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The Graveyard - Products No Longer Supported => D-Link Storage => DNS-323 => Topic started by: laving on March 04, 2010, 11:48:10 AM

Title: RAID1 turned into 2 separate volumes
Post by: laving on March 04, 2010, 11:48:10 AM
I have firmware 1.08.
Drives 2x Seagate ST31500341AS 1,5TB
I had RAID1 set up and seemed that it was working fine but suddanly I discovered that there is 2 volumes "Volume_1" and "Volume_2" and what I copy to Volume_1 does not appeare in Volume_2.

How can I restore RAID without loosing data?
How did this happened?
Title: Re: RAID1 turned into 2 separate volumes
Post by: fordem on March 04, 2010, 02:24:22 PM
Before you do anything - BACKUP the data.

Next - how as your RAID1 configured? Was the entire 1.5TB used to form the array or just a part of it?

If the entire disk space was used to form the array, there should not be a Volume_2, but if you did not use the entire disk for the array, there WILL be a Volume_1 & a Volume_2 and the data written to one will not be written to the other.

Check the status page, does it tell you that there is a RAID array and if so what is the status shown?

Assuming that you DO need to fix the array - I would SUGGEST the following - please not this is just a suggestion, I have not personally experienced the problem you describe and cannot offer a proven solution.

Remove a disk from the DNS-323 and power it up - it may detect a drive failure and indicate this with an amber LED, and a degraded status - power it off.

Install the disk in a PC and use diskpart (assuming XP, Vista or Win7) to remove all the data and partitions, and then reinstall it in the DNS-323 and power it up - it should now detect the "new" disk and prompt you to format it, if the checbox to create a RAID array is available, check it.

What we are attempting here is to force the unit to either treat the disk as a replacement for a failed disk in an array - or - create an array where there is none (or where it thinks there is none.)
Title: Re: RAID1 turned into 2 separate volumes
Post by: pceasar on March 06, 2010, 02:45:20 PM
My question to the original poster would be do you have 2 different sized drives ? that could cause this in a raid situation in ver 1.08
Title: Re: RAID1 turned into 2 separate volumes
Post by: fordem on March 06, 2010, 06:14:54 PM
In the original post he(or she) states
Quote
Drives 2x Seagate ST31500341AS 1,5TB
Title: Re: RAID1 turned into 2 separate volumes
Post by: laving on April 11, 2010, 10:55:57 AM
thanks for reply. that is what i guessed too.
at the moment status shows:

Quote
Total Drive(s):  2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume Name:  Volume_1
Volume Type:  Standard
Total Hard Drive Capacity:  1474368 MB
Used Space:  277581 MB
Unused Space:  1196786 MB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume Name:  Volume_2
Volume Type:  Standard
Total Hard Drive Capacity:  1474368 MB
Used Space:  252499 MB
Unused Space:  1221868 MB

what i'm worried about is that as I dont have enough space to make backup and i have pictures from last 10 years there (don't wanna loose them) - if I take out the Volume2, put is back and restore RAID - is my data safe?
That was the reason why i bought the NAS - to keep my pics safe and now ....
Title: Re: RAID1 turned into 2 separate volumes
Post by: laving on April 11, 2010, 11:09:43 AM
another thing just noticed ...
from the status it lookes like I have only 277581 MB used space.
If I look properties from explorer it is 258 GB (277 070 910 420 bytes).

Think that should be posted as separate bug to be fixed. Seems that it doesn't different GB/TB/MB.
Title: Re: RAID1 turned into 2 separate volumes
Post by: fordem on April 11, 2010, 11:17:09 AM
Based on that status, you have no RAID.

You could attempt a fix as I suggested earlier, BUT, you'll note that the first step is a backup - the DNS-323 has been know to format the wrong drive, only you can decide if you wish to take that risk without a backup of the data.

The one thing I want to make sure you understand is this - RAID1 will still need to be backed up - don't make the mistake of thinking your data is safe because you have a RAID, you can still lose it.

Title: Re: RAID1 turned into 2 separate volumes
Post by: fordem on April 11, 2010, 11:26:13 AM
another thing just noticed ...
from the status it lookes like I have only 277581 MB used space.
If I look properties from explorer it is 258 GB (277 070 910 420 bytes).

Think that should be posted as separate bug to be fixed. Seems that it doesn't different GB/TB/MB.

Ummm it's TB/GB/MB/KB

So - very crudely

277 070 910 420 bytes = 277 070 910.420 KB = 277 070.910 MB = 277.070 GB = 0.277 TB

The difference between 258GB and 277 070 910 420 comes from gigabytes and Gibibytes or the use of decimal & binary numbering systems (k=1000 or 1024)
Title: Re: RAID1 turned into 2 separate volumes
Post by: laving on April 11, 2010, 11:53:30 AM
my bad :D
know the difference did mixed myself with GB and TB :P

regarding backup - I'll figure something out then, won't restore the raid without it. thanks.
Title: Re: RAID1 turned into 2 separate volumes
Post by: fordem on April 11, 2010, 02:06:10 PM
regarding backup - I'll figure something out then, won't restore the raid without it. thanks.

I think you missed the point - whether or not you have RAID, you still need a backup - unless you need constant, uninterrupted availablity of your data RAID is not the solution you're looking for.