[TheSupremeForce]

That's rough. I'd say "these things happen" but that's quite the combination of problems to all hit at once, which raises it out of the realm of "these things happen." Here's hoping the process goes as smoothly as possible going forward. I'll throw my lot in with the people who think losing the place to play (for a while) is far worse than losing characters/items/whatever. Thay's one of my all-time two favorite PW's, and it's definitely the best put together one (I just have a soft spot for the Moonshae Isles setting).

[WillowWhite]

I have Daeris saved several ways and couldn't be less worried about the rest of my PCs and thier junk. As long as Thay is not gone I'm good, a few weeks isn't much. *Lightbuld* Does this mean we'll get to go through the ToT again?! :P

[zDarkShadowz]

I think I saved my character somewhat recently cause I wanted to test something with it in toolset... yeah, he's saved. I don't mind working back from base level 15 if the database files are all gone and enough people have their characters to resend to Thayan. (I probably ate the 17th level worth of xp I had when I made a couple of expensive items anyway :') )

[Animayhem]

As long as Thay is not gone I'm good, a few weeks isn't much.

I have Cara and Rimeth saved so worse case can be worked on from there. I have all custom interiors and exteriors I have done.

[Bertram Anders]

Thayan, don't worry about hindsight about what you would have done differently. No one would have ever seen these series of events occurring and three computers breaking in under ten days, as finicky as they may be. As for the hard drive issue we can only hope for the best with that especially with the recovery of your irreplaceable family photos.

We will all take our small break while things are set in order,and we will drive on; we are Thayans after all, known for out tenacity.

Let me know when you get a paypal going. I am more than happy to donate to help alleviate some of the financial costs this set back.

[DarkRanger]

I'll also throw in if you set up a Paypal, that sucks to have so much go bad in a short time.

[FrodoTheFluffy]

It isn't much but i have a 500gb Sata 2 HDD that is completely blank, I am willing to offer you this to help you out if it is of any help to you!

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If you do want it i do not expect anything for it but a posting address :)

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Also i have a Sapphire HD3850 ATI Radeon card which i do not use! It is a Dual High Definition Graphics card which may be of more use to yourself than me :D

[NOITCA]

I would like to encourage you to link a PayPal Donations button, for us to be able to make a few as time goes on. Just don't make those donations mandatory, as people will expect a certain level of service for those donations.
I love the place you all have created, and understand the countless dollars and, more importantly, time spent making it what it is. What would be ideal, if, those donations could be made anonymously, so no one would expect special treatment. But, we all get special treatment here anyway, so that's not a big deal.
I say make that there Donations button, if for nothing more, at least we can help get it up and running again.

[MilesBeyond]

It's totally fine, there isn't really anything you could have done about it.

Just promise me one thing, Thayan - that you won't let this situation keep you from enjoying your anniversary getaway.

[Balanor]

Thank you all for the support and the very kind words. Whoever said all Thayans are mean and evil was just plain wrong! I'll do my best not to let it ruin the vacation, but it will definitely be in the back of my mind. I'm sure Heidi will slap me if I start moaning about it though, so no worries there. ;)

After a night sleeping on it (kinda), I'm feeling slightly better about things and I'm hopeful that some place can work magic on the drive and get off the backup files. Last night I messed around with my old (un)dead computer for several hours and was able to access the C drive, which meant I was able to get the vast majority of the personal files that I had stored - only a few lost pictures now, so I'm breathing easier in that regard, at least. But my data drive/partition, which is where I started saving all the NWN server backup files to this year, is completely gone and the computer hangs immediately when I try to access it, even through the command prompt.

So while I was able to get a NWN backup off of it, it was the last one I had on the C drive before I started saving files to the data drive, which was taken on February 8, 2014. Ugh. So while not all is lost, that still means over 6 months worth of work is gone should that be the data that gets restored. I am calling places today, starting with Staples and some smaller computer stores around here, to see about prices and turnaround time on the process to attempt to get data off the dead server drive. Will let everyone know how that goes.

As far as the very generous offers to donate, I will setup a PayPal donation account sometime in the very near future. I am not a web admin like KTA, so I don't know how to modify the pages of this forum to put up the donate button, but I'll probably start a separate thread with the PayPal info for the account. Any donation is absolutely and 100% voluntary. It's actually illegal for *any* NWN server to force you to pay-to-play. I have never asked for donations before so this is uncharted territory for me. I understand the desire to keep everyone anonymous, but then I also understand the desire some people may have who may want to be recognized for assisting to get back everyone's characters and help the server get back on its feet, which I also feel is very appropriate. I'm not sure the exact route to take at this time - and I'm doing something I don't normally do here: think (type) out loud in public. So if there are suggestions as to how to handle donations, please feel free to post. Most certainly those who request to remain anonymous will only be known by me (and will have my sincere gratitude), regardless of the direction taken with the announcement of donations.