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[slthom]

Can I simply just get a new enclosure and drop the drives in?  Will it recognize all the data on the drives or will it want to reformat them?  Just seeing if there is a reason to backup the DNS-321

Thanks for any comments

[fordem]

You want to know if there is a reason to backup the DNS-321 ?!?!

Is the data contained of any value to you?

[slthom]

I am currently using it strictly as a remote backup device for local server (sending files to it via FTP).  So, no, the data is not that critical because the chances of my server going out at the same time as the DNS-321 is not that high. 

I was just wondering in the case of the enclosure having a hardware failure if popping in an existing drive from a dead DNS unit into a new enclosure would work or would the drive be reformatted and then all data need to be backed up once again.

[fordem]

Since the "chances of your server going out at the same time as the DNS-321 is not that high" - why bother, just do another backup.

[peas]

slthom -- yes you can take the drives out of one DNS-321 and put it in another one.  It will be recognized fine.  You'll need to reconfigure the shares unless you backed up your config too.

fordem likes to threadkrap, just ignore the troll.

[mig]

Can I simply just get a new enclosure and drop the drives in?  Will it recognize all the data on the drives or will it want to reformat them?  Just seeing if there is a reason to backup the DNS-321

You haven't told us what disk configuration you are using?  RAID 1/0? JBOD? single disk?

[slthom]

You haven't told us what disk configuration you are using?  RAID 1/0? JBOD? single disk?

Sorry.  It is setup as Raid 1

[fordem]

Peas - are you just guessing or have you tested it?

slthom - with RAID1 you should be able to just swap the disks over and they'll work, the same goes for standard volumes, I would not bet on it working with RAID0 or JBOD - but then I would not be using either of those configurations anyway.

Re my earlier responses - there a lot more risks to your data, even backup data, than just hardware failure, and you do need to consider them seriously - with the older, perhaps traditional removable media back up devices, elaborate media rotation schemes have been developed - grandfather/father/son and several different versions of the tower of hanoi exist - and these are intended to do one thing and one thing only - to minimize the loss of data due to a failed or overwritten backup.

With disk-to-disk backup, you no longer have the luxury of removable media, so you need to adapt these media rotation schemes to use different backup targets to achieve similar results, and I am happy to see you are using RAID1 - because failure of a single disk containing multiple backup targets results in the loss of all the targets.

[peas]

Peas - are you just guessing or have you tested it?

Please dispense with the attitude.  Maybe you know more than some people, maybe not.  Either way you're more an annoyance than help in this forum.

You never answered what your affiliation is with Dlink.  Are you on their payroll in any way?  Do you have a buddy who works there?  For someone with such a bad attitude, you've somehow managed to gain positive karma in this forum.  It just doesn't add up.

[fordem]

It's a perfectly reasonable question - which you have not answered - my suspicion is that you haven't (like the corruption bug) - as for the karma thing, sooner or later, you'll figure that out.

For what it's worth - I spent the first few months after acquiring my unit testing it - testing every conceivable failure mode I could imagine, and determining the best way to recover my data should the need arise - so I do have a pretty good idea of what the unit does under the conditions I use it - which is why I wouldn't use RAID0 or JBOD

[lis1974]

"Forderm" and "Peas" something is wrong with you, people. You for a second forget what is not of all people here is a computer guru. So question is very simple. What to do with drives ?
1. Better DO NOT USE RAID 1 or JBOD, just buy another DS-321 (I am NOT WORKING FOR D-LINK SALES DEPARTMENT!) and make 2nd copy of you data to 2nd unit.
2. You can remove hard drive from dead unit and put to the new one. Actually this is why I like this unit. LINUX (OS) is stored in flash! So you can just swap drives. In some unit system is on the hard drive, so if hard drive fail you need to do some recovery procedure to put OS back to the unit.
3. I do not test it, but 99.9% sure,  if  both system (main data storage/computer and DNS-321) is dead you can install LINUX, connect hard drive/drives and get you data back.
4. Look like a joke, but ...
                       "WHY SO SIRIOUS MY SUN"-Joker

    In case of fire…

    Call to the service center.
    Customer: My CPU is burned.
    Service: OK, describe …….
    Customer: No, you don’t understand, my hard  drive is also burned.
Service: ??
Customer: And Video card ..
    Service: How it happens ?
Customer: We got fire here…
So, in case on fire you need backup that stored in different location, like other office, home or on-line.

P.S.
  JBOD-> 1 Drive die -> data lost.
  RAID 1-> controller die/corrupt data -> data lost(some time part of data, sometime all).

[peas]

"Forderm" and "Peas" something is wrong with you, people. You for a second forget what is not of all people here is a computer guru. So question is very simple. What to do with drives ?
1. Better DO NOT USE RAID 1 or JBOD, just buy another DS-321 (I am NOT WORKING FOR D-LINK SALES DEPARTMENT!) and make 2nd copy of you data to 2nd unit.

My questions were directed at Fordem, not you.  He tends to threadkrap and make derogatory lecturing posts instead of responding on topic.
Anyway, you can swap drives from one DNS-321 to the next.  The device's configuration needs to match, so remember to save the firmware settings through the web interface (or have a good memory of how you set things up).

[mig]

@slthom - Disk swapping can be problematic depending on the drive configuration you are using.  You can swap drives from one DNS-321 to another with out any problems, if you are using individual disks .  If you are using RAID 1 (as you stated before) there are unique IDs for each drive which are stored in NVRAM. The new DNS-321 is not going to have thoes unique IDs in it's NVRAM and will not configure your drives as RAID1 by default.  You will have to re-setup the RAID 1 on the new DNS-321, which will involve the formatting of one of the disks (if everything goes right), or possibly the the formatting of both disks resulting in loss of data, if no backup exists.

If your DNS-321 dies (and didn't corrupt your data in the process) you can still access your data by taking
the drive and connecting it to another PC (with as SATA connection), then boot that PC with a Linux Live CD such as www.Knoppix.com, or use an ext2 driver (www.fs-driver.org) if that PC runs Windows OS. 

In either case, it is always best to have an independent backup of your data.