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[nonlinear]

Hello,

Recently I observed an error message when logging into my DNS-323.  I posted about this at http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=67018.0.  In that thread, ivan recommended using SeaTools to check both of my HDDs.  SeaTools showed no errors on either drive.  Using the same HDDs, I think reformatted a new RAID 1 and began the slow process of transferring over 1.8 TB of data.

However, when I now log in to the DNS-323 webpage, it tells me

Volume_1 : RAID 1 (Degraded)

I've attached a screen shot of this in this post.  Can anyone tell me what the problem is?  Is there another problem with my RAID 1?  I am about half way through transferring data from my external drive back to the NAS.  How can I fix this problem?

Thanks for any advice!   

[nonlinear]

I checked the status page, and it says HDD2 has failed.  Can anyone tell me if that is the left side, or the right side?  Also, why didn't SeaTools show this problem when I checked using the various tests?  Is this really a problem with the HDD, or could it be a problem with the DNS-323?  Thanks!

[FurryNutz]

Does the user manual say which drive bay is which HDD#?

[nonlinear]

Does the user manual say which drive bay is which HDD#?

Thanks for your reply!     I didn't see anything in the manual about HDD2, but http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=59692.msg238347#msg238347 says this:

HDD2 is the drive in the left bay when facing the unit.

[FurryNutz]

Awesome. Good Info. 

[nonlinear]

Awesome. Good Info. 

Yeah!  I guess my question is though, why is the DNS-323 telling me there is HDD2 disk failure, but SeaTools reports no errors on the drive?  I'm just not sure if the problem is with my HDD, or with my DNS-323.   

[FurryNutz]

Possible that the detection process maybe different between the DNS and SeaTools.

Both drives passed on SeaTools?

[nonlinear]

Possible that the detection process maybe different between the DNS and SeaTools.

Both drives passed on SeaTools?

Yeah, both drives passed all 3 of the SeaTools tests I tried - short drive self test, short generic, and long generic.

[FurryNutz]

Possible that the DNS may be more critical on what it detects and see and also being in the DNS and in RAID configuration, possible that this is the issue seen with the DNS rather than SeaTools and testing the drive directly and out of RAID configuration. Once you get all the data off and backed up. I guess I would probably wipe the drives and then let the DNS set up the RAID again. Then put just some data one the DNS, maybe about 1Gb or 4Gb and test the unit out with some data first before putting back ALL of your data.

[nonlinear]

Possible that the DNS may be more critical on what it detects and see and also being in the DNS and in RAID configuration, possible that this is the issue seen with the DNS rather than SeaTools and testing the drive directly and out of RAID configuration. Once you get all the data off and backed up. I guess I would probably wipe the drives and then let the DNS set up the RAID again. Then put just some data one the DNS, maybe about 1Gb or 4Gb and test the unit out with some data first before putting back ALL of your data.

Thanks!  I did get all data off and backed up.  I then reformated the drives in RAID 1 configuration.  I will try to wipe the drives, reformat, and transfer a small amount of data back.  I'll report back here with my results.  Thanks for your help so far!!!

[FurryNutz]

 

[ivan]

Sorry I've been away for a time (holiday) and only just seen this but I do have a few comments that need to be said.

First, the type of RAID array is a SOFTWARE RAID array and this is where a lot of RAID problems manifest themselves.  In a software raid array ALL the raid information is stored on the disks (unlike a HARDWARE RAID array where the raid info is stored in CMOS on the controller) and is therefore at the mercy of voltage transients that can cause incorrect information to be written to the disk.  If this information is about what is on the array it can trigger the 'degraded array' message (in some extreme cases it can cause the array to disappear).

Second, the 'RAID array degraded' message may or may not indicate that there is a physical problem with the disks, in fact in about 70% of the cases there is nothing wrong with the disks because it is a software problem generally caused by voltage transients on the mains (this is why we insist all our clients have their NAS boxes powered from a filtered UPS).

Third, if the disk tools from the disk manufacturer passes the disks and after reformatting the array and restoring the data from backup the message pops up after a short time it can very well indicate there is a problem with the power supply (they don't last for ever and components degrade with age).  It can also indicate the CMOS battery of the NAS needs replacing (the RAID information is held in the NAS CMOS every tome the box is accessed and then written back to the disks).

I hope the above gives the answer to the 'why' posed by nonlinear.
 

[nonlinear]

Thanks Ivan!  I really appreciate your thoughts.  I'm currently wiping the drives (will take a few days using dban quick erase), will then reformat and try moving a small amount of data back onto the 323.  I'll report back here with my results.  Thanks again for your comments, I understand things better now. 

[nonlinear]

Ok after wiping the drives, I was able to reformat them and have not been getting any raid 1 degraded errors. I have also transferred over all of the files from my external drive back onto the dns-323. So thanks everyone for their advice, I really appreciate it!

However, I am now getting buffering errors when I try to stream video files from the dns-323. I had never experienced this prior to this time. Could it be because I formatted the discs in ext3? Should I have gone with ext 2 instead? I honestly can't remember what I had done previously, as I think I did that back in 2011. 

[FurryNutz]

How is the DNS connect to your streaming devices? Via router or external Gb network switch?