Oh, if only it were that easy!
I reset back to factory defaults a number of times. Hoping that it might resolve the issue.
Heck, I even reburned the firmware (1.06) and reset back to factory defaults.
My problem remains!
I called DLink Tech Support tonight to get an RMA...
Whew, painful.
They told me I HAD to upgrade to 1.07, which of course is bogus, since the only change there was to fix compatibility issues with the Hitachi drives...
I also found it interesting they would require that, since, as we all know, the DNS-323 can do VERY BAD things to our drives when hopping from an old version of the firmware to a new version...
ie, it could reformat them!
You have to wonder about the thought process there about that suggestion... Sure, it makes sense if I was on 1.01, or some old version of the firmware where a bug like the problem I am having might exist... But when you are on 1.06, and 1.07 has 1 change completely unrelated to the issue... You have to wonder if the script they read from might need to be updated a bit...
Anyway, I yanked my drives, upgraded to 1.07, and tried the whole thing over again. Still broken as expected.
Thankfully, calling back after upgrading, they passed me to Level 2 tech support, and they agreed to RMA the unit...
One interesting thing... She asked what kind of router I had... Weird question, as my router would have no bearing on this issue.... It would make sense if I was having intermittent connection problems... But what bearing does my router have on the DNS-323 not saving my settings?
(Besides, I actually have a DLink 1G switch between my PC and my DNS-323 anyway!)

Oh well, RMA was given, so I am happy!
When I get my new unit, maybe 1.08 will be officially released, as I am kind of excited about some of the new features in there!