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[cachaca]

Hi,

1. I am using DNS-320 Firmware 2.0. I started off installing just 1 x 2TB Samsung HD204UI on the LEFT BAY. All my data has been transferred into this HDD (about 1TB filled up with 1TB space left). Auto-rebuild DISABLED.

2. Decided that I should install RAID1 mirroring and bought an identical 1 x 2TB Samsung HD204UI to be placed on the RIGHT BAY.

3. Once I plug it in and power up the NAS, I chose the option to FORMAT the new 1x2TB on the RIGHT BAY leaving the data on the LEFT BAY untouched. There was an option to make the new HDD to be RAID1 however the checkbox is IMPOSSIBLE to be selected. So, i just proceeded to FORMAT. The initialisation was fine but the status bar stucked at 0% when FORMATTING. As per other discussions I manage to successfully format the new HDD if it is placed on the RIGHT BAY or LEFT BAY on a STANDALONE BASIS. (e.g. no 2nd HDD). However, whenever I place the DATA HDD in the LEFT BAY and the new HDD on the RIGHT BAY, the formatting will just hang at 0%.

4. How can I install the 2nd HDD and setup RAID1 without losing my data on the original HDD place on the LEFT BAY?

5. I googled and check DNS-320 for procedure to migrate from standard to RAID1 but the weblink provided is just a broken link. Refer to http://www.dlink.com.sg/site_support/DNS-320/DNS-320_how_to_perform_HD_migration.pdf,

PLEASE HELP.

Thanks,

[cachaca]

Additional information:

1. My DATA HDD on the LEFT BAY is configured as "Current Raid Type: VOLUME_1: STANDARD"
2. I cannot change the "SET RAID TYPE AND RE-FORMAT" as I will lose my DATA on the HDD.
3. When I place the new HDD in the RIGHT BAY, I can't do "FORMAT THE NEW DRIVE AS STANDARD TYPE" and "SELECT THE RECONFIGURE TO RAID1" CHECKBOX. Somehow the checkbox is unselectable.

Any IDEA?

The paragraph reads below but can't be done...

Format the new drive as Standard type
This window will appear when a new HDD is added to the ShareCenter when there is already a single Standard formatted HDD installed. You can select the Reconfigure to Raid 1 checkbox if you want to setup the two disks in a RAID 1 format without losing the data of the already installed HDD. If you do not check the Reconfigure to RAID 1 box then you can format the new HDD as a Standard volume and the data of the first HDD is preserved in Standard volume format.

[JavaLawyer]

Here's a thread addressing the same issue for the DNS-323:
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=9148.0

[D-Link Multimedia]

I would highly suggest backing up your data if possible. Try removing any partitions that were created on the new 2TB drive using your PC and re-insert the drive back into the NAS and reboot. It should give you the option to convert to Raid 1 in the format process unless for some reason the detected sizes are not correct (like the new one is smaller than the old one) however if they are identical drives they should be detected with identical space so I don't see why that would be the cause.

[cachaca]

Hi DLINK,

Thank you for your prompt response. Unfortunately I have also tried your suggestion by clearing up any partitions in the NEW HDD. Yes, I do get the option to select the RECONFIGURE TO RAID 1. However, it is IMPOSSIBLE to click on it. It wasn't gray out but just not selectable.

Since yesterday, I have done further troubleshooting but still no luck. Below is a more detail description.


1.   Problem: Unable to migrate from a Standard Volume to a RAID1 Volume. Below is the description:-
2.   Model DNS-320, PN: INS320B….A1E, SN: PVRR1B1000177. HW Version A1. FW Version 1.00. MACID: 3408049CC665.
3.   The firmware has been upgraded to 2.0. Screenshots as below for your reference.
4.   The background as follows:-
a.   We initially setup 1 x 2TB Samsung HD204UI based on standard volume. (No Raid Configured).
b.   We migrated all the data into the 1 x 2TB HDD. It is presently around 1TB of data in the HDD
c.   We decided to setup RAID1 mirroring and purchased a new 1 x 2TB Samsung HD204UI which is identical to the existing one.
d.   We placed the new 1 x 2TB HDD in the NAS and selected “Format the New Drive as Standard Type” but was unable to select the “RECONFIGURE TO RAID1”. Refer to screenshot below. You can see that we are NOT able to click on it even though we tried. Therefore we just proceed by clicking next.
e.   However, after initialisation formatting the new HDD as VOLUME_2 will just stuck permanently at 0% even though we waited for HOURS. We have to manually shutdown the NAS in order to resolve this stuck problem.
f.   After troubleshooting we confirm that each time if there is a VOLUME_1 HDD inside the NAS (regardless whether it is in the LEFT BAY or RIGHT BAY), it is always not possible to format a new HDD as VOLUME_2 and it will just stuck permanently at 0%. However, if we place the NEW HDD on a STANDALONE basis regardless it is on the LEFT or RIGHT BAY. The initialisation and formatting of the NEW HDD will be smooth without any problems and successful.

So, I believe, it is not possible to perform a new HDD formatting of VOLUME_2 with another existing VOLUME_1 HDD inside the BAY. If you remove HDD and it is being formatted as VOLUME_1 HDD, then if you then place it in, then it is fine and will be recognised as two different STANDARD VOLUMES. But this is not something I am looking for because I need to set up as RAID1.

Appreciate your help and thanks in advance

[cachaca]

Hi JavaLaywer: Thanks for the info. However,  I have two problems. As per the screenshot I was not able to select "Reconfigure to Raid1" in Step 1 and also when I try to just continue in Step 2: Formatting the Hard Drive (s) just permanently stuck at 0%.....

Anyone have similar experiences or have successfully implemented the migration properly on this DNS-320 model with a 2TB HDD?

[jisakiel]

I am having the exact same issue with two identical WD10EARS drives (just bought the second one today!) in a DNS-320 with firmware 2.0b6. Doesn't matter in which bay it's plugged, the option to create a raid1 is always grayed out.

Fortunately I haven't dumped all of my data, just around 100G, but still is an annoyance to reformat.

Btw, in case it helps: tinkering with ffp I have seen the following:

Code: [Select]

#cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [linear] [raid0] [raid1]
md0 : active raid1 sda1[0]
      530048 blocks [2/1] [U_]
     
unused devices: <none>
#fdisk -l /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System
/dev/sda1               1          66      530113+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/sda2             131      121474   974695680  83 Linux
/dev/sda4              67         130      514080  83 Linux

Apparently a raid1 degraded device *is* created for the swap partition, but not for the data partition (therefore seems logical that it cannot create a raid1 there without reformat). Seems like a bug of firmware 2.0... I'd do that degraded md1 manually to test my theory but I'm running short of time unfortunately.

btw I'm not sure whether those blocks are 4k aligned; wd EARS drives suck and report themselves as having 512b sectors instead of 4K, it has already bit me, but perhaps the default partition creation could take that into account "just in case" as vista++ does...

[barurutor]

Just registered to post that this problem below:

After troubleshooting we confirm that each time if there is a VOLUME_1 HDD inside the NAS (regardless whether it is in the LEFT BAY or RIGHT BAY), it is always not possible to format a new HDD as VOLUME_2 and it will just stuck permanently at 0%. However, if we place the NEW HDD on a STANDALONE basis regardless it is on the LEFT or RIGHT BAY. The initialisation and formatting of the NEW HDD will be smooth without any problems and successful.

persists even in the Asia 2.0 firmware, and it's not described in any FAQ or known issue log other than this thread 

For my case I just wanted to have 2 standard drives and had formatted and transferred my data to the first drive already before preparing the 2nd drive for use.  Come on, D-Link, isn't that a common enough use case?  Not everyone has 2 spare drives nor can buy 2 identical drives at the same time to populate the device. Sheesh.

[J400uk]

Was a solution for this ever found, or is it yet another bug with no fix? Thanks

[JavaLawyer]

Here's a solution (albeit old) posted by a D-Link engineer: http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=41180.0

[ivan]

I just want to say that even if there was a simple way to convert a STANDARD single drive setup to a RAID 1 setup I would still format both drives and restore from backup.

I may be considered a bit of an old fuddy duddy - been running my own IT service business for 25 years - but experience shows it is worth while to do so, especially if the standard drive has been in use for some time.

The main reason for formatting the old drive is to ensure that any suspect sectors are mapped and,if necessary, replaced from the spare sector pool.  You also tend to get a cleaned up drive system.

Experience also shows that a lot of people that want to do a standard to raid 1 conversion don't care for their data because they don't have a backup and are assuming that the raid 1 will act as a backup for them. NOT good practice if you value your data.

Here all our computers are backed up to section nas boxes every evening, overnight the nas boxes and servers, including the VMs, are backed up to the on site storage system and finally the on site storage system is backed up to the off site storage system during the day.  This ensures that our data and our clients is safe.

That is the industrial setup we have. In a domestic setup it shouldn't be too much to ask that valuable data is backed up to a USB external drive and kept safe should something happen to the nas and/or computer/s.

Sorry for the rant but we had a couple of customers today that wanted us to try and glean their data from damaged disks - one a single drive nas the other a laptop - neither had any form of backup even though I had setup a backup system for the nas, 'it was too much trouble to click on the backup icon' was the excuse there.   

[JavaLawyer]

I just want to say that even if there was a simple way to convert a STANDARD single drive setup to a RAID 1 setup I would still format both drives and restore from backup.

I may be considered a bit of an old fuddy duddy - been running my own IT service business for 25 years - but experience shows it is worth while to do so, especially if the standard drive has been in use for some time.

The main reason for formatting the old drive is to ensure that any suspect sectors are mapped and,if necessary, replaced from the spare sector pool.  You also tend to get a cleaned up drive system.
. . .

Ivan, my sentiments exactly. Quoting from a similar thread I replied to in the DNS-320L board earlier today -- My own personal preference would be to let the DNS-320L format a RAID-1 array from scratch and then migrate the data from a backup. Call me paranoid, but when it comes to data integrity, I never trust upgrade paths for storage (regardless of the device/brand or reliability of the upgrade). I'd rather be safe than sorry.