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[Ltrip]

Here's my situation:
I have had the 323 and 2 Western Digital WD7500AAKS since about July.
It is in Raid 1 for redundancy.  I use it to backup the 2 PCs in the house and to store other files.  I expect the redundancy to protect my files.
So far everything seems to work OK.  When I look for files with Windows Explorer, everything looks OK.  The backup sometimes fails (not always) and I have not figured that out yet.  The error says something about failure of a DOBackup command.  Perhaps disk related?
Recently I noticed the "Sync time remaining: degraded" message.  I have read many posts about this.  When the 323 is busy, only the light on the left blinks.  Both right and left lights are blue.  I have never seen any other color, but the 323 is in a closet.
Tonight, I powered down the 323 (unplugged the power cord), waited 5 minutes, powered up.  At power up, the left drive had a lot of activity, the right drive had minimal, but some.
When checking status, it still says degraded.
Now, Firmware 1.06 is out, so I am willing to try it.
Here is the process I am thinking of doing.  What do you think?
- Copy all files from the 323 to other PCs and drives on the network
- Upgrade to FW1.06
- Reformat both drives and configure for Raid 1
- copy all files back to the 323
This seems arduous and long, but also seems the safest.

I welcome your ideas and suggestions.

Cheers,
Ltrip in Reno NV

[hilaireg]

Hi Ltip,

You're on the right track;

1 ) Copy *all* data from the DNS to another storage source (ex: External HDD on PC, etc.)

     - I suggest using a synchronization utility (ex: Beyond Compare, etc.)
 
2 ) Document your current DNS config
3 ) Update the DNS to firmware 1.06
4 ) Factory reset your DNS (note the IP & Machine name)

     - If you can't reconnect to the DNS after the factory reset, check your DHCP server
       for an IP address change
     - It is also possible that the DNS self-assigned 192.168.0.32

5 ) Shutdown the DNS; remove the HDD's
6 ) Use a PC to remove *all* existing partitions off the HDD's

     - Windows or othe tools like Paragon Partition Manager should do the trick
     - Suggest reformatting the HDD on the PC as a verification that the HDD's are still good;
       don't forget to delete the partition after confirmation

7 ) Insert the HDD's in the DNS
8 ) Format the HDD's with disk configuration of choice
9 ) Manually configure the remainder of the DNS settings

    - I suggest avoiding the temptation to import a previously saved DNS configuration
      profile for this time around.


HTH,

[Ltrip]

hilaireg,

Thanks for elaborating on my plan.

I doubt if I can do all you mentioned.
I like your suggestion of a compare program.  I will do that.
I can do steps 2,3,4
For steps 5 and 6, I do not have a PC to use.  I have a laptop.  I am unsure how I would do that.
Is there a way with the Dlink access that I can do something close to what you suggest and leave the HDDs in the DNS?  Or, can I configure the HDDs simply as 2 separate drives and "clean them with software on my laptop?
I can do steps 8 and 9.

Thanks again,
Ltrip

[hilaireg]

Hi Ltip,

Steps 5-6: USB-to-IDE-SATA Converter

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1871517&CatId=3770


... should do the trick.