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[tentimes]

OMG.. really...  I just purchased tewo of these as well.. Now I hope I can catch UPS and refuse them before they are left on my doorstep..   There hasn't been any activity from D-link on this subject for the past 6 monhs so I guess there is no hope.  Oddly the advertisement for the WD20EARS shows they are perfect for "Externnal" drives..  

I really can't fault WD on this one.  They manufacturer drives for PC's and although it would be in their best interest to help NAS manufacturers support their new technology they are not willing to dedicate their finincial resources to help others make money from it.  Especially since WD makes their own NAS devices .  Why help a competitor solve their problems.

 D-Link seems to be taking the exact same stand, "If you don't help us we won't support it"

Well 4k drives are here to stay .. make them work or be left behind by those who do...

This is a problem that is very, very easily fixed by dlink. I have already posted a workaround for it, which involves simply formatting the drive differently and updating one file. Dlink could do the same, but as I have learned at my expense over the last 4 years, owning several dlink products, they are VERY poor at supporting products once they move on to the next big thing. Having looked at the code for the 323 I suspect it was an outsourced job (modding some GPL code) and they can't be bothered going back to see how it works. If you program a little, are reasonably technical, and read my post on the mod necessary you will see just how easy it would be for them to fix this. They just couldn't care less as they have already sold the box to you. Personally speaking, I have stopped buying dlink now (after a 5 year stretch of being loyal). I build my own or spend the extra money for a supplier who supports their stuff properly.

[chillspace]

Just reporting in that I was able to align the partitions on two WD20EARS drives using the Paragon Alignment Tool. Both installed nicely and have transferred files over. Able to sustain a write speed of 12-18MB/s to the EXT3 formatted drives. Had to spend a tiny bit more money on the drive utilities used but it was a good investment as I know I'll be using them quite a bit down the road.

[ikak]

I recently purchased 4 WD20EARS with the plan to replace 2 smaller drives in my DNS-323 (firmware 1.09) and to put 2 drives into probox HF2-SU3S2 (eSATA attached 4 bay enclosure) for backup. I've had this DNS-323 for over a year but did recently upgrade the firmaware in anticipation of installing 2tb drives.
I installed the two new WD drives and configured them as JBOD. All was well at first after days of loading my files to the DNS-323. I tried running the backup from the DNS to the probox and after about 80% there was a drive error on the DNS-323 and when I rebooted it, it didn't recognize one of the inserted drives. I ran data lifegaurd diagnostic tool against the drive and sure enough it failed. Took it back and got a new drive, went thru the same setup/copy and then again during the backup it failed. This time the DNS-323 could still recognize both drives but seemed to get a consistent error on a specific file I read/copied/backed up. I removed both drives, ran diagnostics against them and they both failed the short and long tests. Meanwhile the two drives I installed in the probox are working fine(read/write) and the diag utility finds no problems.
I now end my sad story with a question, does the DNS-323 damage the drive or is the issue that is being described in these posts limited to loosing data while installed in the DNS-323 but the same drive works fine installed in a desktop?

Andrew

[bjdo]

4K sector drives are more efficient

Most OS:s cannot handle 4K sectors

Diskmanufactures solve this by adding 512b sector similation software in their HDs.

Simulation software 4K -512K needs disks formating aligned in order work efficient.

Newer versions of linux and win7 can handle 4K sectors, still no diskmodels will expose the true 4K sectors without the useless simulation software, as far as I know. Dns-323 running debian would be able to handle true 4K disks if such disks existed.

   

[MJBURNS]

What is most frustrating about this is the issue is with the NAS OS, not the drives. The drives adhere to the SATA standards.

[ericj]

What is most frustrating about this is the issue is with the NAS OS, not the drives. The drives adhere to the SATA standards.

Yes, the drive OS needs to be updated. All of the major NAS manufacturers have updated their respective OS's to support AF drives (Synology, QNAP, etc). They even support the new 3TB drives. Anyway, Dlink needs to update the Linux kernel. Hopefully, we'll see that with v1.10 of the firmware.

[strevellick]

So I just received my DNS-323 today and 2-2TB WD20EARS HDD's as recommended by Dell.  After reading all of the forums am I to understand that my best bet is to return the HDD and replace them with something else?  I have 30 days to do so.  I had already put them in and configured them in a RAID-1 with no issues.  There is not data on it yet so it wont be a problem to send them back.  I just want a system that I can hold my family pictures, videos, etc.  Plus I am hoping I can play my videos right off that drive without issue.  Feedback?

Thanks!

[pearljam45]

Yes, return them.

I noticed that amazon also recommends the EARS drives...
Too bad they don't do their homework.

[D-Link Multimedia]

We will be supporting 4k drives next firmware release. So hopefully soon enough we can put this thread to rest .

[strevellick]

How soon.  I was authorized to return the two drives today and I can send them back, but if you are telling me that you are releasing a firmware to support them shortly, I will hold on to them.

[pearljam45]

Wow.
Great news.
I guess it's official?

[strevellick]

We will be supporting 4k drives next firmware release. So hopefully soon enough we can put this thread to rest .

Unfortunately the last time I heard this it took over a year.  Let's hope for the best!

[D-Link Multimedia]

I expect a beta firmware with support tomorrow or early next week. I wouldn't hold off on returning drives if you feel you can not wait but I plan to release the next firmware in a few weeks to a month (still needs full lab testing).

I will release it as beta for those that wish to try it as soon as it is available.

[strevellick]

I will gladly test it for you.  I will look for the beta.  Thanks

[strevellick]

Intersting...after only a few hours of formatting my WD20EARS drives into a 2TB RAID-1, this happened.




-1 MB available.  Hmmm....  Can't access.  Can't reformat.  Nothing.  I am restarting it now to see what happens.  :-)