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[8vgumby]

Hello.

I read through the procedure for adding a second drive, but it says this procedure is designed for preserving data on drive1, and maintaining the "configuration" of the system:

Scenario:

Slot-1: Formatted HDD with data
Slot-2: Empty
Desired Result: Add new HDD to (the now empty) Slot-2

Procedure:

Power down the ShareCenter
Remove the HDD from the ShareCenter (using a marker, write "Slot-1" on the HDD)
Place new un-formatted HDD(s) in Slot-1 of the ShareCenter
Power-up the ShareCenter
Configure the new HDD with the desired configuration
Power down the ShareCenter
Remove the newly formatted HDD (using a marker, write "Slot-2" on the HDD)
Move the new HDD to Slot-2 (as per the slot label written on the HDD)
Re-seat the original HDD in Slot-1 (as per the slot label written on the HDD)
Restart the ShareCenter

I would like to tweak the last line of the "Scenario" so the Desired Result is, "Add new HDD to (the now empty slot) Slot-2 and the new drive will duplicate the first drive in a RAID arrangement with no data loss"

How can I make that happen?  I am hesitant to pull my HDD until I know this procedure will work and allow me to convert the whole device to RAID w/o data loss.

[JavaLawyer]

Did you see this thread: DNS ShareCenter - Standard Volume to RAID-1 Conversion

** Make sure you have a backup of your critical data before using this procedure.

[8vgumby]

I saw that procedure, but that seems to be requiring three drives?

I only have two.  I want to slip in the second, duplicate and go to raid

[8vgumby]

From within the Disk Management Sidebar Help:

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.

Sooooo it appears it will do it automatically?

[JavaLawyer]

You should still maintain a backup of your data. RAID-1 provides redundancy, but is NOT a backup.
Data Backup vs. Redundancy

[8vgumby]

I understand the difference between the two and am working on acquiring a third drive for that exact reason.  Being a broke college student doesn't help matters much, so I figured at the very least I need some redundancy in case my one drive fails and I lose all my research...most of my critical stuff is kept on solid-state drives.

Anywho, I popped in drive number 2, and it went through its magical process.  Under hard-drive configuration it reads, "Volume_1: Raid 1 (Degraded)".  What exactly does that mean?  Under windows explorer everything appears as normal with the drive, and I still only see one drive, which I assumed would be the case in Raid 1, but what does, "degraded" mean?

Edit: It seems I didn't enable auto-rebuild.  I just checked that off and after about 5 minutes the status shows 1% sync completion.  I assume this will take quite some time with 1.5 TB of data.  Once that is complete I imagine the degraded tag will be removed?

[JavaLawyer]

In the context of the DNS-320, "Degraded" means that a HDD is failing. It's possible the error presented itself because the system didn't rebuild. Post back and let us know how things turn out.

[8vgumby]

I'll let you know what happens in the end.  Everything seems to be working as normal.  It says that it is syncing data at 11% now which tells me both HDD's are working.  Additionally, the original drive is still in great shape during this process as it still shows all the data correctly within windows explorer after rebooting the PC.  

...nerve racking process...but going seemingly well.

Edit: About 6 hours into the process, it is 50% done.  My Twonky media server is not working at this time, although I can access read/write to the disk in windows.

[8vgumby]

I think it finished around 4AM

Under disk management I show:

Volume_1: Raid 1 (Completed)

Both lights are illuminated on the device, both drives show "okay" condition under status.  I think I successfully have a Raid 1 setup using a pair of 3GB WD Green Drives (WD30EZRX).  Upon rebooting the device, my ffp script was picked up and twonky works flawlessly again.

Success!