atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Avaya - Lucent Telephones & Systems Dead Hard Drive

I have a partner Mail VS R4.0 Voice mail module and the hard drive is making a loud noise. The drive is a Seagate ST9810A. Can I replace the drive? If so, must it be the same model number and what will I need to do to get it formatted and working?

Thanks in advance,

Laser

I believe that the hard drive is stripe so you can not copy them, but there are places to get replacements or you can replace the VM.

There used to be a source a couple of years ago but I believe they dried up. The drive must be pre-loaded with the operating system, a blank drive will do you nothing. It makes little sense to try and repair that old R4 anyway. You would be doing yourself a favor by upgrading to something more recent even if it hadn't crashed.

-Hal

Hi Hal,

Thanks for the info. Is ther an upgrade that you can recomend?

Thanks,

Laser

The direct replacement would be the Avaya Partner Messaging.

If you have a Partner ACS processor and need only a basic auto attendant and a maximum of 12 mailboxes, check out the Partner Voice Messaging.

You don't say what processor you have (ACS or something older?) but any of the messaging systems can be used including the newest Partner Messaging R7. If you have an ACS even one of the two PC card voice mails may fit your application since the R4 was pretty limited.

Keep in mind that the Mail VS has been discontinued and there is only limited support for the VS R5 which, even though I don't like to recommend refurb may not be a bad compromise.

Click on the "Equipment" button on top of this page and see if there is anything you like that fits your budget.

-Hal

I have replacement drives available for all models of Partner VS Mail - but the previous post's advice to upgrade to a Partner Messaging makes the most sense. Those VS Mail hard drives were made back in the mid-90's - and they are hard to find in decent shape. And - even then - they could last 1 day or 5 years. It's a crapshoot.

Like a PC, even with a new Messaging system the HD can be a crapshoot. But at least you get a three year warranty and a good shot at having no problems for many years.

-Hal

I just sent a dead one in to Metroline and the price was reasonable for repair. I like to use local people but both quoted me a week and Metroline had it back out the same day it came in (Fedex 10:30.)

It was basically the same price for overnight service as waiting a week and that was a big consideration.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Hal and tdaugirdas

The processor we have is a Partner II R4.1 (I hope this helps), I also agree that upgrading does make a lot of sense. However, for us (4 (person office) Voice mail is more of a luxury than a necessity and the current system has all the features we need. Over the past 10 years the system has served us well and fits our needs. We only have needed to replace one 260E Module and one battery inside the CPU, both were relatively painless.

The advantage of upgrading would be one of dependability only, but with the rest of the system being over 10 years old, I’m not sure that is a valid assumption.

In addition, I checked the price of the upgrades and in these economic times, I afraid this is out of out of budget range so I think, we will probably look for a replacement disk or module.

Metroline does have modules for a reasonable price and comes with a one year warranty but if I could get just the disk (loaded with the necessary software) I would probably give that a try.

tdaugirdas if you could let me know what the price and delivery of the drive is, I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks again for all your support.

Laser