Data loss... for now

Before you freak out with the title let me tell you this: AM2R IS SAFE, I keep weekly backups of the main project folder in different media types.

A couple of weeks ago one of my SATA drives stopped working. It was the main project drive in my studio PC, so all of my current audio projects can´t be read anymore. As I usually backup audio projects as soon as they´re finished, I have some very angry customers who lost their on-production album. Also, one of those projects was the AM2R soundtrack.

While I have some test mixes in my laptop, most of the music engine work was done using placeholders (the original Metroid 2 soundtrack). I was already tired of hearing the songs during production, hearing them all the time in-game during testing would be even more tiresome. 

Now, I did some testing on a friend´s house. We tried replacing the drive´s controller board, using parts from the same drive model. The motor starts, there is drive activity, but it´s not recognized by the bios (or Windows). We noticed that, even if the drive model is the same, the controller boards we tested had a different serial number than the one in my drive. I´m pretty sure that all of the data is intact, but I can´t acess it!
So, if you ever had a Western Digital Caviar WD5000AAKS drive with broken sectors, or anything that doesn´t affect the controller board, please get in touch with me. There is a chance that you have the piece of hardware I need lying around in a pile of old HDDs.

While I was dealing with this, there´s been quite some progress. The new music engine is done, and all of the tiresome tasks of managing loaded songs and crossfades between tracks are now automated with simple scripts. Assigning the corresponding track to each section of the game is now really easy, and it should be complete within these days. There´s also been some performance optimizations here and there, the most visible one is the new HUD code. Since all of the elements are now separated by different scripts, I could add parameters to allow customizable HUD layouts. If tweaking the position of the HUD elements is something that you´d like to use, let me know and I´ll add the option.

Hopefully, I´ll be able to solve the drive problem soon.
The game is still alive, and it will be done. I promise.
Have a good weekend.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wow sounds like a bunch of trouble! Good luck!
Yonathan said…
Que pena loco pero eso demuestra que hasta a los mejores les pasa, espero resuelvas tu problema y no pierdas todos esos datos suerte amigo te deseo lo mejor!
waycooler said…
I definitely freaked out when I saw the title, but it's good to know that it's only a setback and that the project is still moving forward.
Saffiron said…
Doc, try using HDD Regenerator, you can have a chance with it! because it will going to repair the damaged Sectors of the disk

And later the only thing that you have to do is run a Ubuntu Live CD and try to get all the data that you lost.

Recently i was having the same problem, and here i am, with a regenerated HDD

Seriously, try the HDD Regenerator you can have a chance to get back the lost data.
Michael said…
You know, you could have used a less ominous title.
omega metroid said…
que bueno me alegro de los avances y espero que se le solucionen los problemas
netsendjoe said…
Awe... I'm so sorry. I had that happen to me with a Western Digital 2TB and I had to RMA the drive and the drive they sent me back I think has just gone bad again. I feel your pain.
netsendjoe said…
p.s. - check over here for pcb replacements... http://www.hddzone.com/western-digital-pcb-c-2.html
Anonymous said…
You should try Spin Rite on your hard drive. That program has worked miracles from what I've heard.
yop83 said…
I wanted to post to urge you to use an off-site free version control solution (Mercurial or SVN).

There are just too many benefits to version control to not use it (disaster-proofing your project being one of them).

There are multiple free hosters, such as: https://bitbucket.org/ (for a Mercurial repo with a nice interface)
or
http://beanstalkapp.com/ (SVN or GIT, great interface too)

Beanstalk also have a great guide section with detailed introductions to version control: http://guides.beanstalkapp.com/

Good luck :)
iamli3 said…
sry to hear about the loss there , great to here that the game is getting that much closer to completion though , i know if that happened to me i would just up and quit right there cause i can't stand it when stupid bullshit like that happens >.< ......
Spartan.062 said…
I have several WD drives laying around. Unfortunately, none of them are what you need. :(
Bunnypoppop said…
Sorry to hear about the harddrive, hope you fix it soon and get on with making the game!
Good Luck and thank god you back things up!
Simmons2714 said…
Sorry about that man hope you get everything back in order! :)
Anonymous said…
there are sites you can send your hard drive to and they will get htat data off there. I've never had to do it so I don't have a recomendation as to whom would be best but that is an option.
Anonymous said…
Doc, you scared the sh*t out of me for a second!!! Glad to hear it's only a speed bump! Viva la AM2R!!
elbuskabulla said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
elbuskabulla said…
diablo loco ke susto cabron mano!!este juego si Dios kiere va hacer mi regalo de navidad!!
pyr0mrcow said…
Well...thought you lost the whole project for a second there ^.^"

If at all possible, I'd get it looked at by a professional.
Messing with it or trying to recover/read it without the right tool can damage the drive in some cases. It depends on exactly what went wrong.
I feel sorry for the angry costumer thing. :/

Anyways, thanks for the update doc! I hope everything gets better soon!
Bruno Brazil 1986 said…
Oh, crap... That means we'll have to wait a little more for the game. But that's okay, things like that happen. Only to know DoctorM64 is working on that since 2008 reveals his passion for Metroid and we should all thank and support him.
Anonymous said…
good luck with everything doc.
SirPrize said…
How much does it cost to get it sent off and recover the data from a pro company? I would so foot the bill to do that.
Chepper said…
Hey Doc,
sad to hear from the technical issue you had, hope things can be restored as before!

As for the HUD you talked about, I would love to see some possibilities of tweaking your personal taste on the HUD ( positioning, display, modifications to certain possible extend? )
Patrick said…
Best of luck recovering the data!
Anonymous said…
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu x_x
Anonymous said…
hey doc..terra here...sorry to hear the news but we still have the upmost faith in you...your work is legendary.
all your fans are behind you...good luck
random fan said…
Sorry for your bad luck.......I hate it when stuff like that happens.....Anyway good luck on retrieving the data, and keep up the good work!
The Laughing Man said…
If you can afford it, I would recommend SalvageData. They are a very experienced recoverery service.

www.salvagedata.com
VJ said…
That Sounds really bad, but I hope that everything get better, we all support u and thanks about the excellent work! Waiting for the game and Good Luck!
Lashek said…
I sent an email in regards to the WD5000AAKS drive, I myself just had one go bad, but the controller board is intact.
Anonymous said…
Sorry that you ran into some trouble. Glad to hear that you are planning on completing the project. It looks amazing! Eagerly awaiting the release of the finished product! Keep up the good work.
Coolt5000 said…
I have a quick question. can you pleased try to get nintendo to license your game!? If you do than you will make a shit load of money and it will be considered a official metroid game!
seer said…
que malo fue eso ohala que vuelva pronto mensaje de fanaticmetroid
Anonymous said…
Tienes un correo Doc de Marcoide20@hotmail.com
Anonymous said…
I would try using Knoppix (http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html) and see if that can get to the data on the drive. It's helped me many times with 'dead' hard drives
JasonsJewelry said…
Oh, no! Hope you get it working, and good luck.
Anonymous said…
Anyone heard about testicles?
Gridlock said…
Well, the 25th anniversary of Metroid is here! I'm looking forward to hearing Doc's remix of Tourian in Harmony of a Hunter. Oh, and also Metroid Metal's version of the queen metroid battle music.
Metroid Metal's version of the Queen battle music?!!??! Is there a website for the anniversary thing or is it just something that people celebrate on their individual sites?
Gridlock said…
Wow. I heard the podcast with Danger in Old Tourian. That's some impressive atmosphere in that song, Doc. I can't wait to hear what you come up with for AM2R.
Soup said…
Well I have a WD5000AAKS WD Caviar SE16 drive. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure it died of the same thing yours did. I get drive activity using a SATA/IDE to USB thing, but no access to the data (Though it is given a drive letter after a little while) and connecting it stops some programs from running. Now, I do have a WD5000AAJS WD Caviar SE that works just fine using the crossover, it's problem was the secondary controller connected to the external case, but based on your story trying to use a different board didn't help. Still, if you think either drive will help let me know.
Soup said…
Here's a picture if for some reason that helps: http://i51.tinypic.com/2ihqgwl.jpg
PeaCe said…
Good Luck.
Anonymous said…
hope it's fixed soon good luck :)

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