What happens in the event of a Strato or Terra hard disk drive failure?

When a hard drive fails in a Terra movie server, Strato player, or Alto player, the customer is notified on the Kaleidescape mobile app, web store, and the onscreen display of the player. An email is also sent to the dealer and customer.

Contact an authorized Kaleidescape dealer for a replacement hard drive or player. Be prepared with the serial number of the Terra, Strato, or Alto. Hard drives and components under warranty will be replaced free of charge.
 

Kaleidescape Strato, Terra (Compact), and Alto

Movies stored on the failed hard drive of a Strato, Alto, or Terra (compact) will be restored automatically provided there is at least one other Terra, Strato, or Alto online in the system. Restoration begins immediately if the system has enough free space remaining. Note that 4K movies cannot be restored to an Alto.

Systems with a single Strato, Alto, or Terra (compact) that are experiencing a hard drive failure will need to fully replace the affected component. Upon replacement, system activation must be completed anew.  Downloaded movies that were stored on the failed component can be optionally restored when activating the replacement.

Kaleidescape Terra

When a hard drive fails in a Terra movie server, it will continue to operate, but movies stored on the failed drive will be unavailable for playback from connected players.

Affected movies, that were downloaded from the Kaleidescape store, will be restored automatically. Restoration begins immediately if the Terra has enough free space remaining, or if other Terra servers in the system have available space.

A system with a failed hard drive will reserve 2TB of space for new purchases. Restoration will pause once that limit is reached and resume automatically once the failed drive is replaced, or additional storage components are added to the system.

Instructions on how to replace a failed hard drive in a Terra are included in the shipping box containing the replacement hard drive. Instructions  can also be found here: https://www.kaleidescape.com/terra-hdd-replacement
 

Frequently Asked Questions

What factors contribute to hard drive failure?

Hard drive failures are extremely rare but increase in likelihood with age. Risk of pre-mature hard drive failure increases if the drive experiences excessive shocks from improper handling. Always be gentle when handling components with storage.

What is the impact of a hard drive failure?

A full size Terra movie server will continue to operate after a hard drive failure if at least one functional hard drive remains. Movies stored on the failed drive will be unavailable for playback.

A compact Terra movie server will not operate if its hard drive has failed. Stored movies will be unavailable for playback and the server must be replaced. Any connected players will be unable to connect to the server and will display that a movie server in the system cannot start.

Strato or Alto players will not operate if their hard drive has failed. Stored movies will be unavailable for playback and the player must be replaced. Players will display a message explaining that the player cannot operate due to a hard drive failure.

How does content restoration work?

Strato, Terra (compact), Alto:

Movies stored on the failed hard drive of a Strato, Alto, or Terra (compact) will be restored automatically provided there is at least one other Terra, Strato or Alto online in the system. Restoration begins immediately if the system has enough free space remaining. Note that 4K movies cannot be restored to an Alto.

Terra movie server:

A full size Terra will begin content restoration automatically. Restoration will continue until either all movies and extras are restored, or space restrictions force the process to pause.

This process will restore movies to any Terra movie server in the system with available disk space.  If the process is paused, replacing the failed hard drive, adding a storage component, or deleting existing movies and extras, will allow restoration to resume.

Can automatic restoration be paused?

Pausing your downloads will also pause restoration. Restoration will also respect your download schedule.

What is the process for ordering a replacement hard drive or player?

Contact an authorized Kaleidescape dealer or contact Kaleidescape support for a replacement hard drive or player. Hard drives and components under warranty will be replaced free of charge.

How can a movie with content missing due to hard drive failure be restored sooner?

Restoration proceeds automatically when there are no recently purchased downloads and downloads are not paused. To adjust the order of movies being restored or select a movie to be restored sooner, visit https://kaleidescape.com/restore.

Will Kaleidescape send a notification when the restoration is complete?

Kaleidescape sends a mobile notification (to customer) and an email (to dealer and customer) when the restoration completes. The Kaleidescape app for iOS and Android can also be used to monitor the restoration progress.

Can a failed hard drive be replaced with a non-Kaleidescape hard drive?

No. Kaleidescape movie servers will not recognize a non-Kaleidescape hard drive. The onscreen and browser interface will indicate when an unrecognized hard drive has been installed in a Kaleidescape movie server.

Can automatic restoration of movies be canceled?

Movies that are queued for restoration can be cancelled by deleting them from the local system using a player’s onscreen display, the system browser interface, or the web store downloads page. See https://kaleidescape.com/restore.