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[hoglyf]

is this possible?  or would i have to back the files up to another drive before inserting in to the DNS-323?
this is just using it as a standard format, by the way.  thanks!

[krenkey]

Something tells me the answer is no the 323 will format them to ext2 or ext3 file formats i dont think it can read a fat or ntfs drive

[hoglyf]

thanks krenkey.  i skimmed through the manual and did not find that the DNS-323 could not read NTFS format.  so this means that you can not take a drive out of the DNS-323 and plug it in (externally or internally) a docking station on a Vista computer and be able to access the files, am i right?

[fordem]

First - there is no such thing as a 'standard' format, and every drive has to be (partitioned and) formatted before use - most operating systems use different (and frequently incompatible) file system formats, Linux has ext2, ext3 & rieser (to name a few), Windows has FAT, FAT32, and several different variations of NTFS.

Your question really becomes can I insert a (specify file system here) formatted drive into the DNS-323 (and use it) without formatting, and the answer may vary depending on what file system the drive was originally (partitioned and) formatted with.  It will also depend on what drive configuration your DNS-323 is configured for.

If you insert a drive with the correct ext2 partition structure into a DNS-323 that is configured for standard volumes it will not prompt you to format it, and you will be able to access the files - to approach from a slightly different angle, if you were to place the same drive in a DNS-323 that is configured for RAID1 it will prompt you to format.

You can take a drive from the DNS-323 and connect it to a Windows system and you should be able to access it using an installable file system driver such as the ext2ifs - I have done this with Windows XP, I have heard of people having difficulty doing it with Vista, but I have not tried it with Vista personally.

One last thing - be very careful when swapping disks in and out of the DNS-323 - you just might create unneccessary headaches for yourself.

[hoglyf]

thanks fordem.

if i understood you correctly, the DNS-323 would require a re-format of an NTFS formatted drive, but it should bypass the re-format if the drive is already in the ext2 format (assuming that the DNS is in standard format configuration).

[parteci]

so you're saying that the DNS doesn't support standard file formatting?

[fordem]

so you're saying that the DNS doesn't support standard file formatting?

How about YOU define what YOU mean by standard file formatting.

I have just explained (a few posts earlier) that there is no single standard disk format, do you want me to go through a similar explanation on file formats - just as an example, do you have any idea how many different (and incompatible) file formats Microsoft Word alone uses?

[fordem]

thanks fordem.

if i understood you correctly, the DNS-323 would require a re-format of an NTFS formatted drive, but it should bypass the re-format if the drive is already in the ext2 format (assuming that the DNS is in standard format configuration).

Yes, the DNS-323 will require a repartition and reformat of an NTFS drive before it can be used, it MAY also require a repartition and reformat of an ext2 drive if the partition structure does not match what the DNS-323 expects.

My suggestion would be to install the drives, format them and then use the DNS-323 as a NAS, fiddling with the drives and swapping them back and forth will, sooner or later, result in lost data and grief.

[hoglyf]

thanks again fordem.

i went ahead and purchased my DNS-323 today and got it up and running painlessly.  i was asking all these questions prior to my purchase, and now that i actually have the NAS things are really making sense.

i'm a little disappointed in the file transfer speed of my network (none of which i believe is the NAS's fault).  i have AT&T U-verse's 2-Wire Residential Gateway as my modem/router which i'm hoping will be upgraded to a gigabit ethernet (10/100 only currently).  i'm only getting about 11mbps etherner-to-ethernet, and about 10.1mbps wireless using 2 of d-link's DAP-1522 for an access point and wireless bridge (802.11n).

[fordem]

The DNS-323 is no speed demon - on a 100 mbps network, you'll probably see 8~9MB/sec and perhaps double that on gigabit.  Oh - that's with large files (>2GB) - throughput will plummet with small files.

When you go gigabit, try to get a switch that supports jumbo frame - you can push as much as 30MB/sec on a good day.

Please note - the equipment at the other end of the transfer (that you're copying to/from) also plays a part, the figures above were achieved using an IBM server with a RAID1 array, my Dell desktop is a lot slower.

One last thing - don't be surprised if you find that the throughput using wireless generally sucks (even wireless-n), a good wireless-g install will give you 2~3MB/sec, wireless-n might double that - it's just the way wireless works.

[hoglyf]

The DNS-323 is no speed demon - on a 100 mbps network, you'll probably see 8~9MB/sec and perhaps double that on gigabit.  Oh - that's with large files (>2GB) - throughput will plummet with small files.

geez! i guess i'm at the top end of the spectrum @ 11mbps (more or less) 

and you were right about small files (< 2 gig), the transfer rate dropped drastically!

[fordem]

Lets try to keep our units straight, shall we is that 11 mbps - 11 megabits/sec or 11 MegaBytes/sec?

[hoglyf]

Lets try to keep our units straight, shall we is that 11 mbps - 11 megabits/sec or 11 MegaBytes/sec?

i believe Vista reports it as 11 MegaBytes/sec, so that will be 88 megabits/sec and some change. 

[fordem]

Whilst there are 8 bits in a byte - the math ignores the network overheads - addressing, framing, etc. so 11MBytes/sec is probably right on "wire speed" - I'd say you doing pretty good there.

[hoglyf]

just got an email back from d-link tech support.  i sent a question regarding removing and re-inserting a hard drive that's been formatted by the DNS-323.  the question was would the DNS-323 recognize this drive as a previously formatted drive and skip the formatting process, or would it still re-format the drive?  the answer was it would still re-format the drive.

somehow i don't agree with that since the DNS-323 stores the formatting info on the drive itself.  it's like turning the unit off and on again, but it does not reformat the drives.  i guess i'll find out sooner or later.

what do y'all think?