]

It's the weekend. It's busy. :)

[Master Killer]

I have an idea. I have a Gigabite (.zip and .rar) in my PC, I can put those missing files in a DVD and send this to MTS2 in an air mail From Argentina, only I need is an adress...

[Delphy]

Master Killer, please check the list of missing files and then check your list and upload any that are missing.