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[321-argh]

Brand-new DSN321 with V1.03 and a pair of WD 1TB drives configured as a RAID-1. After a few days of operation, I noticed that the LED on the right-hand drive was an odd purply color.  (looks like blue plus amber = purply). The server was still on-line and apparently working fine, mapped as S: to my two PCs. It hd not issued any e-mails notifying of any problems.

I logged in to the web admin and examined the various status screens. The RH drive had vanished. It was nowhere to be found. The RAID status screen indicated that the system was running in RAID1 (degraded) -- so it knew it had once been a RAID1 configuration, but was no longer.  The Device Information page only listed a single drive.

About all I could think to do was to shutdown the box. I then powered it back on. Once it had restarted, I returned to web admin. The RH drive had reappeared, but the DNS321 thought it was a new drive. On the RAID page, I was given the option to re-synchronize the array.  I ran the SMART diagnostic test on the RH drive: no problems were evident. The status LED for the RH drive was back to its normal blue color.

So I went ahead and resynchronized the new drive. This process took a few hours, but once it was done, the system appears to be back to normal, with the pair of drives properly mirrored in a RAID-1 array.

Does this sound like a problems with a defective drive, or a defective DNS-321?

[gunrunnerjohn]

Well, I'd suspect the drive first, but it could also be the NAS.

[JoeSchmuck]

Did you have the front cover on during the time of failure?  Some folks may leave the front cover off and the drive "could" become not fully seated.  I'm just grasping at straws here in hopes you find your solution.  I too would suspect the RH drive as JRG mentions.  One thing to note, it's been my experience that the RH drive (according to the NAS) is actually the LH drive when you're looking at it from the front.  So if you run into this problem again, keep that in mind.

-Joe

[321-argh]

@Joe,
The front cover was firmly attached and slid down properly. As part of my troubleshooting I did remove both the drives (with the power off) and reseat them, just in case there a bad contact.

Thanks for the tip re which is left and which is right. I've always assumed that the left-hand drive (as viewed from the front) was the drive that the NAS software reported as being the "LH" unit.  If D-link has done some 'through-the-looking-glass' switcharoo, that would definitely mess up diagnosis. At the time of the failure, I noted the serial number (as displayed in the web GUI) of the working drive (the LH drive) and I'm pretty sure that said drive was in the left slot (as viewed from the front). But it's possible I made a mistake. I'll double-check.

Dave

[gunrunnerjohn]

I'm gonna' have to disagree on the right/left comments.  I just checked the status, stopped the DNS-323, and checked the physical serial numbers.  The left drive was in the left bay as viewed from the front, and as surprising as this might seem, the right drive was indeed in the other bay.

Unless my DNS-323 is unique, the left/right is indeed as viewed from the front.

[JoeSchmuck]

I'm gonna' have to disagree on the right/left comments.  I just checked the status, stopped the DNS-323, and checked the physical serial numbers.  The left drive was in the left bay as viewed from the front, and as surprising as this might seem, the right drive was indeed in the other bay.

Unless my DNS-323 is unique, the left/right is indeed as viewed from the front.

GRJ,
  That's the DNS-323, not the DNS-321.  When I tested for drive failure when I got this unit it always reported the drives backwards when it stated left or right.  I believe this was documented quite some time ago in this forum.

[gunrunnerjohn]

You're right, I lost track of where I was!   I wonder why they did something silly like that to the sister unit of the DNS-323?

[D-Link Multimedia]

You're right, I lost track of where I was!   I wonder why they did something silly like that to the sister unit of the DNS-323?

A possible oversite. It should be LH/RH from the front. Will look into it .

[gunrunnerjohn]

Glad to know the definition of left & right didn't change just because it was a different model!

[JoeSchmuck]

Maybe I'm wrong, my memory could be shotty 

We will see what DLM has to say about it.  I'm still relatively sure it's backwards on the DNS-321.

-Joe

[gunrunnerjohn]

You could be right, I don't have a working DNS-321 right now, it's sitting on the shelf with no drives.

[321-argh]

Earlier in this thread it was suggested that the drives in a -321 are 'backwards', relative to the labeling in the firmware. That's not the case on my 321.  The drive designated as "Right" in the web admin screen corresponds to the right-hand drive when viewed from the front of the unit.  I shut my unit down, pulled the drives and verified the serial numbers, just to be sure.

Perhaps D-Link corrected this boo-boo in the latest firmware release.

[gunrunnerjohn]

I have firmware 1.03, and I verified my serial numbers, the "right" drive was in the left slot viewed from the front.

[JoeSchmuck]

Yes, my drives operate as previously stated in my postings.

-Joe

[321-argh]

How bizarre that right and left are not fixed concepts in the world of D-Link.

My 321 is hardware version A2, if that matters.

I wonder if right/left are determined by the order in which the two drives are first installed/formatted. Did you  (JS, GRJ) start with a single drive configuration and then later expand to 2 drives? Are you using RAID?  In my case, I bought the 321 with two drives,  installed them both at the outset, and configured the pair of drives for RAID1. Whatever I did, I ended up with RH= 'right' and LH= 'left'.

This non-deterministic reversal could really screw someone up if the NAS reported that a drive had failed. User pulls the wrong one, installs a replacement, resyncs, and finds that his array is really pooched.

-argh