Help ??? My CAVS JB99 Hard Drive Just Died

[offgridsid]

I have the big CAVS Commercial JB-99 with built-in speakers, a dollar bill acceptor and the 3-disc changer.

The Hard Drive started doing a lot of clicking and then just died. I sent it out to a data recovery company, but they said that the write heads damaged the surfaces and the data ( MY DKK 1-99 + 6 years of added stuff ) can't be recovered.

The real killer is that without the CAVS operating system ( as in OS ) ... The system won't even boot up ... it's completely dead.

The 3-disc changer WILL pipe music-only to the Amp, but only with the HDD, bill acceptor and other peripherals disconnected.

DKK has been sold to Dai-itchi something or other and cavs doesn't appear to support the 99 anymore... I'm 62, Retired and I can't really afford to buy it all again from scratch.

Does anyone know how I can fix this ???

Thanks

Sid

[wiseguy]

All hard drives fail, it's just a matter of when. That's why the phrase "backup your data" is so common. In most cases it is possible for an expert to retrieve data from a failed drive but unfortunately that does not appear to be the case here.

The original DKK 1-99 series was discontinued long ago, and while most of the individual discs can still be located, they are hard to find and expensive. It's a shame as these were high quality karaoke discs. I started buying mine before all 99 had been released.

CAVS should be able to provide you with a new hard drive with the OS installed at least. And I suppose you still have the other discs that you collected over the years that could be imported onto the new drive so all won't be lost.

[offgridsid]

All hard drives fail, it's just a matter of when. That's why the phrase "backup your data" is so common. In most cases it is possible for an expert to retrieve data from a failed drive but unfortunately that does not appear to be the case here.

The original DKK 1-99 series was discontinued long ago, and while most of the individual discs can still be located, they are hard to find and expensive. It's a shame as these were high quality karaoke discs. I started buying mine before all 99 had been released.

CAVS should be able to provide you with a new hard drive with the OS installed at least. And I suppose you still have the other discs that you collected over the years that could be imported onto the new drive so all won't be lost.

Thanks for the reply;

I do still have about 2200 songs on discs, but I had more than 15,000 on the drive and My originals

were lost with most of my other stuff in the great New Orleans flood.

I would have backed up the 15,000 from the drive but they said that making copies wasn't legal ...

so I didn't. I used to be honest but I won't ever make a *%&$& mistake like that again.

At any rate, I did make a request to CAVS service dept for a new drive with the OS and peripheral

drivers, but No Reply yet.

Thanks

Sid

[mnementh]

The Hard Drive started doing a lot of clicking and then just died. I sent it out to a data recovery company, but they said that the write heads damaged the surfaces and the data ( MY DKK 1-99 + 6 years of added stuff ) can't be recovered.

Sid

Hi Sid.

First up I'm more than a little dubious about write heads damaging your drive platters so badly that data can't be recovered.

Write heads weigh next to nothing and are VERY smooth

What I would try to do is find an IDENTICAL drive online, Ebay or anywhere else you can.

You can then swap over the electronics board (it's only a few screws and a couple of plugs, usually) to see if this will kick your drive into life again.

Please note, it MUST be an IDENTICAL drive.

I'd also get a second opinion on the state of your drive platters, as well.

Unfortunately, data recovery is VERY expensive if you don't do it yourself, so maybe the company you tried simply didn't want the business.

Sorry to pour coals on the fire but Wiseguy is correct about backups.

I have my stuff on three separate drives, including an external one and back up as soon as I add 100 tracks to my collection.

Sandy

[offgridsid]

The Hard Drive started doing a lot of clicking and then just died. I sent it out to a data recovery company, but they said that the write heads damaged the surfaces and the data ( MY DKK 1-99 + 6 years of added stuff ) can't be recovered.

Sid

Hi Sid.

First up I'm more than a little dubious about write heads damaging your drive platters so badly that data can't be recovered.

Write heads weigh next to nothing and are VERY smooth

What I would try to do is find an IDENTICAL drive online, Ebay or anywhere else you can.

You can then swap over the electronics board (it's only a few screws and a couple of plugs, usually) to see if this will kick your drive into life again.

Please note, it MUST be an IDENTICAL drive.

I'd also get a second opinion on the state of your drive platters, as well.

Unfortunately, data recovery is VERY expensive if you don't do it yourself, so maybe the company you tried simply didn't want the business.

Sorry to pour coals on the fire but Wiseguy is correct about backups.

I have my stuff on three separate drives, including an external one and back up as soon as I add 100 tracks to my collection.

Sandy

Hi Sandy,

I did just that before I finally broke down and sent it in to the recovery people.

It's a WD-600 and I found one on CraigsList. I'm a middlin-decent technician, so I swapped out the controller boards but the old drive still wouldn't boot-up.

They did a post mortem on the platters with photos that did show a series of VERY little craters in an arc across the surface of the boot platter.

I'm reasonably convinced that they did a good job on it.

Sid

[wiseguy]

I do still have about 2200 songs on discs, but I had more than 15,000 on the drive and My originals

were lost with most of my other stuff in the great New Orleans flood.

I would have backed up the 15,000 from the drive but they said that making copies wasn't legal ...

so I didn't. I used to be honest but I won't ever make a *%&$& mistake like that again.

At any rate, I did make a request to CAVS service dept for a new drive with the OS and peripheral

drivers, but No Reply yet.

That's a real shame, you lost quite a large investment. There is nothing dishonest about backing up your legally obtained karaoke discs. I have always backed up evey disc I ever bought and don't give a rats ass who tells me it's not legal.

I hope CAVS comes through for you. At least you would be able to get your machine up and running again.

[mnementh]

Hi Sandy,

I did just that before I finally broke down and sent it in to the recovery people.

It's a WD-600 and I found one on CraigsList. I'm a middlin-decent technician, so I swapped out the controller boards but the old drive still wouldn't boot-up.

They did a post mortem on the platters with photos that did show a series of VERY little craters in an arc across the surface of the boot platter.

I'm reasonably convinced that they did a good job on it.

Sid

If you did as above, then you are, indeed, "middlin decent technician", so here's another train of thought.

If there is a head problem with your old drive, then go the reverse direction and swap back the controller board but then transfer the platters from your old drive to the "new" one.

At least then, you can be absolutely sure the platters are "dead".

Data recovery companies regularly transfer platters to "slave" drives to get data back but again, very expensive.

Sandy.
P.S. whoever told you that you can't "backup" your data is talking via his/her butt. If you paid for it, you're entitled to take a backup.

Please note the term, BACKUP not COPY.

A backup can be completely different to the original but regenerate the original when required.

[DanG2006]

Backups are legal while copies are not as copies means you are using both at the same time for separate shows in my definition book. Backups are just that Backups until you need them.

[wiseguy]

Backups are legal while copies are not as copies means you are using both at the same time for separate shows in my definition book. Backups are just that Backups until you need them.

This really is just semantics here. You can make a copy of a disc and store it away as a backup. You can still correctly call it both a copy and a backup. To tell someone that they can backup their karaoke discs but they can't make copies of them is ridiculous.

[DanG2006]

Not when so many just buy one disc and copy it for all of their systems.
That I consider a copy.
I consider the copy that is unused as a backup.
One is legal and the other isn't.

[wiseguy]

I'm not arguing the concept. I'm debating the statement "copies means you are using both at the same time for separate shows" which is not an accurate statement.

[Bigdog]

Rule number 1...always back up the hard drive. Just to preserve your investment.