[Animayhem]

That is good news of personal data retrieval. As one who had 3 bad hdd in a row I know how scary that can be.
Take a deep breath and enjoy time with Mrs T. Gratz on what ever year anniversary it is!
As many said its not your fault, life happens. :)

[MilesBeyond]

How appropriate that the Thay server might be saved by the computer version of a lich.

Well, probably more accurately a zombie, but whatever.

Even if it doesn't work, six months wouldn't be all that awful. Killian would get blasted into nothingness, but at least Alek would still have his house, heh.

[Balanor]

It will be year number 5 for us on September 9, although we dated for 5 years before that too. In other words, she's been with me the entire time I've been doing PWs for NWN. Lucky her.

...or maybe she's the reason I use NWN to escape from reality...?

It's a good thing she doesn't read these forums. ;)

Anyway though, the main reason for this post is that I wanted to point it to the Server Donation info thread. Donate or not, announce it or not if you do, the choices are completely up to you. But I really want to stress that everyone is welcome back and will receive the same treatment from me and the DMs when the server returns, regardless of whether or not you were able to contribute, or how much you contributed.

I'll provide more info on the data recovery effort here later today.

[Bela]

Have a great anniversary and don't worry <too much> about us we will make our own entertainment. :)

Enjoy and relax T:D

[Bishop Edward]

Thayan,

Happy Anniversary from me as well!

Best of luck on retrieving the data, but if not, I'm sure we all understand that these things happen and we'll all work through getting back up to speed on our awesome PW together.

Cheers,
Edward Bishop

[FrodoTheFluffy]

Technologies a bitch sometimes! It will work out just make sure you have fun :D

[Balanor]

So the update is as bad as I've come to expect the last few days. Just can't catch a break: the drive needs to be sent in for any chance of data recovery. It cannot be done in-house/in-store.

The minimum, non refundable fee, is $149.99 for them even trying. *If* they are successful, and that is no guarantee they will be, it is then an additional $379.99. At this point, I simply can't justify spending that much money on my own. But if you in the community wish to attempt to get together and try to help offset the cost before Sunday, I will have them send in it for the attempt knowing that we're out $150 no matter what. Really sucks. Sorry everyone. If you feel the attempt should be made, please donate before Saturday evening. If not, then there is no rush to donate if you are planning to do so. The donations I get in the next two days will determine how aggressively I decide to pursue the ultra-expensive data recovery option.

On the server front though, I have a glimmer of good news there: I've been able to get a new VM spun up on my (very nice) work laptop with the last server backup I have from February 8 running on it. I need to discuss some details with the staff, but it *may* be possible that I could at least have this temporary server running while I'm gone to give you all your daily fix of Thay, since I won't be using that work machine anyway while I am on vacation. But then deciding what to do when I come back is the big question that needs to be worked out first to avoid doing so causing even more problems. More to come on this front after I've talked it over with the staff. Stay tuned...

[Gwydion669]

Best of wishes to you and your priestess on your anniversary!

I've sent something thru PayPal but the deadline creates problems. I'll send more later and a few fellow scoundrels will send something as well after the 1st.

As far as what to do now? I love Maurice, but muerde happens. I'm not gonna cry over a reboot. He'll restart from scratch just as he did before (but would hope to get the ring he got in the first reboot *whistles innocently*).

If there's a vote (always a bad idea but it gives you and the team something to consider), I put forth the following:

1) Go ahead and restart Thay so people can have their daily fix. Include a HUGE disclaimer that it's a temp situation and old/rebooted Thay will be restored if possible and will likely render the next few weeks moot. Players can use this time to have fun, test out new builds, and keep from going into DT's. *grin*

2) Relax and have fun on your trip. Once you get back, take a look at the balance in the account. If there's enough for both an HD and recovery, go for it. If the recovery works, Thay goes back to where it was at the crash. If not (or due to insufficient funds), just go for the hard drive and do a new reboot. Whether 1st or 14th, Maurice ain't going anywhere. I'd hazard to guess that the same would be said for many others.

Whatever happens, don't stress about it. We've been given this wonderful world and ain't gonna bitch (whine maybe, but not bitch) when feces hit the oscillating air movement device.

[Balanor]

Thanks NOITCA. I'm coming up with a draft plan right now, and it's very similar to what you mention. Great minds, right?! ;)

It seems very unlikely enough funds will be raised prior to the rapidly approaching deadline tomorrow to get the drive sent in prior to my vacation. But we'll see about doing it when I return, although I really hate that could mean the PW will have lost 4-6 weeks of player time/uptime from the point it crashed to when/if we actually get the recovered data back.

I'll probably be starting a separate thread on that plan later today.

[DarkRanger]

1) Go ahead and restart Thay so people can have their daily fix. Include a HUGE disclaimer that it's a temp situation and old/rebooted Thay will be restored if possible and will likely render the next few weeks moot. Players can use this time to have fun, test out new builds, and keep from going into DT's. *grin*

A period of OOC time like between the final campaign of the old world and the beginning of the new one could be fun for sure.