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[hamatzu]

I have for a while had a NAS D-Link DNS-320 which has two slots for hard drives. When I first purchased it I only had one 2TB disk that currently is installed on the NAS and works without any problems. When you insert a new disk the first time it is formatted before it can be used with the NAS.

I am now a little worried about how I should proceed to put in a new 2TB hard drive, with no data loss from the current disk that is installed. If I should trust what is written beneath a new disk should not affect the already installed hard drive.

format the new drive as standard type
This window will Appear When a new HDD is added to the Share Center 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 volumetric format.

Does anyone have experience with this particular NAS and can say that it works as intended? Or how I should proceed in order to prevent any loss of data?

[JavaLawyer]

Are you looking to convert a single HDD standard configuration to RAID-1 by adding a second HDD? If so, here is the procedure: DNS ShareCenter - Standard Volume to RAID-1 Conversion.

As always, you should create a full backup of all critical data prior to performing any major NAS configuration. If you are considering creating a RAID-1 array, please keep in mind that RAID (in all it's forms) is not a backup: DNS-320 - Data Backup vs. Redundancy.

[hamatzu]

I am not looking to convert anything to a RAID configuration. I have one 2TB standard configuration and just want to add one more with standard configuration, to get the total of 4TB, this without loosing any data on the first disk.

I fully understand the difference between redundancy and backup, that is not what I use my NAS for, but thank you for the heads up

I have now made a backup of the most critical data I have, unfortunately I don't have 2TB to spare for a full backup. Well, wish me luck!

[JavaLawyer]

The DNS-320 should be smart enough to format the correct HDD. If you want to play it safe, power down the unit and remove HDD1 (containing your data) while you format HDD2 as a Standard Volume.  Finally, power down the DNS-320 and reinstall HDD1 in slot-1 and the new HDD2 in slot-2.

[hoppo1]

I believe if you insert the disk and are happy to have two x 2gb disks configured as Vol1 and Vol2 then you should be ok. The problem arises when you want to configure mirroring or JBOD (one x 4gb Disk Vol1) then it will format them both. Mine are configured jbod and i believe it formatted them both but it was a while back that I set it up.