[blue68f100]

The HD do not need to come from Snap/Overland on a 4500. It's best to match the same HD that are in the unit, with the same firmware if possiable. This is where sna/overand can help due to volume buying. Avertec was the owner that switched for WD to Maxtor to save a buck. They just want to charge you 5x the price and say they checked the HD. My guess is that you have Maxtor HD's. I have seen these fail all at about the same time. I have had several new HD that failed when raid was being built, like yours. I NO longer use them on anything, to light for boat anchors.

If I recall HD's 1 & 3 are on the same controller on the 4500. I would run SpinRire on the all of the HD's. YOu must remove the HD from the 4500 and install in a PC with NO HD installed for this. I say NO HD because if windows sees it, it will screw it up. It's better to just remove the windowns HD and install the hd you want to check. On the new ones it will built the bad sector table, which may save you on a HD reporting bad. The SMART tech will normally take care of this but it throws the timing way of it it has multiple sectors bad in a row. This is where it could have failed.

Remove the top and Confirm all fans are working. The top must be on for circulation to work correctly. I jst put a book over the cpu and blower if i'm going to have the top off for extended time. I had to replace the main blower on the cpu a couple of years ago.

If the data must be had I would try to contact Snap-tech. He can do a recovery for you at an resonable price. I would invest in SpinRite if you do not have a copy. He can be hard to reach at times though.