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[newgeneration]

Wanting to know it is ok to disconnect drives from NAS and update the firmware to prevent loss of data.

I have no way to back up the amount of data that is currently in my Dlink DNS 343 NAS.

do firmware upgrades have any effect on data on the drives as the releases notes state:

**WARNING** Read Before Upgrading Firmware.

New firmware for the DNS-343 often affects the way hard drives are formatted and the way files are handled.
To avoid potential complications and loss of files, please back up all files to another location before upgrading firmware.

After the upgrade, it is recommended to re-format your hard drives.
Once the hard drives have been re-formatted, it will be safe to move your files back onto the DNS-343.

Another question - back up or remote back up is not displaying under Advanced - is this due to my current firmware 1.02 or is there something I am suppose to install from the CD that came with the NAS?

[JavaLawyer]

This is my mantra, so I have to say it: You should always maintain a current physical backup of all critical data.

That said, the act of updating your firmware should not impact your data or HDD formatting.  The firmware writes to a separate physical memory than your HDDs. Nor should you have to reformat your HDDs after a firmware upgrade. You can remove your HDDs during the upgrade or leave them in. In either case, the firmware upgrade should have no impact on your data.

Not sure what you are referring to with the backup/remote not displaying. The CD does not contain anything that installs onto the DNS-343.

[newgeneration]

Hi Javalawyer, thanks for replying.

I recall upgrading firmware on the NAS before, however I did not want to risk firmware changing the format of the HDD's or the way the files are "handled" as it's not only my data stored on the NAS.

Basically upgrading the firmware from 1.02 to 1.04 should have no effect on the data or format of the drives but it does reset the settings on the NAS is the correct?

view screenshot below of the "advanced tab"



my advanced tab shows all but Remote back up and add on's is this due to my firmware version 1.02? as the screenshot is 1.03

[JavaLawyer]

Upgrading the firmware should not impact your settings (i.e. configurations). However, whenever I perform an upgrade I save the configurations file to my local PC (MAINTENANCE -> System -> Configuration Settings).

I haven't seen FW v1.02 in a long time, so I don't recall if the remote and add-on options were later additions.

One important piece of advice:
(1) Make sure the firmware file is stored on the local PC where you are performing the upgrade
(2) Make sure your PC and NAS are both on a wired connection (under certain circumstances a data disruption from a failed wireless connection can render the NAS unusable)
(3) Make sure other devices are not pulling/pushing data from the NAS during the upgrade
(4) Make sure the PC uploading the file is not running any other apps/processes that could disrupt the transfer.

[JavaLawyer]

Not that it should matter, but how are your HDDs formatted (e.g. standard volumes, RAID 5)?

[newgeneration]

they are all standard drives in NTFS format I believe <-- this was in case I needed to insert the HDD's into a PC or vice versa.

Do you know if taking the HDD's out, preforming the FW upgrade then inserting them back in will change or effect anything?

In the future I think I will have them in a RAID 5 - do you know what raid controller it uses or is it some built in D link one?

[JavaLawyer]

I have two DNS-343s and all 8 HDDs are formatted as standard volumes (NAS1 backs-up NAS2). The DNS-343 uses software RAID. For this reason and other issues I've seen around these forums, I've opted to steer clear of RAID 5.

You can upgrade the firmware with or without the HDDs installed. The firmware upgrade is completely independent of the HDDs, HDD formatting, HDD data, and DNS-343 user configurations (i.e. passwords, sharing,etc.), and therefore should have no impact if you leave the HDDs where they are. If you choose to remove the HDDs, make sure you re-insert each drive in the same slots they are currently located. The DNS-343 will not recognize the Volumes if you put the HDDs back in the wrong order. You should label the HDDs with a marker as you remove them so you know the slots they came from.

[JavaLawyer]

they are all standard drives in NTFS format I believe <-- this was in case I needed to insert the HDD's into a PC or vice versa.

The DNS-343 formats HDDs using a Linux file system, not NTFS. The HDDs can be mounted in a Linux box, but not a Windows PC unless you install special software. There are applications available that will let you mount EXT formatted HDDs on a Windows PC. If your HDDs are formatted as standard volumes, then you shouldn't have a problem mounting the HDDs on a Windows PC with the appropriate software (mounting a RAID array, however is more complicated).