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IT Horror Stories: The Server That Slowly Died

Dustin Miller

Oct 10 2025

2 min read

One day at a business in the sporting goods industry, things were running fine as usual. Suddenly, that all changed. Behind the scenes, their server drives had begun to fail one by one. Without any monitoring in place, no one noticed until multiple drives finally went offline.

Even though RAID arrays were in place, the server simply couldn’t withstand multiple failures in the same array. What followed was a nightmare: hours of emergency consulting time, attempts to recover what could be salvaged, and eventually, the purchase of a new server. The worst part is that the client lost trust in their hardware, knowing the disaster could have been prevented.

Systems like this don’t just cost you money, but also confidence.

The Horror of Unmonitored Systems

When servers fail silently in the background, businesses face risks that are both costly and avoidable:

Hardware Failures Multiply
Without monitoring, early warning signs, like degraded drives, go unnoticed. By the time multiple disks fail, recovery is far more complex, expensive, and often incomplete.
Downtime That Drains
The average cost of IT downtime is $5,600 per minute, and for some industries, it’s far higher. Every hour spent scrambling to recover from preventable failures chips away at productivity and revenue.
Trust Lost in Technology
Once a system fails, leaders often hesitate to rely on it again. Instead of enabling growth, IT becomes a constant source of worry.

Sikich’s Solution: From Reactive to Proactive

At Sikich, we help clients like this sporting goods supplier escape this cycle of IT horror. After their ordeal, this company moved to our Tech 360 managed services platform, giving them proactive monitoring and management of their server and network infrastructure. Here’s how we make the difference:

24/7 Server Monitoring: Identifying early warning signs before they become catastrophic.
Proactive Maintenance: Replacing failing hardware before it takes systems down.
Disaster Recovery Planning: Ensuring backup and recovery strategies are ready when needed.
Peace of Mind: Turning IT from a liability into a strategic advantage.

Don’t Wait Until the Drives Die

How much visibility do you have into your IT hardware right now? If you don’t know, you’re already at risk.

Don’t Settle for Bad IT, Make the Switch Today

Contact Sikich today for a free consultation. We’ll help you uncover risks, monitor proactively, and make sure your systems don’t leave you stranded.

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This publication contains general information only and Sikich is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or any other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should you use it as a basis for any decision, action or omission that may affect you or your business. Before making any decision, taking any action or omitting an action that may affect you or your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor. In addition, this publication may contain certain content generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) language model. You acknowledge that Sikich shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by you or any person who relies on this publication.

About the Author

Dustin Miller

Dustin Miller is a principal, who supports the managed services practice in the role of virtual chief information officer (vCIO). Dustin helps business owners and executives understand their current IT assets, create a vision and multi-year roadmap for IT that integrates with business objectives, and align specific technology initiatives within the annual budgeting process. He provides ongoing collaboration and serves as an executive-level technology team member that understands and can speak to both technology and business topics.