Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[coolius]

Hi,


I've just received my new DNS320 and would like to use my existing 2TB hard drive. This hard drive is half full and formatted in NTFS.

I know that the NAS requires its drive to use EXT3 so I was hoping that if I shrunk the NTFS partition, created a new EXT3 partition, moved the files onto the new partition and the deleted the NTFS partition and expanded the EXT3 partition with the data using something like G-Parted, I could use this drive in the NAS without losing the data.

Would this work or does the 320 require a fresh, empty partition on setup? I've tried looking for the answer in the manual and on these forums but had no luck.

Thanks

[threepwood]

don't fiddle with partitions if the data you have on the drive is the only copy. Always a bad idea!

[JavaLawyer]

Hi,


I've just received my new DNS320 and would like to use my existing 2TB hard drive. This hard drive is half full and formatted in NTFS.

I know that the NAS requires its drive to use EXT3 so I was hoping that if I shrunk the NTFS partition, created a new EXT3 partition, moved the files onto the new partition and the deleted the NTFS partition and expanded the EXT3 partition with the data using something like G-Parted, I could use this drive in the NAS without losing the data.

Would this work or does the 320 require a fresh, empty partition on setup? I've tried looking for the answer in the manual and on these forums but had no luck.

Thanks

A DNS-320 HDD formatted as a standard volume should be mountable in a Linux box. Based on this, there is reason to believe that the reverse is also true, but you'll have to experiment to validate.

If you choose to go down this path, please post your results.

[coolius]

I plan to move as much as I can onto other drives before playing around with the partitions, just in case something does go wrong.

The DNS-320 does prompt you before doing any formatting itself doesn't it? It doesn't just automatically wipe the disk as soon as you drop it in?

[JavaLawyer]

The DNS-320 is designed to prompt for end-user validation prior to formatting.
However, you should always maintain a separate physical backup of your data in the in the event that something goes wrong.

[ivan]

You could pick up one of the cheap 1TB USB drives and transfer as much as you can to there before you start to experiment.

[JavaLawyer]

My sentiments exactly. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

[noem]

Will this work? Bought two 2TB drives.

1. Transfer existing data from NAS too one 2tb drive in my computer.
2. Remove current disks, put one 2tb drive in to Nas an format as RAID1.
3. Transfer backup from 2tb disk in computer to nas with RAID1.
4. When done, remove disk from computer and insert into NAS with RAID1. Of course this disk will then be in the RAID1 setup.

Will above work? Which slot should i put first disk in?

[JavaLawyer]

You should format the new HDD in slot 1. If the DNS-320 permits you to format only one HDD as a RAID 1 array, the array will show as degraded since there is no second HDD.

Not sure I understand step 4. If you succeed at steps 1-3, when you insert the HDD from your PC to slot 2 of the DNS-320, you will have to reformat the second HDD as RAID 1.

If the second HDD is formatted as EXT and moved to the DNS-320, the unit will most likely recognize the HDD as a standard volume rather than part of the RAID 1 array. You will most likely need to manually rebuild the second HDD for inclusion in the array.

[noem]

second drive is in a external case attached to my computer. it is formattade as ntfs. i hope when i put it in slot 2 it will be formatted as ext and included in the raid1 setup.

[JavaLawyer]

When you insert the NTFS HDD in slot 2, the DNS-320 will prompt you that the drive is not formatted and present you with some options.

[ivan]

Noem, one thing isn't clear, do you have two or three disks?

If you have three then there is no need for any convoluted messing about, and most likely data loss.  Just put two disks in the NAS, format them as RAID1 then transfer the data from the third disk.

If you only have two disks, the first thing you should try and do is to transfer everything from your NTFS formatted disk to your computer.  Having done that, you can put two drives in the NAS and proceed as normal.

Trying to format one drive at a time will, I think, just give you a JBOD setup, not the RAID1 that you want.  You may be able to convert JABOD to RAID1 but there is the risk of loosing everything.

[JavaLawyer]

Based on the original poster's migration techniques, I'm assuming there are only 2 HDDs. And yes, if the HDD configurations are changed from JBOD to RAID 1, all data will be lost.

The one open question (on my end) is whether the DNS-320 will offer the option of configuring a HDD as RAID-1 array with only 1 drive is available in the unit at the time of format.

[noem]

I only have two new 2tb disks.

Well, this didn't work. It wont let me format to RAID1 with only one drive. I can only choose "Standard" . So, now I have to put my two old 500 GB drives into my computer, copy everything from the external 2tb to the two 500gb drives in my computer. Remove the 2tb from the external casing and put it into the nas. Build a RAID1 array. Then copy everything to the nas from the two 500gb drives. phew...

[JavaLawyer]

Thanks for clarifying the RAID 1 formatting question.

With the relatively low cost of storage, why not purchase another 2TB HDD? It's considered good practice to maintain at least one spare HDD in the event of a drive failure. . . And ideally, the spare should be the same make/model as the original HDD.