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[loloaqic]

Following on from the "Upgrading" topic.
I want to remove a "temporary" RAID1 pair (Volume1) from a DNS343 that has the following contents.
HDD1 1TB Seagate part of a RAID1 on Volume1.
HDD2 1TB Seagate part of a RAID1 on Volume1.
HDD3 2TB WD part of a RAID1 on Volume2.
HDD4 2TB WD part of a RAID1 on Volume2.

The 2TB (Volume2) is the part I want to keep, and preferably untouched by the removal of the 1TB (Volume1).

1. Is it a simple matter of Shutdown the DNS343. Power it Off. Remove the 2 Seagate HDD's. Power back on?
2. Is there a documented procedure to follow to remove the Volume1 pair?

 

[JavaLawyer]

What is your goal here? In lieu of your other post regarding DNS-343 RAID 10, are you looking to create a JBOD in slots 1 and 2 as part of your RAID 10 conversion?

[loloaqic]

What is your goal here? In lieu of your other post regarding DNS-343 RAID 10, are you looking to create a JBOD in slots 1 and 2 as part of your RAID 10 conversion?

My ultimate goal is to have a RAID10 across 4 x 2TB HDDs.
The question posed here is to ensure that I "tidily" remove a RAIDset that has always only been a temporary solution. I am not intending to upgrade to the full 4 HDD RAID10 set for at least a month. But do plan to remove the temporary 1TB RAIDset as soon as I understand the steps required to extract it cleanly, and without affecting the 2TB RAID1set that I will be upgrading in the future.
I hope that makes sense.
I know I could just power down the DNS343 and remove the temporary RAIDset, but does that leave any issues behind? I am aware that some RAID implementations actually write RAIDset configuration data to all the HDDs, as it helps maintain RAID integrity. If that is the case here, might the DNS343 complain of a missing RAIDset after the simple removal?

[JavaLawyer]

We're on the same page.

Please see the following thread containing posts from D-Link technical engineers discussing RAID 1 formatting: http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=12487.0. The most recent post on that thread is the most relevant to your question regarding RAID 1 array mobility (although open to some interpretation).

Contrary to the RAID 1 thread I provided, HDDs configured as Standard Volumes on the DNS-343 absolutely have a dependency on the slot in which they were originally formatted. If a HDD is formatted as a Standard Volume in Slot 3 and is moved to Slot 2, the DNS-343 will not recognize the HDD and ask to reformat.

Here is a non-invasive test you can perform:

(1) Power down the DNS-343 and with a magic marker clearly label all four HDDs with their respective DNS-343 slot numbers
(2) Remove all four HDDs
(3) Place your slot 3/4 RAID 1 array into slots 1/2 and restart the DNS-343 (leaving slots 3/4 empty)
(4) If the RAID 1 array is recognized, then you should be good for testing. If the DNS-343 does not recognize the array (or asks to reformat), immediately power down and re-seat all four HDDs in their original slots to restore your configuration

[loloaqic]

Please see the following thread containing posts from D-Link technical engineers discussing RAID 1 formatting: http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=12487.0. The most recent post on that thread is the most relevant to your question regarding RAID 1 array mobility (although open to some interpretation).


Here is a non-invasive test you can perform:

(1) Power down the DNS-343 and with a magic marker clearly label all four HDDs with their respective DNS-343 slot numbers
(2) Remove all four HDDs
(3) Place your slot 3/4 RAID 1 array into slots 1/2 and restart the DNS-343 (leaving slots 3/4 empty)
(4) If the RAID 1 array is recognized, then you should be good for testing. If the DNS-343 does not recognize the array (or asks to reformat), immediately power down and re-seat all four HDDs in their original slots to restore your configuration

First, thank you for the link to the previous discussion, I'll comment on its content and my experience at the end.

Regarding the "non-invasive test", I followed these steps...
1. Shutdown the DNS343.
2. Removed a 1TB drive from Slot 1. (Part of a RAID1 delivering Volume 1)
3. Removed a 1TB drive from Slot 2. (The other half of a RAID1 delivering Volume1)
4. Relocated a 2TB drive from Slot 3 to Slot 1. (Part of a RAID1 delivering Volume2)
5. Relocated a 2TB drive from Slot 4 to Slot 2. (the other alf of the RAID1 delivering Volume2)
6. Powerd on DNS343.
7. Connected to the HTTP Service first, to see what the configuration looked like.
Volume1 has gone, and Volume2 remains. So far so good..
Volume2 contains 2 x 2TB HDDs.
Next look at the Network Shares.
They have all gone. Recreated these without any difficulty (thank goodness for documententation, even at home it proves its worth everytime.)
8. Connected to Volume2 Share from Windows client successfully.
Can see the properties as expected, i.e. a 2TB lump of filestore. All files appear in tact.

So all in all a successful process. Many thanks JavaLawyer.

Finally my comments on the referenced thread...
When I first acquired my DNS343, I grabbed 2 1TB Seagate Drives.
Slot 1. ST31000340AS
Slot 2. ST31000528AS
I configured these as a RAID1, delivering Volume1.
This was always going to be a "play area".
Sometime later I acquired a pair of 2TB WD Drives.
Slot 3. WD2002FAEX
Slot 4. WD2002FAEX
I configured these as a RAID1, delivering Volume2.
I did NOT have to use the drive swapping as mentioned in the referenced thread.
In fact the proceedure was as logical as I would have expected.

Advice to anyone, always, but always document (and keep it up to date) your setup. I know it is the most boring part of any IT activity, and probably the least used, but when you NEED it, you don't feel so helpless.

Regards
Paul

[JavaLawyer]

I'm glad everything worked out. If you decide to take the leap, please post your experiences with RAID 1+0 (if you can cajole the DNS-343 into accepting that configuration) or RAID 1+JBOD.

I did NOT have to use the drive swapping as mentioned in the referenced thread.
In fact the proceedure was as logical as I would have expected.

I only referenced the D-Link thread to illustrate to you (from D-Link's own words) that RAID 1 "sets" can be moved between slots without consequence. You are correct in that the swapping during reformatting wasn't necessary. Some users (especially those that don't have a backup of their data) remove their "good data" volumes before formatting new drives to prevent accidental deletion of the existing volume/data.

Advice to anyone, always, but always document (and keep it up to date) your setup. I know it is the most boring part of any IT activity, and probably the least used, but when you NEED it, you don't feel so helpless.

Always good advice. To keep things simple, it's also a good idea to periodically save copies of the "Configuration Settings" file to your local PC (and DNS-343) for easy reference in the event something goes awry.

I see a few new "FAQ" entries evolving from this experience for our ShareCenter FAQ board.