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[Achilles2]

Where I work, we use our d-link 323 box for computer backups. To be more secure we recently decided to backup our backups. To do this I figured the best way would be to just pull the hard drive with the backups out and plug it into a machine where I could then copy directly from the hard drive to an external drive (copying over the network would take years). However, windows is not letting me use the drive. I can see it under the Disk Management tool, it has the correct size but no name.. but I can't see it if I open windows explorer (e.g. my computer). This drive was originally formatted by d-link and I'm not exactly sure why windows isn't letting use it.

Why I right click the partition (it's a "Healthy primary partition") my only options are to delete it or go to help. All the other options are disabled.

[D-Link Multimedia]

Windows by default can not read ext2 or ext3 partitions. You need a third party driver in order to read the disks formatted by our system (linux). FS Driver is one that comes to mind. http://www.fs-driver.org/

[dosborne]

However, windows is not letting me use the drive.

Very few systems use Windows as an embedded O/S.  The DNS323 uses Linux and therefore has a Linux disk partition. The driver mentioned above will give you access to read teh data.

[McPillager]

As correctly mentioned above the only solution to see the ext-formatted disk(s) is to install the corresponding drivers for windows. Your data is not lost at this point but my personal understanding is that moving the disk(s) from nas to pc and back again is not a good idea as long as data integrity is concerned especially if you intend to modify data.

[dcx_badass]

I've done it, as long as you make no changes on the PC, it's fine, I used a piece of software to read the drive that was read only to make sure.

[dosborne]

There is always a risk when moving hardware. Particularly with Windows. If you click the wrong button.....poof...the drive gets formatted.

[Achilles2]

thanks for all the input. that program seems to have gotten me closer, but I'm still having a bit of a problem. I ran the program (in compatibility mode for Vista 'cause I have windows 7 and I saw that suggested somewhere) and all went fine. My drive had 3 partition altogether, one huge one (1.8tb) and two small (~500mb) ones.. I assigned them to I J and K (K being the big one). Now they all show up in "My computer" but for some reason I can only view files on one of the small partitions, which only has a system folder in it. The large partition is labeled as K but Windows now tells me I have to format it to view it. I also can't get any details as to how full the drive is. I am allowed to format it now but I definitely don't want to as that would defeat the whole point.

I'll try searching some more but seeing as this place seems to have good support I figured I would go ahead and post this.

Edit: when I installed I selected a "Read-only" option.. that wouldn't be stopping it somehow, would it? I'm not sure if I want to try disabling that option for fear that windows will automatically mess it up some how.

[Achilles2]

problem solved! I found a different (but similar) program called ext2explore. thanks for pointing in the right direction 

[Achilles2]

wait, problem maybe not solved. ext2explore is only transferring 8gb of a file. It will sit there and transfer and then when completed the file size is always 8gbs. I've tried a few different ones (25gb, 50gb).

looks like I'll be searching some more

[Steve Pitts]

looks like I'll be searching some more

Why not boot from a live Linux CD?? Any recent distro ought to allow you to copy from the DNS323 disks onto any other internal or external HD, even if the latter are formatted as NTFS.

Alternatively, use a partitioning or backup tool that supports imaging of ext2/ext3 partitions to take a backup of the drive onto another HD. Most such software will then allow you to extract individual elements from those backups should you need to do so.