This is from the unofficial users blog for The Link Up, the successor to Mediamax.
Those checking back to the official The Link Up blog for an update on the 29 June posting (which said the site was down for maintenance, though it was already back up), will have been shocked at the post today, 9 July 2008: "Mediamax / The Linkup is closing". The full post is included below.
The post states: "It was not possible to satisfactorily complete the move of files from MediaMax to The Linkup as we had expected, and as a result cannot offer a service that meets your expectations and our business requirements. This is a very disappointing outcome for us, and we know it has been a frustrating experience for many of our customers."
I would imagine it is frustrating for all customers who have until 8 August to download any files that have not already been lost by this company or were deleted with little or no notice when the switchover to The Linkup began in April.
So far there is no indication of whether those of us paying annual subscriptions will receive a refund. Personally my last payment was in March 2008 and my hosted links have not worked since the switch over in April. This is despite the fact that Mr. John Hood, communications director, posted here on 4 July in response to me raising this: "His statement about the TLU supporting links is a half truth. Yes, there were issues with existing links but that's because they the files that were in users hosted section were some of the last to migrate. We OBVIOUSLY still support embedded links." My files turned up in The Linkup long ago, but still the hosted links don't work. My podcast has fallen silent (and I've given up on it for now in frustration, thanks John), as have other streams.
I first began a blog on Mediamax because of lack of response from customer support when files went missing en masse. Comments were disabled on the official blog, so the idea was people could leave their comments on the users blog instead. It was called: "Mediamax - we need you!" and was an appeal for the company to engage with customers and address the problems.
For a while there was some productive discussion, or so it seemed. But then the transfer to The Linkup was sprung on us, a system still in beta. Those with free accounts on Mediamax were told with a week's notice or no notice at all that their accounts would be closed and all files deleted.
The transfer was a disaster, with a scheduling tool quickly abandoned and the promise that our files would all be transferred by the company. But for many, files have still not appeared. We were told hosted links would be maintained until December 2008. Mine have never worked, despite John's claim that OBVIOUSLY they are supported.
The only good news was that the official The Linkup blog allowed comments and so this one fell silent as many of us left our reports of system failures and appeals for help there. It felt like we were talking into a void, however. Now the comments there have all been deleted.
So The Linkup will soon be no more. Hopefully the warning at the top of this blog suggesting those thinking of signing up to The Linkup wait to see if it resolves its problems will have saved some people their money and the heartbreak many posters here report as family photos and important documents they thought they had backed up are lost forever.
I am sure the closure of The Linkup was not the outcome most people on this blog wanted. We wanted clear communication, a working system and either lost files back or at least an admission that they were gone forever and some form of compensation. Waiving of fees for those of us who have forked out good money for nothing would have been nice.
It seems, however, that it is easier for The Linkup to dump its historic customers.
Perhaps those involved will resurface in another guise promising secure storage and many other things. As it has failed to deliver or honour these commitments in the past, I would be loathe to trust it again. We can have no confidence this team will not be as incompetent in future.
It may not only be the desire to escape historic commitments that has brought about the closure. As has been mentioned in comments here, people were finding the files of strangers turning up in their accounts. While the terms and conditions may protect the company from losing files, breaking the security of personal data is perhaps a more serious issue as it is regulated by legislation in many countries, including, no doubt, the US. Perhaps it is the real risk of customers finding their personal information being abused that has prompted the company to pull the plug.
It is sad to see that the company blames others instead of looking at its own failings. John Hood said he disabled comments on the official blog, not because he didn't want to respond to the comments, but because : "the blog was full of bickering between posters and people spreading half truths. to say there a lot of sharing of information is a joke." See:
http://thelinkupusers.blogspot.com/2008/07/john-hood-disabled-comments.html
In what he billed as his 'last post' just last Friday in a comment on that entry, there was a portent of the imminent closure as he attempted to blame me for running this blog: "My point here is that he's not trying to do anything constructive here. He's just here to try to bring TLU down." He falsely claimed I had never contacted the company. I have the emails to prove it and left comments on the official blog, though John has deleted those.
Mr. Hood wrote: "Don't hide under the pretense that you're trying to provide a forum where people can get information."
Well, it has been no pretense. I hope this blog and its predecessor has provided a useful service. Certainly there has been a lot of information sharing going on. You wouldn't know from the official blog that wayward files have been turning up in other people's accounts, for example. This blog may even help the owners to be found. The Mediamax blog had a series of very useful posting, in my opinion, such as sharing information on file recovery progress.
So farewell to The Linkup. Good luck for whatever your people do next - I sincerely hope it has nothing to do with file storage or customer service. Oh, and please, at the very least, refund our fees.
Here then is the posting from the official blog telling us our files are soon to be deleted forever. See:
a href="http://tlublog.blogspot.com/2008/07/mediamax-linkup-is-closing.html:
---
MediaMax / The Linkup is closing
We regret to inform you that we will be closing The Linkup service on Friday, August 8 at 5:00 pm PDT.
The Linkup is no longer accepting any uploads or new accounts, and no further charges will be made to your credit card. After August 8, your account will not be accessible, all your personal information will be deleted (username, billing information, history, etc), and your files will be deleted. Please download any files that are in your account that you wish to keep before Friday, August 8 at 5:00 pm PDT.
It was not possible to satisfactorily complete the move of files from MediaMax to The Linkup as we had expected, and as a result cannot offer a service that meets your expectations and our business requirements. This is a very disappointing outcome for us, and we know it has been a frustrating experience for many of our customers.
We are very sorry that we have not been able to rebuild our service as we had envisioned. We sincerely appreciate those of you who stuck by us and held out hope for the return of a great service, and apologize that things did not work out better. And also a special thanks and apology to those developers who have been developing applications on The Linkup API that can no longer be supported.
Sincerely,
The Linkup Team
---
Showing posts with label Official blog entries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Official blog entries. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Moving over to Linkup - watch out non-paying users you could lose your files
Thanks to everyone, and in particular WillTRiker, for keeping this blog going.
Great to see John Hood is a regular poster, responding to people's concerns here. Nice to get requests from you for adding links to help people using the blog, but may I suggest MediaMax looks to its own blog (comments still disabled) and poor communications at the same time.
Which is the issue that prompts me to come back today. I follow what's going on as comments are posted and hear that many people have not yet received a notification email from MediaMax. Mine has just arrived, so I'm posting it below. Like some people who have commented here, I am concerned that the switch over is to take place next week and I'm only being informed now.
It is an utter disgrace to read that free Mediamax subscribers need to upgrade by 25 April: "Otherwise, your account will be deleted and all your files will be lost."
Hasn't MediaMax learned a thing about the misery it causes when it loses people's files?
Anyway, the latest poll presents some other options, so give your view. For the record, the last poll showed that in January 70% of voters had extreme problems with MediaMax, 16% significant problems, 9% rare problems and 5% no problems.
This is the email I've just received. I'll join in with posting my comments on the switch over here later.
Luzo.
---MediaMax email received 18 April (ie one week before free subscribers will lose all their files)
We have some exciting news to share! We will be launching a major upgrade to MediaMax this month. With this release, we're going to be renaming our service to "The Linkup" (www.thelinkup.com). The Linkup supports all of the current functionality of MediaMax, but also has some exciting new features.
The basic info you need to know:
"The Linkup": MediaMax will be renamed to "The Linkup" on April 25. The new URL will be www.thelinkup.com and we're expecting that you'll love the new service and features. You can check out a preview now at:
http://www.thelinkup.com/
Current subscribers: If you are currently a paying subscriber to MediaMax, you don't need to do anything. Your account will automatically be moved from MediaMax to The Linkup before the end of the month. All files that you uploaded to MediaMax after July 1, 2007 will be automatically moved to The Linkup. If you'd like to move additional files, please select them here using the "mover" tool:
http://www.thelinkup.com/mover
We'll process requests made using this tool once per day through the end of this month. You can use this tool more than once if you forgot some files the first time.
Current non-paying users: If you are not currently a paying subscriber to MediaMax, you need to upgrade your account before April 25 to be included in the move. Otherwise, your account will be deleted and all your files will be lost. Click here to upgrade your MediaMax account:
Upgrade now:
http://www.mediamax.com/Brands/MediaMax/home/pricing_plan.aspx
The Linkup Prices: Effective April 25, we will be increasing the prices of all of our premium subscriptions, but, in addition to the increased stability and new features that The Linkup provides, we are also removing bandwidth limits on all accounts, so there will be no more bandwidth "overage" charges (for personal, non-commercial use only). For example: $4.95/mo subscribers will now be paying $5.95/mo; $9.95/mo subscribers will now be paying $11.95/mo. Your MediaMax subscription will be automatically moved to a The Linkup subscription that is closest to what you currently pay. Additional subscription details will be available on The Linkup web site.
That's it! If you're currently a paying subscriber, there is nothing for you to do (except for selecting extra files that you'd like to have moved). For additional information please visit our blog: http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/
Thanks for reading, and we're looking forward to having you at The Linkup!
MediaMax & The Linkup Support Team
support@mediamax.com
---
Great to see John Hood is a regular poster, responding to people's concerns here. Nice to get requests from you for adding links to help people using the blog, but may I suggest MediaMax looks to its own blog (comments still disabled) and poor communications at the same time.
Which is the issue that prompts me to come back today. I follow what's going on as comments are posted and hear that many people have not yet received a notification email from MediaMax. Mine has just arrived, so I'm posting it below. Like some people who have commented here, I am concerned that the switch over is to take place next week and I'm only being informed now.
It is an utter disgrace to read that free Mediamax subscribers need to upgrade by 25 April: "Otherwise, your account will be deleted and all your files will be lost."
Hasn't MediaMax learned a thing about the misery it causes when it loses people's files?
Anyway, the latest poll presents some other options, so give your view. For the record, the last poll showed that in January 70% of voters had extreme problems with MediaMax, 16% significant problems, 9% rare problems and 5% no problems.
This is the email I've just received. I'll join in with posting my comments on the switch over here later.
Luzo.
---MediaMax email received 18 April (ie one week before free subscribers will lose all their files)
We have some exciting news to share! We will be launching a major upgrade to MediaMax this month. With this release, we're going to be renaming our service to "The Linkup" (www.thelinkup.com). The Linkup supports all of the current functionality of MediaMax, but also has some exciting new features.
The basic info you need to know:
"The Linkup": MediaMax will be renamed to "The Linkup" on April 25. The new URL will be www.thelinkup.com and we're expecting that you'll love the new service and features. You can check out a preview now at:
http://www.thelinkup.com/
Current subscribers: If you are currently a paying subscriber to MediaMax, you don't need to do anything. Your account will automatically be moved from MediaMax to The Linkup before the end of the month. All files that you uploaded to MediaMax after July 1, 2007 will be automatically moved to The Linkup. If you'd like to move additional files, please select them here using the "mover" tool:
http://www.thelinkup.com/mover
We'll process requests made using this tool once per day through the end of this month. You can use this tool more than once if you forgot some files the first time.
Current non-paying users: If you are not currently a paying subscriber to MediaMax, you need to upgrade your account before April 25 to be included in the move. Otherwise, your account will be deleted and all your files will be lost. Click here to upgrade your MediaMax account:
Upgrade now:
http://www.mediamax.com/Brands/MediaMax/home/pricing_plan.aspx
The Linkup Prices: Effective April 25, we will be increasing the prices of all of our premium subscriptions, but, in addition to the increased stability and new features that The Linkup provides, we are also removing bandwidth limits on all accounts, so there will be no more bandwidth "overage" charges (for personal, non-commercial use only). For example: $4.95/mo subscribers will now be paying $5.95/mo; $9.95/mo subscribers will now be paying $11.95/mo. Your MediaMax subscription will be automatically moved to a The Linkup subscription that is closest to what you currently pay. Additional subscription details will be available on The Linkup web site.
That's it! If you're currently a paying subscriber, there is nothing for you to do (except for selecting extra files that you'd like to have moved). For additional information please visit our blog: http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/
Thanks for reading, and we're looking forward to having you at The Linkup!
MediaMax & The Linkup Support Team
support@mediamax.com
---
Thursday, December 6, 2007
OFFICIAL BLOG: Network outage
This is on the official Mediamax blog dated 4 December. See:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/network-outage.html
---quote begins
Network outage
UPDATE: This problem has been corrected and everything should fully functional.
We are experiencing some network connectivity problems which may result in the inability to get to the MediaMax website. This should be resolved shortly and we apologize for any inconvenience.
As always, we will update this post with updates on this issue.
---
You can't leave comments there, so leave them here.
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/network-outage.html
---quote begins
Network outage
UPDATE: This problem has been corrected and everything should fully functional.
We are experiencing some network connectivity problems which may result in the inability to get to the MediaMax website. This should be resolved shortly and we apologize for any inconvenience.
As always, we will update this post with updates on this issue.
---
You can't leave comments there, so leave them here.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Software upgrade and upload processing
The following is on the official blog, 16 November:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/software-upgrade-and-upload-processing.html
---
UPDATE: We're back up to speed!
Although MediaMax is fully accessible, we are upgrading the server software on a number of our servers today which has caused some delay in uploads being processed.
As always, we will post here when we're back up to speed.
---
You can't leave comments there, so leave them here.
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/software-upgrade-and-upload-processing.html
---
UPDATE: We're back up to speed!
Although MediaMax is fully accessible, we are upgrading the server software on a number of our servers today which has caused some delay in uploads being processed.
As always, we will post here when we're back up to speed.
---
You can't leave comments there, so leave them here.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Errors in November 2007
I'll post updates on the official Mediamax blog about upload delays as comments on this entry, rather than a new one each time.
You can find it from the 'errors list' link at the side.
This has been posted today. See:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/upload-delay.html
---
UPDATE: We're back up to normal speeds, thank you for your patience!
Just a quick note to our users that there's a brief upload delay so files won't immediately appear as per normal.
We should be caught up shortly and will update this post when we're caught up again.
---
You can't leave comments on the official blog, so leave them here.
You can find it from the 'errors list' link at the side.
This has been posted today. See:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/upload-delay.html
---
UPDATE: We're back up to normal speeds, thank you for your patience!
Just a quick note to our users that there's a brief upload delay so files won't immediately appear as per normal.
We should be caught up shortly and will update this post when we're caught up again.
---
You can't leave comments on the official blog, so leave them here.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Mediamax ftp gateway beta 1
Posted on the official blog at:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/mediamax-ftp-gateway-beta-1.html
---
Today we announce the availability of MediaMax FTP Gateway Beta 1. You can download the latest bits right here.
What can the FTP Gateway do?
The FTP Gateway lets you use an FTP client to both upload and download from your account instead of using our standard web interface.
What are the requirements to use the FTP Gateway?
To run the MediaMax FTP Gateway Beta you'll need:
Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (we'll grab it automatically if you don't have it installed yet)
An FTP client like SmartFTP or FileZilla.
Is it secure?
The MediaMax FTP Gateway runs over secure HTTP (https) for both uploads and downloads.
Important Notes
Accounts with a large number of files may not be able to see files for downloading. You will still be able to upload to your account however
You may notice slower transfer speeds than what you may be accustomed to on the MediaMax web interface
Feedback
We would love to hear your feedback about the MediaMax FTP Gateway. To send us feedback, click the feedback link in the main Gateway window, or send us an e-mail.
Support
If you encounter serious issues with the FTP Gateway which are not covered in this document, you can contact our support team at support@mediamax.com. As the FTP Gateway is beta software, we may not be able to immediately solve all issues. Additionally, our support team will not be able to assist with issues regarding third-party FTP clients.
Where can I learn more?
You can read the full release notes either by installing the gateway or you can read them right here
THANK YOU!
We hope you find the FTP Gateway beneficial!
---
You can't leave comments on the official blog so leave them here
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/mediamax-ftp-gateway-beta-1.html
---
Today we announce the availability of MediaMax FTP Gateway Beta 1. You can download the latest bits right here.
What can the FTP Gateway do?
The FTP Gateway lets you use an FTP client to both upload and download from your account instead of using our standard web interface.
What are the requirements to use the FTP Gateway?
To run the MediaMax FTP Gateway Beta you'll need:
Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (we'll grab it automatically if you don't have it installed yet)
An FTP client like SmartFTP or FileZilla.
Is it secure?
The MediaMax FTP Gateway runs over secure HTTP (https) for both uploads and downloads.
Important Notes
Accounts with a large number of files may not be able to see files for downloading. You will still be able to upload to your account however
You may notice slower transfer speeds than what you may be accustomed to on the MediaMax web interface
Feedback
We would love to hear your feedback about the MediaMax FTP Gateway. To send us feedback, click the feedback link in the main Gateway window, or send us an e-mail.
Support
If you encounter serious issues with the FTP Gateway which are not covered in this document, you can contact our support team at support@mediamax.com. As the FTP Gateway is beta software, we may not be able to immediately solve all issues. Additionally, our support team will not be able to assist with issues regarding third-party FTP clients.
Where can I learn more?
You can read the full release notes either by installing the gateway or you can read them right here
THANK YOU!
We hope you find the FTP Gateway beneficial!
---
You can't leave comments on the official blog so leave them here
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Upload processing - offical blog
New entry on the official blog for 24 October. See:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/upload-processing_24.html
---
We have resolved the upload processing issue. Uploads will process immediately now. If you are continuing to have issues please email us at support@mediamax.com. Please type "Uploads" in the subject line.
Thanks again for your patience and support!
---
You can't leave comments there, so leave them here.
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/upload-processing_24.html
---
We have resolved the upload processing issue. Uploads will process immediately now. If you are continuing to have issues please email us at support@mediamax.com. Please type "Uploads" in the subject line.
Thanks again for your patience and support!
---
You can't leave comments there, so leave them here.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Upload processing
Entry today on the official blog.
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/upload-processing.html
---
We are currently having issues with upload processing. It may take as long as an hour for your uploaded files to appear. We will post here again when the situation is resolved and thank you for your patience!
---
You can't leave comments there, so leave them here.
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/upload-processing.html
---
We are currently having issues with upload processing. It may take as long as an hour for your uploaded files to appear. We will post here again when the situation is resolved and thank you for your patience!
---
You can't leave comments there, so leave them here.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Billing problems resolved - they say
This is from the official Mediamax blog. You can't leave comments there, so leave them here.
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/site-update.html
---quote begins
Friday, October 19, 2007
Site update
We've heard from several users that they've had issues trying to purchase a subscription or to upgrade their account. Thanks for your feedback! This situation has been corrected.
---quote ends
Remember, if you are wanting your billing rolled on to compensate for the service not being up to spec. see the post via the quick links.
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/site-update.html
---quote begins
Friday, October 19, 2007
Site update
We've heard from several users that they've had issues trying to purchase a subscription or to upgrade their account. Thanks for your feedback! This situation has been corrected.
---quote ends
Remember, if you are wanting your billing rolled on to compensate for the service not being up to spec. see the post via the quick links.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Uploading problem fixed - so they say
Two entries from ther official Mediamax blog on 17 October 2007. You can't leave comments there, so leave them here:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/current-site-issue_17.html
---
We have resolved the upload processing issue mentioned in the previous post. The backlog has been processed and any new uploads will appear immediately. Thanks again for your patience.
---
And earlier:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/current-site-issue.html
---
We are currently experiencing processing issues. Uploaded files may take as long as 70 minutes to appear in user accounts. We'll post here again when the situation is resolved.
We apologize for any inconvenience. Thanks for your patience.
---
So how is uploading for you now?
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/current-site-issue_17.html
---
We have resolved the upload processing issue mentioned in the previous post. The backlog has been processed and any new uploads will appear immediately. Thanks again for your patience.
---
And earlier:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/current-site-issue.html
---
We are currently experiencing processing issues. Uploaded files may take as long as 70 minutes to appear in user accounts. We'll post here again when the situation is resolved.
We apologize for any inconvenience. Thanks for your patience.
---
So how is uploading for you now?
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Mediamax blog 11 October 2007
The following has been posted on the official Mediamax blog (though no updates on the previous entries on the 401 error or maintenance). As you can't leave comments there, feel free to leave them here.
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/current-site-issues.html
---Mediamax blog quote
Current site issues
We are currently experiencing issues with our uploading system. This situation has caused user uploads to take several hours to process after the initial upload. We are working on resolving the situation. We will post here when the sitaution has been corrected.
We apologize for the inconvenience. Thanks for your patience.
---ends
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/current-site-issues.html
---Mediamax blog quote
Current site issues
We are currently experiencing issues with our uploading system. This situation has caused user uploads to take several hours to process after the initial upload. We are working on resolving the situation. We will post here when the sitaution has been corrected.
We apologize for the inconvenience. Thanks for your patience.
---ends
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Mediamax off line
This was posted on the Mediamax offical blog on 3 October:
---
We'll be performing routine maintenance this evening from 6PM until 8PM Pacific Daylight Time. We apologize for any inconvenience. We'll have the site up and running again as soon as possible.
Thanks for your business and support!
---
There has not been any update on the blog of 19 September about the 401 error.
See the quick link at the side for leaving comments on errors in October.
---
We'll be performing routine maintenance this evening from 6PM until 8PM Pacific Daylight Time. We apologize for any inconvenience. We'll have the site up and running again as soon as possible.
Thanks for your business and support!
---
There has not been any update on the blog of 19 September about the 401 error.
See the quick link at the side for leaving comments on errors in October.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Mediamax 401 error
This is the latest post on the official Mediamax blog:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/current-site-issues.html
---
Current site issues
We are currently experiencing technical issues with our site. When attempting to access the site users may get a 401 error saying that they "are not authorized to view this page". Our IT team is working on correcting the situation. We will post here when it is resolved.
---
I'll aim to add a new post with the update as soon as there is news from Mediamax. As you can't comment on the Mediamax blog, feel free to leave comments here.
There have been some specific responses to comments from John Hood of Mediamax so please do look back over past posts.
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/current-site-issues.html
---
Current site issues
We are currently experiencing technical issues with our site. When attempting to access the site users may get a 401 error saying that they "are not authorized to view this page". Our IT team is working on correcting the situation. We will post here when it is resolved.
---
I'll aim to add a new post with the update as soon as there is news from Mediamax. As you can't comment on the Mediamax blog, feel free to leave comments here.
There have been some specific responses to comments from John Hood of Mediamax so please do look back over past posts.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Mediamax on data recovery and re-uploading
There is an new entry on the mediamax blog, which I'll give below.
But first my useless response from customer support about files not uploading. If John Hood is reading, can you please tell your staff not to be so patronising. We all now the system is totally unreliable.
This is the reply:
---From Mediamax customer support
Thank you for your email. I am sorry to hear of the issue uploading your file. I have just uploaded a file to my account and it uploaded in minutes. The way the files are uploaded changed a little. When the files upload they do not upload to the upload folder they upload to the file manger folder. Please check all the pages of your file manager. I have found changing the file page to 100 makes it easier to find the new file. I am sorry for any inconvenience please let us know if the issue persists. Thank you for your time.
Cheers
Vincent
MediaMax Support
---end of message from customer support
And now the new entry on the Mediamax blog. As usual, leave comments here, because Mediamax doesn't allow them on its blog:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/site-update.html
DATA RECOVERY
We're pleased to announce that the data recovery project is running ahead of schedule. Most files have been restored to most user accounts. We've still got a ways to go and expect the entire project to be completed in 3-5 weeks.
RE-UPLOADING INACCESSIBLE FILES
In order to re-upload inaccessible files you need to change more than the file name. You need to edit the metadata to change the checksum of the file. A new upload should then result in a working file.
Here's a tip from one of our users on how to do that:
Tag&Rename (a music files tag editor that easily handles all popular
digital audio formats.)
To batch change enough tags to enable the "Checksum" to appear changed to
the mediamax servers
They do a 30 day unlimited trial here
http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm
But first my useless response from customer support about files not uploading. If John Hood is reading, can you please tell your staff not to be so patronising. We all now the system is totally unreliable.
This is the reply:
---From Mediamax customer support
Thank you for your email. I am sorry to hear of the issue uploading your file. I have just uploaded a file to my account and it uploaded in minutes. The way the files are uploaded changed a little. When the files upload they do not upload to the upload folder they upload to the file manger folder. Please check all the pages of your file manager. I have found changing the file page to 100 makes it easier to find the new file. I am sorry for any inconvenience please let us know if the issue persists. Thank you for your time.
Cheers
Vincent
MediaMax Support
---end of message from customer support
And now the new entry on the Mediamax blog. As usual, leave comments here, because Mediamax doesn't allow them on its blog:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/site-update.html
DATA RECOVERY
We're pleased to announce that the data recovery project is running ahead of schedule. Most files have been restored to most user accounts. We've still got a ways to go and expect the entire project to be completed in 3-5 weeks.
RE-UPLOADING INACCESSIBLE FILES
In order to re-upload inaccessible files you need to change more than the file name. You need to edit the metadata to change the checksum of the file. A new upload should then result in a working file.
Here's a tip from one of our users on how to do that:
Tag&Rename (a music files tag editor that easily handles all popular
digital audio formats.)
To batch change enough tags to enable the "Checksum" to appear changed to
the mediamax servers
They do a 30 day unlimited trial here
http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
More Mediamax site news
The missing file I was monitoring for signs of progress is now back! I'll do a more systematic test to see if the rest are too.
This is new on the official Mediamax blog. As usual, you can't leave comments there, so leave them here. Hopefully someone from Mediamax will drop by some time to address some of the points people have been leaving in comments:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/site-update_28.html
---Mediamax blog quote
Site Update
Thanks for your feedback regarding FTP availability and MediaMax XL performance. We're listening to your concerns and in response are in the process of doubling our Engineering staff. This will enable us to respond faster to user issues.
As we've mentioned earlier, we have a completed FTP product that we are in the process of QA'ing. It's taking a while, but we need that time to ensure we release a quality product that you will enjoy using.
MediaMax XL is still a beta product. We hope to release the newest beta release shortly. We've gotten a lot of good customer feedback that will greatly enhance the usability of this product as it evolves.
Upload performance continues to improve. We had another record week in this area which is reflected in a decrease in support queries regarding uploading.
Thanks for your business and your support!
---ends
I wonder what it means when they say they are doubling engineering staff. We have learnt through this blog that less than a dozen people work at Mediamax. Take off the CEO, Customer Support manager, at least a few customer support staff (there have been a few different names appearing), accounts, security, reception etc. then 'doubling' could actually mean employing one more person!! Two if we are lucky.
This is new on the official Mediamax blog. As usual, you can't leave comments there, so leave them here. Hopefully someone from Mediamax will drop by some time to address some of the points people have been leaving in comments:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/site-update_28.html
---Mediamax blog quote
Site Update
Thanks for your feedback regarding FTP availability and MediaMax XL performance. We're listening to your concerns and in response are in the process of doubling our Engineering staff. This will enable us to respond faster to user issues.
As we've mentioned earlier, we have a completed FTP product that we are in the process of QA'ing. It's taking a while, but we need that time to ensure we release a quality product that you will enjoy using.
MediaMax XL is still a beta product. We hope to release the newest beta release shortly. We've gotten a lot of good customer feedback that will greatly enhance the usability of this product as it evolves.
Upload performance continues to improve. We had another record week in this area which is reflected in a decrease in support queries regarding uploading.
Thanks for your business and your support!
---ends
I wonder what it means when they say they are doubling engineering staff. We have learnt through this blog that less than a dozen people work at Mediamax. Take off the CEO, Customer Support manager, at least a few customer support staff (there have been a few different names appearing), accounts, security, reception etc. then 'doubling' could actually mean employing one more person!! Two if we are lucky.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Site news from Mediamax
The following is from the official Mediamax blog. See:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/site-news.html
You can't leave comments there, so leave them here.
---quote begins
Site news
We've made a lot of progress this week and wanted to share that with you.
We're making a lot of progress in improving upload performance. Not only is uploading faster, but fewer uploads are failing. The site will now, once again, re-try your command instead of having your upload fail. As a result, we've seen a 20% increase in the number of uploads per day. There's always room for improvement, so we'll keep pushing for improved performance everyday.
Our data recovery project is moving along on schedule. This project will be completed in 5-7 weeks.
Finally, we've restored the automated granting of downloads to all accounts.
To keep users better informed on site status we'll be creating a second blog that will be dedicated to site maintenance. We'll be debuting the maintenance blog within the next two days.
Thanks for your support and business!
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/site-news.html
You can't leave comments there, so leave them here.
---quote begins
Site news
We've made a lot of progress this week and wanted to share that with you.
We're making a lot of progress in improving upload performance. Not only is uploading faster, but fewer uploads are failing. The site will now, once again, re-try your command instead of having your upload fail. As a result, we've seen a 20% increase in the number of uploads per day. There's always room for improvement, so we'll keep pushing for improved performance everyday.
Our data recovery project is moving along on schedule. This project will be completed in 5-7 weeks.
Finally, we've restored the automated granting of downloads to all accounts.
To keep users better informed on site status we'll be creating a second blog that will be dedicated to site maintenance. We'll be debuting the maintenance blog within the next two days.
Thanks for your support and business!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Finally a bit of disclosure
The following is from the official MediaMax blog (not sure why it opens 'Hi MediaMax').
Finally we learn a little of how our files have been inaccessible due to 'operator error'. The posting finally admits it will take 6-8 weeks to recover files. As you may recall I helpfully told MediaMax how to do the calculation on a past blog as it seemed to be beyond them.
It is a shame getting this information disclosed from MediaMax wastes so much time. They have already wasted so much of our time. So how about rolling on billing periods by 6 months as recompense?
TechCrunch article clarifications
Finally we learn a little of how our files have been inaccessible due to 'operator error'. The posting finally admits it will take 6-8 weeks to recover files. As you may recall I helpfully told MediaMax how to do the calculation on a past blog as it seemed to be beyond them.
It is a shame getting this information disclosed from MediaMax wastes so much time. They have already wasted so much of our time. So how about rolling on billing periods by 6 months as recompense?
TechCrunch article clarifications
Hi MediaMax,
Michael Arrington at TechCrunch recently did some good investigative reporting and released some details about MediaMax and Nirvanix that were supposed to be confidential information for several more weeks.
On August 7th, the following article was posted on TechCrunch. Now that it's public information, we wanted to post the article here, and also add some additional clarification to ease some concerns that have been raised by our customers.
Nirvanix To Challenge Amazon S3
Look for new San Diego-based Nirvanix to launch in the next few weeks. It aims to compete with Amazon's popular S3 storage web service and provide web developers another choice for online storage.
The company, which is affiliated with online storage startup MediaMax (aka Streamload), should also be announcing a $12 million round of financing in the near future. It's not clear exactly how affiliated Nirvanix and MediaMax are, and the company is keeping the specifics of the relationship quiet for now. There has clearly been a technology swap, though, and MediaMax is now using the Nirvanix service to provide the back end of its storage product. Also, former MediaMax CEO Patrick Harr is now running the show at Nirvanix (MediaMax founder Steve Iverson has retaken the CEO spot at MediaMax).
While the company is keeping quiet about the funding and exactly how it's affildiated with MediaMax, they are saying that they'll be filling some of the perceived holes in S3. Hopefully they'll be offering a service level agreement (Amazon doesn't).
MediaMax, meanwhile, has been trying to pull through a hellish technology transition (my guess is it was related to the changeover to Nirvanix) that plagued them earlier this summer. They've moved their corporate blog to a new site, and are talking openly with users about some of the problems they're facing.
Disclosure: I am an investor and on the board of directors of Omnidrive, which is also in the online storage space and can be considered a competitor to MediaMax and Nirvanix.
The article, in some instances is accurate, but it does contain some inaccuracies that need to be clarified. Streamload was split into two entities in July. The consumer online service became "MediaMax" and a second entity, Nirvanix, was founded as a new and separate company. We ("MediaMax") continue to focus on the consumer online storage space (B2C) as we have done for many years. We can't talk about Nirvanix as they are an independent company; however, we can say that we never changed over to Nirvanix, as the article suggested, and are not using their new system now.
In regards to MediaMax's problems mentioned in the TechCrunch article, this was only partially related to the spin-out process. One issue was trying to do too much, too quickly. Over the last six weeks, we completed a new round of financing and corporate spin out, moved MediaMax into a new office, migrated our web application servers to a new hosting provider, consolidated two other data centers, and have been hiring new MediaMax employees to fill in the personnel holes that were created from the split.
In addition to these major projects that were underway (and impossible to reschedule), we were still recovering from the unforeseen storage problem encountered on June 15th. The "storage problem" was a result of operator error in preparation for the data center move. There was no power surge or hacker or failed hard disk or fundamental technological problem or aliens - we just messed up. Fortunately, it was discovered fairly quickly and the data is recoverable.
If you'd like the gory details, here is exactly what happened (we have always enjoyed reading those stories about NASA probes crashing into planets because someone typed + instead of -, but didn't think it would actually be us): We wanted to manually "shrink" part of the storage system and a database that manages files in closed accounts, trash folders, etc. That is, we didn't want to move files that had already been deleted, but not actually removed from disk or the database. Normally an automated process handles this type of task, but because of the move, we thought we could create a manual process to reduce the amount of data we would have to move. And that's what messed up - this new process that should have just taken out the trash, went far beyond what we thought it was doing. Once realized, the process was stopped but significant damage had already been done. So then we started the recovery; the "shrink project" failed and we just ended up moving the entire database anyways. So the potential data loss (again, it is being recovered) was due to the most common cause for data loss: operator error.
To prevent this from ever happening again, we have put in place an even more rigorous code review process for any project that has a potential for affecting customer data like this.
So, that's the short story behind the story in the TechCrunch article. Spin off done, and data recovery is in progress. We have brought in as many additional resources as possible to help accelerate recovery, but it will still take an additional 6-8 weeks.
Over the years, maintaining the ever growing infrastructure to run MediaMax has become a distraction from our core business - to build the absolute best-of-class consumer storage applications. With this new corporate structure, we can fully focus on MediaMax.
We appreciate your support and patience and we'll continue to update you here.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Your files are coming back
Your files are coming back. John Hood of Mediamax has just posted this comment on the entry asking how long the missing files will take to process.
---
We usually do about 800GB a day in uploads when everything is running smoothly. We're obviously not back to that level yet, but are running at a few hundred GB per day.We are about a third of the way through restoring access to files. I don't have a timeline for you beyond what Steve has already stated. We have more than a petabyte of files to sift through. What I can say is that 99.9998% of the files that we have tried to restore access to have been successful. We're working with our vendor to speed up the process.
---
A petabyte is 10 to the power 15. So at 10 terabytes (10 to power 12) per day, as Steve stated, we are looking at 100 days to completion. If it has taken this long since 15 June to get through a third, that sounds about right I guess.
So now we know.
If someone wants, you could calculate the volume that is not expected to be recoverable.
---
We usually do about 800GB a day in uploads when everything is running smoothly. We're obviously not back to that level yet, but are running at a few hundred GB per day.We are about a third of the way through restoring access to files. I don't have a timeline for you beyond what Steve has already stated. We have more than a petabyte of files to sift through. What I can say is that 99.9998% of the files that we have tried to restore access to have been successful. We're working with our vendor to speed up the process.
---
A petabyte is 10 to the power 15. So at 10 terabytes (10 to power 12) per day, as Steve stated, we are looking at 100 days to completion. If it has taken this long since 15 June to get through a third, that sounds about right I guess.
So now we know.
If someone wants, you could calculate the volume that is not expected to be recoverable.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
OFFICIAL BLOG: Support emails
Posted at:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/support-emails.html
---
We've heard from several customers that they are not receiving emails from our Customer Support team. We've done some internal testing in response to your queries. Our emails are frequently blocked by AOL and are almost always blocked by Comcast. To ensure a timely reply from Support, AOL and Comcast users should email us from an alternate account such as Yahoo or Hotmail.
Please don't forget to include your username.
We are currently working with both companies to resolve this situation.
Thanks for your support!
---
Comments are disabled on the official blog, so leave your comments here.
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/support-emails.html
---
We've heard from several customers that they are not receiving emails from our Customer Support team. We've done some internal testing in response to your queries. Our emails are frequently blocked by AOL and are almost always blocked by Comcast. To ensure a timely reply from Support, AOL and Comcast users should email us from an alternate account such as Yahoo or Hotmail.
Please don't forget to include your username.
We are currently working with both companies to resolve this situation.
Thanks for your support!
---
Comments are disabled on the official blog, so leave your comments here.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Uploads per day figure, but what about the downloads figure we want?
Well we learn something else through this blog, which has not been posted on the official one. John Hood says in a comment on the blog of 3 August: "Uploads HAVE improved since this the downtime from this transition. We are performing more than 100,000 a day."
Cool. I wonder what the official success rate is given the experiences of failed uploads people are posting here.
Another question that should be easy to answer I posed in the 3rd August posting, but got no answer. If the missing files are being recovered at the rate of 10 terabytes per day, as claimed by the re-called CEO, Steve Iverson, then how long till completion?
My dead mp3 files are still dead. Just checked. This problem arose on 15 June according to Steve, so if they have been recovering files since then, it's about 50 days or 500 terabytes already processed or 500,000,000 MBytes.
Wow! If 500,000,000 MBytes of files have come back on line, it seems to me that there must have been an awful lot of people over the past 7 weeks who have suddenly found their files available once more. If you are one of them, please let us know. It will give the rest of us some hope.
In the meantime, John, can you type the numbers into your calculator so we know how long till completion? The sum is:
Time in days = Volume of files still to be processed in terabytes/10.
Cool. I wonder what the official success rate is given the experiences of failed uploads people are posting here.
Another question that should be easy to answer I posed in the 3rd August posting, but got no answer. If the missing files are being recovered at the rate of 10 terabytes per day, as claimed by the re-called CEO, Steve Iverson, then how long till completion?
My dead mp3 files are still dead. Just checked. This problem arose on 15 June according to Steve, so if they have been recovering files since then, it's about 50 days or 500 terabytes already processed or 500,000,000 MBytes.
Wow! If 500,000,000 MBytes of files have come back on line, it seems to me that there must have been an awful lot of people over the past 7 weeks who have suddenly found their files available once more. If you are one of them, please let us know. It will give the rest of us some hope.
In the meantime, John, can you type the numbers into your calculator so we know how long till completion? The sum is:
Time in days = Volume of files still to be processed in terabytes/10.
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