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[Hyphen-Alpha]

Hello Forum,

I am researching the NAS' world and come across this NAS enclosure (DNS-343), I have some basic questions and I will appreciate your help if possible. I am 90% sure this is the box I am buying but I would like to get feedback from advance users.

I want to start my NAS with a 2TB HDD alone, then I would like to add 2TB HDD for redundancy (as soon as I have the money) and later add more 2TB HDD as I need the space. I also want to make sure I have all my info RAIDed, so here are the questions:

1) Can the DNS-343 support 2TB HDD arrays?

2) If I start with a 2TB HDD only, do I have to set up the NAS to RAID 0?
2.1) or Can I start with RAID 5?

As soon as I add my second 2TB HDD  (for redundancy),
3) Do I need to change to RAID 1?
3.1) Is it easy to do?

Whenever I add the second HDD,
4) Is the NAS going to format all HDD losing my info?

Let's say I have 3x2TB HDD inside and one disk fails,
5) Can I just change the damage HDD and the NAS will generate all info alone?
5.1) or do I need to set it up?

6) Have you have any problems with this NAS?

Thanks a lot for your help

[ECF]

1) Yes

2) You have to start with the RAID you wish to use and cannot be changed to another RAID type without formatting

3) If you are adding another drive and have a single drive in standard configuration installed you can choose to format the drive as another standard drive or choose to sync with the original drive and create a RAID1 volume.

4) No, I t will format the new drive only

5) If you are using 3 drives in RAID5 if you loose one of the drive the data will still be available however you will not have redundancy if another drive fails. You must insert a new drive and you will be prompt to format and sync with the RAID5 volume.

6) Personally nothing major for me but there has been its share of issues like any device that have been resolved in firmware updates. 

[Hyphen-Alpha]

ECF,

Thanks for the reply.

So, if I understood correctly I must start with RAID 5 since the beginning, even if I slow start with a single 2TB HHD, as I said before I can not afford to start my array with more than 1x2TB, so I just select RAID 5 since the get-go, and I will be ready/set to insert new HDD as I buy them. Correct?

Thanks again.

[Hyphen-Alpha]

ECF,

One more thing, is it better to have a single big volume or independent ones?
Can I have independent volumes (each HDD) with RAID5?

What is you recommendation?
I want to start my Music, Video, Fotos libraries smartly.

Thanks.

[D-Link Multimedia]

ECF,

Thanks for the reply.

So, if I understood correctly I must start with RAID 5 since the beginning, even if I slow start with a single 2TB HHD, as I said before I can not afford to start my array with more than 1x2TB, so I just select RAID 5 since the get-go, and I will be ready/set to insert new HDD as I buy them. Correct?

Thanks again.

If you only start with one drive in the system you can not choose any other option except Standard formatting. In order to choose Raid 5 formatting you must have atleast 3 drives present.

[Hyphen-Alpha]

Let see If I am getting this:

I will start with a single 2TB HHD, I will set up the NAS to standard formatting, no choice.
Then later I will add a second 2TB HHD, at this point the NAS can be set up to RAID1, rigth?
Am I going to lose the data?

Later on... I buy 2 more HDD (total of 4x2TB) and I want RAID 5, Am I losing the data also due to the formatting?

Sorry to keep asking the same, but I want to make sure I fully understand the gotchas...

Thanks for your help it is really appreciated.

[ECF]

Let see If I am getting this:

I will start with a single 2TB HHD, I will set up the NAS to standard formatting, no choice.
Then later I will add a second 2TB HHD, at this point the NAS can be set up to RAID1, rigth?
Am I going to lose the data?

Later on... I buy 2 more HDD (total of 4x2TB) and I want RAID 5, Am I losing the data also due to the formatting?

Sorry to keep asking the same, but I want to make sure I fully understand the gotchas...

Thanks for your help it is really appreciated.

You got it. And yes when you want to create your RAID5 you will have to format all 4 drives. Also if you have a single drive with data on it and want to install another drive a create a RAID1 volume you with not have to format your original drive you will be able to sync the two drives in RAID1 with all your data untouched.

[Hyphen-Alpha]

I see, this product will not grow as my storage needs grow.
It will be the perfect solution if I had the 4 x 2TB on hand now, which I can not afford.
I was hoping I could expand my storage as I purchase the HDD later on.

They problem is:
Where do I store my data (2TB) once I added the 3th HDD to increase to 4TB and set up the NAS at RAID5?

Thanks a lot.
Please correct me if I am wrong. Once again I am totally new on this, sorry.

[ECF]

Yeah that could be a problem.