Dell Diagnostics Help Please.... 1260

As an alternative, determine the manufacturer of the hard drive in the server, then download and run the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostics. Let's buttume that something almost catastrophic has happened with the drive. Use the results of the manufacturer's diagnostics to give your client proof-positive that the drive needs to be replaced, which is likely unless some rogue software made the system unbootable. I would estimate that the time to run comprehensive disk diagnostics should take no more than 2 hours, less depending on the size of the suspect disk.

To cover your butt, literally, give a firm quote ONLY for running the diagnostics. After that, EVERYTHING is open-ended, including the billable time for a planning session with your customer as to the next step(s) to take to get the server back into operation (or maybe to replace the server?).

Possibilities include cloning the bad drive, which should enable you to recover 99+% of the customer's data, and get the system back into service pretty quickly. Or maybe it is better to start from scratch with a new drive and a reinstallation of whatever server OS your customer wants.

In short, don't let the customer squeeze your balls on billing for your valuable time. You're the expert here, and ALL of your expertise is billable.

Sorry to be explicit with the language here, and maybe offend someone's sweet sensibilities. But I've been in the squeeze before, and it's better to avoid it... Ben Myers