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[dallen]

Please help me resolve my issue.  I wanted to reformat Volume_1 so to ensure that I did not lose any data from Volume_2, Volume_3, and Volume_4 I removed them.  After completing the format of Volume_1, I reinstalled the other 3 drives, but now I am being presented with a screen with the option of formatting the 3 new drives.  Of course I don't want to do that.  How can I get my NAS to simply recognize the drives again without formatting?

Any help is greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

[JavaLawyer]

I'm not sure why the DNS-343 is not recognizing your original three volumes. I'm presuming you have a backup, and if you don't, make one before trying the following procedure.

If you remove the HDD located in Slot-1, are you able to see the content of the HDDs in Slot-2, Slot-3 and Slot-4? If the answer is "Yes", then you can try the following procedure:

• Remove the newly formatted HDD in Slot-1 from the DNS-343;  install the HDD in a Windows PC; and remove the partitions/reformat. This procedure will make the HDD unrecognizable to the DNS-343
• Insert the remaining three HDDs in their original Slot-2, Slot-3, and Slot-4 positions. (Presumably you tested that the DNS-343 recognizes these three volumes)
• Insert the new Windows' formatted HDD in Slot-1 (the DNS-343 now contains 4 HDDs)
• Format the HDD in Slot-1 as a standard volume

If the above procedure does not work, the DNS-343 will always successfully mount any standard configuration volume that you mount in Slot-1. Knowing this, you can insert each HDD into slot-1 (round robin) to recover your data.

[dallen]

I appreciate your help with this.  I will take your advice and report back my results.  Let me ask an additional question while I have the attention of someone with your amount of knowledge.  The USB port on the back of the DNS-343.  Can that be used to connect a computer?  The reason I am asking is in case I have to restore 4 TB of data I would rather do so using the increase speed of the USB rather than over the network.  Thanks again for all of your help with this.

[JavaLawyer]

The USB port is strictly used as a print server or for UPS monitoring. Data transfers are not supported.

[dallen]

That's what I thought.  I run Linux.  When I mount the drives on my system all my data is visible and in tact.  Is there a way to simply format a drive with ext3 file system and insert the drive in the NAS and get the NAS to recognize it, or does the formatting have to be done using the NAS?

[JavaLawyer]

I don't think it's as simple as formatting the HDD on a Linux box. The DNS-343 seems to know what slot number the HDD was formatted in, which means that additional information is stored.

[dallen]

I've been reading a lot in this forum and after I asked you that question I encountered some posts that seemed to indicate that formatting new drives when the fun plug is involved can cause some risk to existing data on other drives.  What precipitated all of this is my decision to experiment with the fun plug.  Don't worry I have taken the obvious advice to back up my data since the fun plug can be dangerous.  I realize that it is unsupported, but would you mind sharing any of your words of wisdom?  Specifically, I am interested in learning more about the problems that seem to be prevalent when it comes to adding new hard drives.  I read through a thread that was discussing issues involving the NAS formatting the wrong drive when the fun plug is involved.

[JavaLawyer]

When it comes to the security of my data, I'm 100% risk averse. For that reason, I've chosen not to install or even play with funplug. So unfortunately, I'm not in a position to provide any wisdom beyond what's already been posted by other users on this board. Sorry.

[dallen]

I don't blame you on that.  I live on the edge with computers sometimes, but the only data I am risking is not critical.  My critical data is backed up 3 ways, on 2 different types of media, and 1 is off-site.  Can I ask you one question that you may know the answer to.  I am going to be purchasing a new 2TB drive for this unit.  I've seen one of your many gracious postings that discusses hard drive compatibility found here:

http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=42485.0

Many of these drives are older.  Do you have any recommendations on selecting a 2TB drive?  I prefer WD and currently have a WD20EADS (selected because it was on the list) that has been great, but I can't seem to find one of those at NewEgg or TigerDirect.

I want to take a moment to thank you for your help and all that you do in the forum.  I sincerely appreciate it.  Thank you.

[JavaLawyer]

Not to shrug-off your question, but your best bet is to look at HDD models other users are posting about. Personally, I'm using 8 Seagate ST32000542AS 2TB HDDs in my two DNS-343s. I also purchased a couple of spares while they were still openly available in the unlikely event of a failure, so I have not had the pleasure of using AFT HDDs with the DNS-343.

That said, the DNS-343 is now designed to accommodate 2TB AFT HDDs. Since your DNS-343 HDDs are configured as standard volumes, you will benefit from a reduced likelihood of issues arising -- based on what I've read and user observations on these boards. Again, my personal preference is Seagate, as I've never had one fail, knock on wood.

. . . And thank you for the kind words