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The Graveyard - Products No Longer Supported => D-Link Storage => DNS-323 => Topic started by: nordhagen on September 04, 2010, 11:50:58 AM

Title: Adding a second drive without erasing the first one
Post by: nordhagen on September 04, 2010, 11:50:58 AM
This is either impossible or a really dumb question. But since searching the forum and browsing the config interface doesn't provide an answer, I'll ask anyway.

I currently have one 500 GB drive and one empty slot in my DNS 323. I have another, completely identical drive (purposely bought together) that I would like to add as a separate disk. However, in the config interface it seems I have to reformat both in order to get the second drive working. Really?

Not looking for a RAID configuration of any sort. I just wish to share another, separate 500 GB on the network.
Title: Re: Adding a second drive without erasing the first one
Post by: fordem on September 04, 2010, 12:41:05 PM
Interesting - did you try reading the manual?

Anyway - the answer is YES - when you log in to the management webpage after installing the second drive, the unit will prompt you to format the new drive - it is not supposed to format both, and in my tests I have not had any problems, however, I have seen many posts from people who have had it format the wrong drive so back up your data before you start, just to be safe.
Title: Re: Adding a second drive without erasing the first one
Post by: gunrunnerjohn on September 05, 2010, 06:29:08 AM
You can always remove the existing drive and install the new one alone and format it.  I'm curious to know if that work properly, but it won't destroy the data on the drive on the bench! :D
Title: Re: Adding a second drive without erasing the first one
Post by: fordem on September 05, 2010, 09:12:06 AM
Yes it will - at least, in my experience, if you're using standard volumes - one drive, two drives, three drives - swap back & forth - the DNS-323 doesn't seem to care what you do, as long as the drive has been formatted in a DNS-323, it doesn't prompt to format it again.

Of course - if you have users with access to specific folders on specific drives and you remove those drives, you will have access rights issues.
Title: Re: Adding a second drive without erasing the first one
Post by: gunrunnerjohn on September 05, 2010, 09:17:30 AM
That's what I figured, but I haven't actually tried it, so I thought I'd include the "might" clause. :D
Title: Re: Adding a second drive without erasing the first one
Post by: jamieburchell on September 05, 2010, 02:41:03 PM
Quote from: fordem on September 05, 2010, 09:12:06 AM
Of course - if you have users with access to specific folders on specific drives and you remove those drives, you will have access rights issues.

I noticed that when you remove a drive with shared directories, those shares are no longer listed in the web interface. Does that mean the share data is stored on the actual drive? Or is the 323 just doing a "cleanup" because those directories are no longer available?