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[mc_blue]

Dear all,

Was wondering if you may help with the below issue.

I have been unable to access our drive on any computer on our Network.  The indicators on the device seem normal (Two blue solid indicators for each drive and one in the middle which flickers).

When I first login it states:

Click Next to begin formatting the replacement drive. Re-synch will take place after the restart.
 Vendor    Model    Serial Number    Size
 Seagate    ST3320620AS    9QF5JZNQ    320 GB
Reconfigure to RAID 1

In addition, I click on Skip and do tthe following: Advanced > Quotas it states "No Hard drives were detected."

If I go to Tools > Raid it states the following:

FORMAT THE NEW 2ND DRIVE :

Does this mean there's an issue with the drives in the device?

[FurryNutz]

Link>Welcome!

• What Hardware version is your DNS? Look at the sticker behind or under the device.
• Link>What Firmware version is currently loaded? Found on the DNSs web page under status.
• What region are you located?

How many drives are installed currently.
Had the unit been working well up to a certain point?
No new drives installed?
Check the manual for LED indication information and see what it says. If one LED is flickering then there maybe a drive problem with the indicated drive that's seen in the UI.

[mc_blue]

HW Version - A1
F/W Version - 1.05 05/05/2008
Region - UK

Drives - 2
Working - Yes working absolutely fine until this morning when I could not access the drive
No new drives installed

I have just checked the manual online and have noticed the following:

Drive LEDS - They are solid blue which indicates connected but inactive
Activity LED - Flashing which indicates a LAN connection

[FurryNutz]

You could do a shut down of the DNS for 1 minute then power it on and test. Shut down the unit using UI if you can get to it or the button if there is one. I don't have this unit so I don't know the specific way to turn it off. Review the manual to be sure.

[mc_blue]

Thank you for your email.  I have shut it down on the UI, unplugged the power lead and rebooted.  It is exactly the same and states that there is no hard drive detected.  My issue is how do I detect which one is faulty to then get a replacement one, as they are mirrored.

[FurryNutz]

I'll get some additional eyes on this for review. Don't do anything to the unit until then.

[mc_blue]

Thanks for the update!

[ivan]

Just to make sure that I understand what is going on. 
You say

When I first login it states:

Click Next to begin formatting the replacement drive. Re-synch will take place after the restart.
 Vendor    Model    Serial Number    Size
 Seagate    ST3320620AS    9QF5JZNQ    320 GB
Reconfigure to RAID 1

Where are you logging it to? I assume it is the webUI Configuration. 

If that is so then it actually tells you which drive is the problem but you can check by going to the Status tab and checking what it says about the Hard Drive Info and the Physical Disk Info.

From the Physical Disk Info (look for the S/N and which slot the drive is in) you can find out which drive to remove.  Power off and remove that drive (again check the S/N).  Since you have a RAID 1 array you should still be able to access your data with one drive removed and don't be surprised if it complains about a degraded array.

Let us know if doing that allows you to get access to your data and if you are interested in checking the problem drive (we have seen a case where the drive was supposed to be faulty but all that had happened was a critical bit of info about format and status had been overwritten for some reason.  When that was corrected the drive was OK and has been working for the last 3 years.

[mc_blue]

Hi,

I have removed the drive that the UI has stated and have a couple of issues:

The NAS works with one drive attached to it but the files are out of date by approximately three years
If I put the dodgy drive on to the NAS on its own I cannot read the HDD

Any advice, as right now it looks like I've lost three years worth of data!

[ivan]

OK, before I can begin to advise you I have a few more questions (please bear with me as it is difficult to try and service equipment by remote information).

1)  what do you use your NAS for?
2)  when did you do the last backup of your data?
3)  when was the last time you read the data on the NAS?

[mc_blue]

1 ) Used on a computer network at our business, a number of computers/users access it
2 ) Last backup was a drag and drop exercise many months ago.  I was under the impression the drives mirrored each other meaning that if one failed there would be a contingency element to it!
3 ) The NAS was last used approximately two days ago and was working and operating normally

[ivan]

Those answers are more or less what I expected.

RAID 1 is NOT a backup and never will be.  It was designed to give continued access to data if one drive failed.  Add to that, any data that you have only one copy of is bit backed up (we have 10 DNS-323 boxes working in pairs with the primary box being backed up to the secondary box and we also have 5 DNS-343 boxes off site that backup the secondaries).

That being said we must now look at trying to restore what you have.

Do you or anyone in your business have a good grounding in computer hardware basics?  I ask that because you need either a SATA/USB caddy with external power supply or a SATA/USB adapter, again with external power supply.

With that testing of the 'dead' disk can begin after you have downloaded the Seagate disk tools (they will allow low level testing of the disk if it is not too damaged - hence the required knowledge of computer hardware).  Using the disk tools you may be able to recover some data but that depends on exactly what the problem is with the disk.  If you are able to get the disk to respond you will then need either a Linux based computer or one that will boot with a live Linux CD/DVD (DO NOT let windows read or write to the disk or what ever data is there will be lost).

What I think MAY have happened is that the 'dead' disk had been faulty over a long period and writes to the array have appeared to take place, and some most probably did, but when the NAS tried to sync both disks the 'good' disk was brought down to the level of the 'bad' disk until the NAS firmware finally gave up and you ended up with the error message.  The only other time we have seen something like that was on a clients computer where two disks were setup as a software RAID 1 array.  One disk failed due to over heating and they discovered that had 6 months data missing on that computer.  We were called in to fix things and we were able to restore all but the last 2 days from the backups we held for them. 

[mc_blue]

Dear ivan, thanks for the update.  Although I have a limited knowledge and proficiency of IT this might be above my capability.  Would you recommend sending the HDD to a specialist?

[ivan]

Sorry for the delay in answering but we have been upgrading a clients servers and network.

It is always difficult to say if handing a disk over to a specialist will be cost effective, it depends on the condition of the disk and the value of any data that may be recovered.

The first thing you need to know is what state the 'dead' disk is in.  If there is a problem with the platter drive motor or head positioning mechanism getting any data is going to be problematic and very expensive, therefore your data has to be very valuable.

The first thing you should do is make a full image if your working disk.  This will allow searching the clone for deleted files without fear of losing more data, my service people think this is your best chance of recovering any of your lost data.  They also agree with me that your mounting the 'dead' disk in a SATA/USB caddy or adapter and using the Seagate disk tools to check it is the best way to find out if the disk is indeed 'dead' or not (if it is dead then there is not much that can be done to try and recover data that may not be there).

If you are prepared to try testing the 'dead' disk I will try and find the time to put together a step by step guide for you to follow (please don't expect it before the weekend).