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[janroc]

Hi all,

I have a DNS-320 with 2.03 and one toshiba 2TB, the label on the disk say toshiba.
The web interface say hitachi 2TB, but it the same.

To the question: I want to buy a second disk and start up raid1.
Do I need to buy the same brand of the disk, as long as it is the same size of course?
Can I start the raid1 without loosing any data on the single current one?

Jan

[JavaLawyer]

You do not need the same brand HDD, but the size should be identical to maximize the usable storage space.
Please see the following thread regarding converting to RAID-1: http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=41180.0

Make sure you have a full backup of your data before performing any data migration activity. Also, please keep in mind that RAID-1 is not considered a backup, so even with RAID-1, you should maintain a separate copy of your data.

[janroc]

Second disk is in and formated as standard volume named volume_2
If I now try to setup a raid1 for my two disk volume_1 with data and volume_2 without any data it ask my to format volume_1, this is strange so I cancel the wizard and are doing a local back between the disk so both have data soon.
It would be nice to not loose any data so I don't have to copy all data again to the nas.

Any better way to to this and decide what disk should be the source and destination?

Jan

[albuemil]

If you value your data then the ONLY route is to make a backup, convert to RAID1 and copy back the data from the backup

There might be ways to convert to RAID without format, but you DO NOT HAVE ANY GUARANTIES that the data will be there when the conversion finishes and i think you better loose a few hours copying then loosing the data you had there.

Also, as JavaLawyer already pointed out. after making the RAID still keep a backup of your data.

P.S. I've lost about 1.5 years worth of photos when I resized a partition of a HDD on my main computer and of course i didn't have any backups. Ever since that incident i always do backups before anything that might result in lost data (i keep my photos in at least 3 HDDs, and at least 2 different physical places).

There's a saying, "better safe than sorry", I had to learn what it means the hard way, I wish you never find out what it feels like to loose a lot of data :p

[JavaLawyer]

Also, as JavaLawyer already pointed out. after making the RAID still keep a backup of your data.

P.S. I've lost about 1.5 years worth of photos when I resized a partition of a HDD on my main computer and of course i didn't have any backups. Ever since that incident i always do backups before anything that might result in lost data (i keep my photos in at least 3 HDDs, and at least 2 different physical places).

There's a saying, "better safe than sorry", I had to learn what it means the hard way, I wish you never find out what it feels like to loose a lot of data :p

Good advice.  

[ivan]

janroc, why did you format the second disk as a standard disk if you wanted a RAID 1 array?

With a RAID array you will only see Volume_1 because that is all there is.  In your case you will end up with a 2TB array - the same size as your old single disk.

If, on the other hand, you are looking to increase the storage capacity to 4TB then you can't have a RAID array.

As others have said no matter what you end up doing you need a tested backup of your data if it is important to you.  By tested I mean one that you have taken data from so that you know it is actually there and not just a list of file names.

[janroc]

Ivan,

There is a lot of people that problem to get disk working in the DNS-320 and need to format them in a other device because of unsupported disks. That is why I did that before I added in to the raid.

Jan

[ivan]

Did you try to create the RAID 1 array without preformatting the disk?  At the moment you have just added to your problems of creating the RAID array.

We have several clients with DNS-320 boxes being used on industrial and commercial sites and we have never had any problems in creating RAID 1 arrays usually using disks that weren't on the list of working ones when we used them.

It would be nice to not loose any data so I don't have to copy all data again to the nas.

Any better way to to this and decide what disk should be the source and destination?

From the above it looks as if you are trying to create a RAID array by copying data from one disk to the second.
This WILL NOT create a RAID array!  The disks making up the RAID array MUST be formatted as a RAID array otherwise you only get two standard disks.

[janroc]

No I din't I without pre-format, I want to make sure that the disk was accepeted by the dns-320 before the added to the raid.
The raid-1 is up now up with two disks, but I had to initilize both disks, so all data is gone.
This is not any major problem as I have old data and need to copy everything again to the dns-320.

"We have several clients with DNS-320 boxes being used on industrial and commercial sites and we have never had any problems in creating RAID 1 arrays usually using disks that weren't on the list of working ones when we used them."

I have been in the IT industri for over 20 years and work with computar all from mainframe to pc's.
So this is not my first time with this kind of setup, but my it is my first time to setup raid with D-link device.
Please take a look at this forum and you will find a lot of people that add disk to the DNS-320 and the format will hang for some resound i guess they are unsupported disk.

Jan

[ivan]

Hi Jan

It is good that you are up and running with your RAID array, sorry about having lost the data on your single disk because I know what it takes to do a full restore from backup.

Like you I have been in the IT business for over 35 years, with most of that time having my own company that builds, services and maintains mostly industrial IT equipment. 

One thing I have found over those years is that what you see on forums and read in news groups is a very distorted picture of any piece of equipment.

For a start most people that have equipment that 'just works' do not, generally, say so on forums.  It is the small minority of people that have problems that ask for help that appear on forums and news groups hence the distorted picture.  Even so that does not mean that there are no problems but it does point to trying the manufacturers way first and then asking if that does not work.

There is also the possibility of wrong information being found on forums and news groups, usually because someone new to the equipment did not understand how to do something.

That being said I hope you will continue to read this forum and use your knowledge to help others.