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[pricey091]

Very simple guys...

...I have moved house from the UK to the USA and brought my NAS with me. I am trying to configure it as I did when it was new, there are no issues with that up until the point where I come to the HDD.

It would seem that there is no way of setting up the NAS without formatting the HDD. I have a load of stuff on there that I don't want to loose by formatting it. It seems silly that you can't set it up without formatting the HDD, does anyone know of a way I can do this and not loose all my data?

Thanks

[cable2]

Hi, did you remove the disks from the unit during transport?  If not, you should just try and use the reset (small hole on back of unit near power connection).  Just use a toothpick and gently depress it for about 10 seconds.  Your unit should go through it's motions and eventually reboot and when it stops blinking, you should be good to login and start re-entering all your settings.
If you did remove the disks for some reason, are you sure you haven't accidentally reversed their positions?  That would be the only reason I can think of that would call for a reformat.  Good luck

[pricey091]

Hi

I did not remove the disks no, but I did delete the connection from 'my computer' because it wouldn't connect from the new location. Will this effect that in any way? I just thought I needed to run the set up wizard again, but that wants me to format the HDD. Is there another way to configure it?

[ivan]

It sounds as if you don't have a backup of your data so you are going to have to make one the hard way.

The first thing you need to do is read the information in the 'DNS-320 - Data Recovery (Windows PCs)' sticky at the head of this forum.

Once you have a backup you won't lose your data.

Now the question you should be asking is 'why can't you connect to the unit'.  This is generally because the unit is on a fixed IP that does not match the network subnet IP.

Download a copy of SoftPerfect Netscan and install it on your computer (free and for windows).  Also get a copy of Piriform Speccy and install that (this will give you all the network information as seen by your PC - IP address etc.). 

Use the IP range xxx.xxx.xxx.0 to xxx.xxx.xxx.254 (xxx.xxx.xxx taken from the IP address found with Soeccy) in Netscan and run a scan with your DNS-320 connected to the network and powered on. 

All going well you should find the IP address of the NAS which you can then use in a browser to directly access the NAS web interface which should tell you the status of your drives and allow you to change network settings and make other settings as necessary.

[pricey091]

Sorry I dont think I explained myself very well!

The wizard detects the NAS, so I can get the IP that way. But what I can't do is bypass the part that wants to format the HDD.

The method you described, does it bypass this and allow me to access the NAS as normal? (not in the browser).

[ivan]

OK, as long as you can get the IP address of the NAS you should be able to get at the settings using the webUI.

You just put http://nasIP/ (where nasIP is the IP address of the NAS) in your browser.  This will bring up the login screen, select System Administration, fill in user (if set) and password then click on Login.

This should get you a page with My Favorites, Applications and Management  along the top and a panel down the right hand side with the first item being Storage Status.   The Storage Status gives very basic information, total capacity and amount available - if it shows unformatted you have problems and need to read the data recovery sticky.

If it shows the disk is OK then open the Management tab and select what ever you need to setup.

Added as an afterthought on a prompt from my service manager.
If you shipped your NAS with the drives installed you may have a damaged drive mounting or sub-board which is causing the request to format the disks.   

[pricey091]

The disk is fine I think, I just deleted the original drive connection from 'my computer'  So need to run the wizard again...but don't wanna wipe the HDD

If I use the method you just described, can I back up all the data on there?

[ivan]

What I describe above (using the WebUI) will not do anything to your disk unless you actively try to do something to it.

Have you actually tried to access the unit as I described using the WebUI?  If so what did you see?

There is no way that you can use the WebUI to actively copy anything from the disk BUT you can use it to enable the FTP server then use FileZilla on your PC to copy either individual files or the full directory structure - that is assuming there is nothing wrong with the disk or the NAS itself.

If the WebUI does nit find the disk or reports that it needs formatting you will need to remove it from the box, put it in a USB/SATA caddy and use one of the programs listed in the recovery sticky to try and read it and recover your files.

[pricey091]

Thanks very much that's real helpful,  I'll give them both a go and let you know how it goes! 

[cable2]

Pricey, the Wizard is designed for new installs and assumes you are starting fresh with new disks, you should not need it or use it.  If you remember the password, and you know what the IP address is for your unit, that should be all you need to access your NAS.  If you don't know the units IP address, although from what you said you do, look in your router settings, somewhere there is a list of active connections and the assigned IP address will be there.  Once you get that IP enter it in your browser and hit enter, this should bring you to the login page and just enter your password.  Now, if you can't remember the password is where my previous post about by using the reset button you clear the old password and the IP address if it was static and reset it to use the DHCP server on your router to automatic. 
The information from ivan is excellent for more severe problems and his advice regarding backing and recovering your data is right on, but at this stage I don't think it is necessary.  You won't even need to do a reset unless you forgot the password.  Did you?

[pricey091]

Thanks very much mate! No I didn't forget the password, but I did delete it as a connection from my computer. I will try your method but do you know of a way I can get the drive to appear in 'my computer' as a network connection again?

[cable2]

Hi again,
As far a the mapping of the drive to your computer.  Try just disconnecting it, right click on drive in explorer, select disconnect, reboot your computer and then right click on the computer in explorer, and click on map drive.  The format is usually, \\DLINK-xxxxx\ Volume_1 , at least in W7, should be same or similar on W8.  When you go to connect, you will be prompted for user and password, enter and save it.  If all works well, you should be good to go.  Good luck
PS. You should be able to see the NAS when you click on NETWORK in windows explorer, if not then you must not have enabled network discovery and file sharing on the computer.  The only other problem I can think of is if you have a workgroup with different names on your devices. 

[ivan]

pricey, until you confirm that you can in fact connect to tour NAS via the WebUI and see that the disk is, in fact, OK there is not much point trying to map the drive to your computer.

Can you connect to the WebUI?
If you can, have you checked the network settings to confirm that the NAS is using the same group name (usually workgroup or homegroup depending on the version of windows you are using)?
Does the NAS have a fixed IP address and is it on the same subnet as your computer and router (192.168.0.xxx is NOT the same subnet as 193.168.1.xxx and will NOT work together)?

When you have confirmed those simple things then you can use cable2's description for mapping the drive.