Print

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

[tgolsson]

Hello!

I've got a DNS-320 which I've used for a network media center, but with both me and the girlfriend starting private businesses we're looking at using it for backup. For this purpose, we've bought 2x 2 terabyte WD Red discs, and slotted in. Having done a hard reset on the unit, I ran the setup wizard and asked it to set everything up, and checked Raid 1 for the formatting.

During the formatting process, I had several popups with the text 00000000 and the ability to choose Yes or No. I figured that having no data on the discs, 'yes' was probably safe, and so I kept clicking until it finished. So far so good. However, I then tried logging into the webinterface, to check the disk setup, but when going to the disk management page, it got stuck in the Initializing state, at 58% and no further information showed up. This was essentially a deadlock state, and the only way forward was to physically remove the drives, use an external SATA enclosure and format them via the disk manager.

I've since then tried several different ways of getting it to play nicely, but it always ends up either deadlocking or not cooperating. Right now, it's formatted as two separate volumes. If I click on "Set raid type and Re-format" I get to choose Raid 1, but on the screen after ("Volume Configuration Summary") it's blank. I can still choose format, but it has no effect.

Any tips? Tried searching, but my mojo seems weak.

[JavaLawyer]

What firmware version are you running? What is the capacity of each of the HDDs you are installing? When you say you're using the device for backup, will you have data stored on another physical device or do you consider the RAID-1 array as the primary storage and backup for your data?

[tgolsson]

My firmware version: 2.03
The capacity of each HDD: 2TB

This'll be the end-storage/backup - we have external HDDs for daily use, as well as our internal HDDs. We also have a set of SATA drives we can backup super-critical data to, as well as dropbox accounts for documents etc.

The main reason for going this route is that my girlfriend is a photographer, and wants to keep a backup of all her photojobs with the raw-format, PSD and JPG files. This means that a job can easily reach 5-10 gb in size. This is too large for the physical media we can burn, and much too large to transfer off-site over internet.

[JavaLawyer]

Please see the following thread: DNS-320 - RAID-1 is NOT a Backup

[tgolsson]

I'm well aware of what constitutes a backup, and that reply does not solve my immediate problem. This is why I referred to it as end-storage - while not a backup per definition, it provides a reasonably safe extra layer against the most immediate data threats in our day-to-day work, which in most cases is related to physical failure of a hard-disk, caused by a high work-load over an extended period of time. By using it only as a last-line storage we separate finished material from work material, and the raiding is another layer of protection on top of this.

By the time we've outgrown this storage, we'll probably be able to setup more traditional backup schemes with both local and remote backups.

[JavaLawyer]

Try mounting the HDDs in a Windows PC and remove the partitions so the HDDs are not recognized as valid by the DNS-320.  Next reset the DNS-320 to the factory default settings (while the DNS-320 is powered-up, press and hold the reset for > 8 seconds) and re-install the latest firmware.  Finally, try to create the RAID array again.

[lamimartin]

My firmware version: 2.03 The capacity of each HDD: 2TB

What is the exact model and version number of the hard drive you are trying to mount as RAID1 ?

[mauri]

Hello,
I have a DL320 with the newest Firmware (DNS-320_fw_revA1A2_2-03b03_all_en_20121005). I am able to setup Raid-0 or JBOD, volume. But I am not able to setup a RAID-1 volume. Initializing Disks stops at 58%.
I have no Desktop PC to build in and mout the disks.
Is there a way to fix this problem, or do I have to send back the DL320???

Michael

[hoppo1]

Assuming there's no data on the disks, try formatting them one at a time so take one disk out format it. then swap it for the other one so take out the formatted on and insert the other disk into the same slot then format that. then once they are both formatted insert both disks and try again.

[mauri]

Does not work.
I would never buy a d-Link again.
Piece of sh..

[hou_mrk]

I've run into this issue too.  Installing 2 drives and selecting RAID 1 from the Disk Management interface results in two standard volumes instead of a RAID 1 volume.  During the disk setup, I was NOT getting prompted for things like RAID size and auto-rebuild configuration, even though I had selected the RAID 1 option.

Moving on to the solution...

1. Remove both drives from the NAS
2. Place drives in an external case or install into a PC and delete all of the partitions/volumes on each drive
3. Install ONLY ONE of the drives back into the NAS and format it as a standard volume
4. Shutdown the NAS and install the second drive
5. Login and go to the Disk Management interface
6. Now you should see a new option regarding adding the second drive as a Standard volume; click this button
7. On the next screen, you will see a check box titled something like "convert to RAID 1"; select this option and finish the wizard

After completing this process, my second drive was formatted, the configuration was changed to RAID 1 and the drives began to sync.

I hope this works for you!  Good luck!

[maki]

Are you accessing NAS with IE or some other browser? Someone here wrote that you should use IE for important operations with NAS.

[gorsey]

Yeah i'm having the same issues. I know these things are cheap but come on...its a joke setting this up.

I got it working by;

1. update to latest firmware
2. use the cd tool to format each drive individually rebooting between. Then put them both in the nas.
3. Go through the tool again and format the drive it allows you to format (it has the options for raid grayed out)
4. format it AGAIN and this time the raid option appears.

I'm not looking forward to when one drive fails and I have to try and sync the new drive back up.

You get what you pay for peeps...

[ivan]

I find this rather strange because we have never had any problems setting up RAID 1 on the large number of D-Link NAS we have setup for clients or our own 8 DNS-320 boxes.

I don't know what is causing the problem for the people here but I would question what some people are doing.

Gorsey, did you try to use the web interface to set up your drives?  Using the CD is not the ideal way of doing things because you are working second hand with the unit not directly.  This is why I think you had so much trouble.

As for problems if a drive fails, there shouldn't be any.  Just power off the NAS, remove the failed drive, install the new drive and, if you have set auto rebuild RAID, the RAID array will start rebuilding when you power on the NAS. 

[gcoxii]

Maybe it is the hdds. you said they were WD red but you didn't specify if it was on the approved hdd list. When i did my raid setup, i bought two seagate hdds. I installed one, moved my data over, and then I waited for a few days then installed the 2nd hdd. didn't really have a problem. i don't remember how long it took to setup raid as i went out of town for a few days. when i came back it was done.