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[ZeroFill]

Is there a way to "prep" a single drive for RAID 1? I am getting a 1.5TB drive and a 2nd, identical, drive is coming in a few months. I'd rather not have to find some free space to dump the data and reformat both drives as RAID 1. It would be much more convenient to prep the first drive and let the 2nd drive replicate when it arrives.

I'm currently using a 80GB while I wait for the drive and 1.06 to support 1.5TB drives.

Thanks

[fordem]

With fw 1.05 it is possible to start with a single disk (formatted as a standard volume), and then add a second drive (which must either be the same size or larger than the first) and create a RAID1 array, by checking a box on the format page.

No specific preparation is required.

[ZeroFill]

Thanks for the reply, but <this post> makes me curious if I can really just plug in the new drive and expect it to replicate. Apparently, the mods say "you will need to move the files off [first] and then back on because the partition type of the drive has to change for Raid."

Using RAID1 Mirroring the drives will need to be formated and Re-partitioned onto a RAID 1 Partition. A drive partitioned in Standard cannot be turned into a RAID partition without formatting.

In <another post>, Lupismaximus says s/he lost her/his data after trying to convert a standard drive to raid 1, even while using fw 1.05.

I believe the only option is to format the drive as a standard drive since there's only 1 drive unless firmware 1.06 allows me to format it as a RAID1 drive even if I don't have the second drive yet.

On a related note: when I go to drive configuration, raid 1 is disabled because I only have one disk and the only format option is a standard disk. Would there be any harm in re-enabling the RAID 1 field (using 3rd party browser plugins) and trying to format? This would essentially trick the NAS into thinking I have a true raid1 setup. What would happen if the 2nd drive wasn't in there?

What would I need to do to get this working? Nothing, Lupismaximus had a glitch when converting a standard drive to RAID1, trick the NAS and force it to format a single drive as a RAID1, or other?

Thanks!

[fordem]

That statement was made very early this year - there have been two firmware releases since then, 1.04 in which the partition structure was changed, and 1.05 in which the ability to move from a single disk to a RAID1 environment was introduced.

I can't tell you happened with Lupismaximus, but I can tell you that when I tried it, it worked - and I will also tell you that anyone who loses data trying to go from a non RAID environment to a RAID environment did so because of a failure to follow "accepted data processing practice" to whit, omitting the step of backing up the data before starting.

[royroxy]

With fw 1.05 it is possible to start with a single disk (formatted as a standard volume), and then add a second drive (which must either be the same size or larger than the first) and create a RAID1 array, by checking a box on the format page.

No specific preparation is required.

I have tried almost the same (started with fw 1.04 and one 500GB and upgraded to fw 1.05 and added a 1TB of another make) and it seems to work just fine. I did get a lot of warnings though! Is it not recommendable to use hard drives of different makes and sizes? Thanks in advance!
/royroxy

[fordem]

A lot of warnings from the device - or from other users?

The DNS-323 has been known to format the wrong drive - under certain reproducible circumstances - but, at least in my experience, if things are done correctly, there is very little danger of data loss - the trouble is that there is disagreement over what is correct.

As regards the use of hard drives of different makes and sizes - you'll find people recommending both for and against using identical drives (even drives from the same batch) - but the standard industry practise is to use whatever is available of equal or larger size (capacity), make is of no relevance.

[royroxy]

A lot of warnings from the device - or from other users?

The DNS-323 has been known to format the wrong drive - under certain reproducible circumstances - but, at least in my experience, if things are done correctly, there is very little danger of data loss - the trouble is that there is disagreement over what is correct.

As regards the use of hard drives of different makes and sizes - you'll find people recommending both for and against using identical drives (even drives from the same batch) - but the standard industry practise is to use whatever is available of equal or larger size (capacity), make is of no relevance.

Thanks Fordem! The warnings I refereed to was from the device. I do not remember them by heart but they insisted that not to lose data in a RAID1 array it was necessary to have two identical hard drives. That is what concern me even if I do have a back up.
A problem I got though was that the device formated my second 1TB hard drive into only one partion of 500GB (makes perfect sense since the first hard drive was that size). Can you please tell me how I can make another 500GB partion available?
Thanks!
/royroxy

[fordem]

Thanks Fordem! The warnings I refereed to was from the device. I do not remember them by heart but they insisted that not to lose data in a RAID1 array it was necessary to have two identical hard drives. That is what concern me even if I do have a back up.

Which device was that - because I've never seen anything remotely similar to that from the DNS-323 - and I believe I have tested the DNS-323 with every conceivable variation of RAID that it offers.

A problem I got though was that the device formated my second 1TB hard drive into only one partion of 500GB (makes perfect sense since the first hard drive was that size). Can you please tell me how I can make another 500GB partion available?
Thanks!
/royroxy

Back up the data and reformat the drives as a 500GB RAID1 array and it will create a second volume (Volume_2) with the remaining space.