Hi ECF,
Appreciate the response; I had performed the following steps prior to removing the HDD:
- Shutdown, wait, turn on = Degraded
- Restart = Degraded
- Scan Disk = Degraded
Too bad there wasn't a 'Force Synchronization' option. As per your suggestion, I did indeed have to reformat the RAID5 array as replacing the failed HDD caused the array to fail. At this stage, I'm not sure if HDD3 caused the problem to begin with or that the DNS-343 (NAS1) is faulty causing the HDD in Slot 3 to fail.
I'm in the process of copying the 1.5 TB of data back onto the DNS-343 (NAS1) from the other DNS-343 (NAS2) ... good thing I purchased two of these "bad boys". If I encounter the same problem, I may look to RMA the unit.
Cheers,