[Balanor]

If we recreate a character lost during this trial time, if by chance the cost is reached and recovery successful does it mess that character in the restored or is this separate from the recovery.

If data is recovered, everything that happens now will be erased. *IF* that happens, this week(s) that the server has been running from the February 8 backup data could maybe be played off as a horrible nightmare or something that everyone experienced, or alternate reality you were all forced to endure for some sick god's/wizard's pleasure, etc, etc. More ICly could likely be developed when/if that data recovery actually occurs though.

[Animayhem]

If we recreate a character lost during this trial time, if by chance the cost is reached and recovery successful does it mess that character in the restored or is this separate from the recovery.

If data is recovered, everything that happens now will be erased. *IF* that happens, this week(s) that the server has been running from the February 8 backup data could maybe be played off as a horrible nightmare or something that everyone experienced, or alternate reality you were all forced to endure for some sick god's/wizard's pleasure, etc, etc. More ICly could likely be developed when/if that data recovery actually occurs though.

Ok thank you

[TrioThePunch]

If we recreate a character lost during this trial time, if by chance the cost is reached and recovery successful does it mess that character in the restored or is this separate from the recovery.

If data is recovered, everything that happens now will be erased. *IF* that happens, this week(s) that the server has been running from the February 8 backup data could maybe be played off as a horrible nightmare or something that everyone experienced, or alternate reality you were all forced to endure for some sick god's/wizard's pleasure, etc, etc. More ICly could likely be developed when/if that data recovery actually occurs though.

Ok.

[Balanor]

If anyone has experience replacing hard drive circuit boards, please PM me.

[Anya Sandragon]

I know!!! If we recover and this time is erased... The School of Illusion can take credit!!! A massive spell gone right!! Talk about a whole new twist to the world!! LOL

[Miscr3ant]

Patience. :) More information will be forthcoming.

I know!!! If we recover and this time is erased... The School of Illusion can take credit!!! A massive spell gone right!! Talk about a whole new twist to the world!! LOL

LOL!!

[Balanor]

Over the last few days, I’ve been doing a fair amount of research into data recovery options, spoke to additional data recovery companies, and even had a member of the staff get me in touch with a buddy who did hard drive recoveries in the past to discuss some details.

Details About the Data Recovery Plan (for those who care)
As Best Buy has indicated it was a circuit board failure, and since some of the data recovery locations I spoke with said they try to recover data using this method: I am going to attempt to replace the circuit board in the hard drive myself. Sending it out to have that done runs upward of $500 (plus parts) from places like Disktopia. After some research, watching some YouTube videos on how it’s done (they make it seem oh-so-easy) and talking it over with the gentleman who has replaced hard drive circuit boards before, I think that at least part of this procedure I could do myself.

So once I get the drive back from Best Buy in the next day or two, I will be verifying some information on it and then ordering the circuit board. Depending on what is needed, I may need to send the current (fried) circuit board to a shop to have a chip taken from it and soldered to the new one. Then after that it’s a matter of putting the new circuit board into the drive, popping the drive into a computer, and praying to god it starts to spin and is actually recognized by the BIOS.
------------------------------------------------------------

What this Means About Moving Forward
This attempt at data recovery is going to take at least a week from whenever I finally get the drive back. If the new circuit board needs to be taken in to have soldering work done, it could take longer. So at this time, we’re looking at another week, at least, in which we’ll be in this current ‘limbo’ state.

Finally, based on this ever in-flux situation, I have recreated the poll at the top of this thread with one of the *two* options about what we should do if this final data recovery attempt is unsuccessful. Feel free to vote if you have a strong opinion as to one or the other. At this time, based on feedback and community response provided so far, those are the two options I’m prepared to go with.

[zDarkShadowz]

I'll vote for the February one... If possible, I would like to be able to use the character I had saved instead of that one (turns out he had been saved on the 26th) but I understand that everyone would need to be treated equally.

This is my public OneDrive link for Valin anyway http://1drv.ms/1qFQiT2
I think Valin might be considered an invalid character though, as when he was leveling up in Thay, a part of his time was as a lycan (shapechanger race affecting human skillpoints) so he might have 2 or so less skillpoints than he's supposed to, heh.

Whatever happens, I hope everyone can recover one way or another :) Good luck with the recovery effort.
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Addendum as to the reason of my vote:** Although I understand setting everyone back down to level 1 for fairness sake, I believe the February one is the better option for two reasons:
1: I think what can be recovered, should be recovered. Long time players created stories, fleshed out realities and wanted their characters to make a stamp on the world. Something is always better than nothing.
2: There is nothing stopping those who would manage to keep (in my case severely underequipped) characters from creating new level 1s to play alongside those without, and the incentives for returning players appear to be applicable to both sets of votes regardless.

[Animayhem]

I'll vote for the February one...
Addendum as to the reason of my vote:** Although I understand setting everyone back down to level 1 for fairness sake, I believe the February one is the better option for two reasons:

1: I think what can be recovered, should be recovered. Long time players created stories, fleshed out realities and wanted their characters to make a stamp on the world. Something is always better than nothing.

2: There is nothing stopping those who would manage to keep (in my case severely underequipped) characters from creating new level 1s to play alongside those without, and the incentives for returning players appear to be applicable to both sets of votes regardless.

I agree.

[Balanor]

The drive is back in my hands. After taking the casing apart, it looks like there are two circuit boards within it. Since I'm not sure which one fried, I'd like to replace both but I couldn't find the second one on any of the circuit board sites I've been looking at. So instead I ordered a used identical hard drive off Amazon (wish I had thought of that early). When that arrives, the plan is to make sure it powers up first of all, and assuming that's the case I'll then swap out the boards.

I choose expedited shipping from the person/company I bought the used drive from on Amazon so it should get shipped tomorrow or Thursday. With luck I'll have it by the weekend and try the circuit board swap then.