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[nrf]

with the new firmware, it seems many people's wishes have been granted.
it appears that the support for admin is much improved -

can check file system
can use SMART
good coverage on mail alerts and logs
some killer bugs fixed like itunes admin page hangups thus less damage from dead processes
support structure for add-ons

but my question is, bottom line, will the data be reliably stored therein or
do I have to worry about my photos still disappearing? is it good enough to store
a profile you can use from different machines or only for 'dumping' backup copies?

anyone done tests for data integrity?

[gunrunnerjohn]

IMO, you should NEVER trust a single device to store your only copy of any important data!

Remember: Data you don't have at least two copies of is data you don't care about.

[Ryder]

I can't answer your question about testing for data integrity, that would be internal to Dlink. But I can tell you that I very much agree with GRJ on his response to you. For myself, I will never trust a single device to be my sole backup. I work in a data center and even there, with multiple copies and vast RAID arrays, we still keep a copy of everything on either tape or optical platter. At home I have my 321 set to RAID 1, but I also have a different brand of drive, identical size and internal to my desktop PC that does an incremental backup of the NAS box every day while I sleep. And I also do a small FTP backup of critical data to a friend's NAS box about 1200 miles from my home.

If something like the controller board fails in the NAS during a write or a cache dump, chances are that you will lose both drives. The NAS can help when trying to prevent against drive failures, but it can't protect against NAS failures. So if you have something you can't do without or can't stand to lose, do a backup to a separate machine, preferably in a separate province or state.

Just an opinion, from someone who has been in the IT field for well over 20 years now.

Ryder

[nrf]

I don't need a tutorial on backup or to be treated like a fool.

I wasn't trying to start a rehash of an old thread. after some amount of time, whatever backups you recyle eventually get re-used. but if in the meantime some of your files got messed up, there is then no backup to go back to. unless you can afford an infinite amount of backup media and the backups never go bad themselves. (it is juggling no matter what you put it on or how many of them you have)

what I found was that after putting my stuff on the box it 'lost' some of the files, which I was eventually able to detect and restore from a backup. but unless there is some detectable event, like a crash or fire or something, I would prefer stuff just 'stay there'.

so how confident can I be that the admin abilities of SMART, SMART tests, and DIsk Scan will be enough to know that things are 'ok' ? Or expressed differently, how does the reliability and maintability of this device compare with a software raid configuration under windows or linux?

nrf

[gunrunnerjohn]

I've never had anything just disappear from either the DNS-321 or DNS-323, so I'm not sure what you're experiencing.

[JoeSchmuck]

I don't need a tutorial on backup or to be treated like a fool.
I wasn't trying to start a rehash of an old thread.

I didn't read anything stating you were a fool or needed a tutorial on how to backup.  Or rehashing an old thread?  Am I missing something here?

To speak to reliability of the NAS, well what Linux should be providing...  EXT3 format (released in firmware 1.03) is the most reliable with something called journeling but comes at a performance cost.  And you probably already know RAID 1 for hard drive failure protection.  Also, disapearing files, well my wife hates her photo taken so those files end up missing all the time, and I use the NAS to hold and share the photos since it's a large amount of files.  I always backup my photos and financial data to DVD and maintain a hidden copy from my wife just incase she gets crazy.  Files generally don't just disapear, the cause just needs to be found.

Also, I have not heard of people stating data loss since I've been on this forum, albiet not very long, but I would think data loss would be a huge issue and we would see it everywhere.

-Joe

[nrf]

will, I asked about the reliability and instead got a lecture about backing up my files...in red no less.

the point is, a year ago I used this box in its original unfit condition, and did in fact lose some files (but had backups once I noticed). things like services hanging etc. may have had something to do with it.

I also notice as I have put my unit back online with the new firmware that ext3 is extremely slow even without raid.

I am optimistic that in a year's time they may have improved things a whole lot. the feature list of the 1.3 firmware is pretty much what anyone would want in a device they used seriously.

I'm going to put it through its paces and use some dircmp's to see if anything is amiss. just wondered if anyone else had done anything beyond relying on the disk scan and smart test capabilities.

between the speed (or lack thereof) and this lurking concern I am still not sure if or how I might use mine.

[JoeSchmuck]

I don't think GRJ was lecturing you.  I don't know you nor how experienced you are and he was just giving sound advice, which you aparently already practice.

As for reliability, I personnaly feel it's there but you get what you pay for.  This was a very inexpensive NAS and performance is poor.  It's very poor if you're sharing it with others.  I'm not slamming the product but if you compare it to professional equipment, again, you get what you pay for and for me this was my first baby step into a real NAS.  Yes, EXT3 takes 25% or more performance away but to hopefully prevent data corruption I think it's the smarter choice.

Have you tried FreeNAS?  I use to run it in a VM and it was great.  The only downside it I needed to leave my computer on for others to access the data.

-Joe

[nrf]

after the silent corruption incident combined with lack of much performance gain from jumbo packets I put my 321 on the shelf and figured out how to do software raid on my myth box.

now that the firmware is in reasonable shape (possibly fit for use) I am wondering what if any use I might have for it. I just now tried out the multimedia server and found that it sorts the tracks in an album alphabetically by song name rather than by track number. so much for that idea.

in any case I guess everyone is more excited about being able to add functions than just the basics of performance and reliability. at least this time around there are some admin features that seem to address the operations and maintenance angle.

[gunrunnerjohn]

will, I asked about the reliability and instead got a lecture about backing up my files...in red no less.

Well, if you read your first post, it sure sounded like that was your only copy.  We can only infer what you put in your post here, there is no magic wand we can wave to see if you really mean something besides what you post.

[nrf]

curious view on life - believing people say one thing but are thinking another and answering what you guess they really meant.

no straight-shooters left in the world? what happend to straight talk/clear communication?

maybe if I said I didn't have backups, in which case the lesson would have been learned already so another  one wouldn't have been adding anything to the story.

I just want to know how stable/reliable the device is, the rest of my storage hierarchy is not part of the discussion.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Well, my experience has been very good with both the DNS-321 and DNS-323.  I have had the DNS-323 for over a year, and the DNS-321 for about 8 months.  Never had any issues of lost data on either of them. 

[nrf]

thanks. an answer!

how do you make sure your files are good?

also, have you moved to ext3?

nrf

[gunrunnerjohn]

Once a month I have a compare run that actually does a binary compare of my backup with my primary file disks, which give me confidence that the files are good.

I have not moved to EXT3, I'm simply too lazy to do the reformat and copy 900gigs of stuff back!

[nrf]

that's a lot of juggling! can  you be more specific? what do you use to do the compare?
enquiring minds want to know!