Unfortunately no one can be told what fun_plug is - you have to see it for yourself.
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A few days ago I updated my firmware from 1.04 to 1.05. I did a complete re-format to RAID1 configuration and then moved some of my files back to the device. This morning I received a "Right Hard Drive Has Failed" error message. So my question(s):
1. A few months ago this same hard drive (right one) was making some clicking noises. I re-seated the drive and they went away and things seemed fine.
2. Since I just very recently upgraded the firmware to 1.05 and I remember some issues with re-formatting non-blank drives in the DNS-323 I want to make sure this is a hardware failure and not something quirky with the firmware upgrade and re-format.
Any ideas/opinions? I am leaning towards a failing hard drive (especially considering the clicking I heard a few months ago), but if anyone can give me some info on anything I could try before RMA'ing the drive (especially if it's related to a firmware upgrade causing problems with non-blank hard drives) I would sure appreciate it.
Thanks!
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Based on my experience the problem with re-formatting "non-blank" drives is essentially that the unit may become confused and format the wrong drive, I have also seen it re-format previously installed drives and not delete the existing partitions resulting in an 80GB drive becoming a 7MB volume, something which most of us will detect within a matter of hours, and even if we're not that observant, the result is a "disk full" message the first time we try to use it.
I'd agree with your "leaning" - if the drive was "clicking" it's probably on the way out - or this time around it's gone.
Most drive manufacturers have a downloadable diagnostic tool on their support website - you could download that and test the drive, although you'd probably need to install it an a PC for that.
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dont know if this info helps, but everytime i do a firmware upgrade and restart, i get a drive failure light. To fix it, I usually shut down the drive completly now and turn back on after a firmware flash, and both drives are up again, no need to reformat..
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I've had issues with the web format tool not properly formatting previously used drives, not so much from the standpoint of it formatting the wrong drive, but it failing to format one of the drives at all. I think it was experiencing un-mount issues. Anyway, I just went in and used fdisk to erase all the partitions, save them (an error will occur if the drive is still mounted, but this can be ignored) and then reboot the DNS. The partitions will be gone as soon as it is rebooted, then the web tools seems to work okay. I still prefer to format the manually, but I'm been doing some mdadm experimenting, so I needed a "stock" DNS formatted set of drives for comparison.
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bq041 wrote:
I've had issues with the web format tool not properly formatting previously used drives, not so much from the standpoint of it formatting the wrong drive, but it failing to format one of the drives at all. I think it was experiencing un-mount issues. Anyway, I just went in and used fdisk to erase all the partitions, save them (an error will occur if the drive is still mounted, but this can be ignored) and then reboot the DNS. The partitions will be gone as soon as it is rebooted, then the web tools seems to work okay.
Could you explain how you did this exactly as I think I had a similar problem to the OP.
Started with 1 HDD in the RHS fine - no problems at all. Put another, EXT3 partitioned HDD in the LHS and it didn't seem to like the formatting at all .... ended up with volumes set up on either HDD ?
At what point did you fdisk the drive ? After putting it in the DNS ? If so, how you get to it from Windows to fdisk it ?
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You need telnet acces through the fun_plug. I'm currently using fons' fun_plug 0.5 beta. I start up the unit with only the drive that had the fun_plug on it in. Once it was booted up and I telnetted in, I popped in the other drive. This allows you to break the RAID array if the old ones were RAID. Anyway, this is the point that I fdisk /dev/sdb and delete the partitions. I then hit w to write it. I then run fdisk /dev/sda and do the same. After hitting w, there will be an error stating that it could not write the information. Ignor this and reboot the unit. On reboot, both drives will be completely blank and the web utility seems to do okay. By the way, if you are using EXT3 I assume you are using F/W 1.02 or below. EXT3 gets corrupted very quickly with those F/W versions, and I would recommend not using it.
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Thanks - will give that a try before I finally consign the HDD to the dustbin.
Just to confirm, if they have been using the DNS with just 1 HDD in it for a while and then add a 2nd brand new drive (in the LHS) then it should only format the new drive and left the existing one as it is ?
Last edited by AdamBrunt (2008-05-27 10:02:14)
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In theory, but why take the chance? When you want to ad a second drive, shutdown, put in the second drive, start up, format, shutdown, pop in first drive, boot up. Or pop in the new drive hot, telnet in and used fdisk, then format and reboot.
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UPDATE: As a follow-up from my original post...I re-inserted the Right Drive (the one the DNS-323 said failed) last night. It appeared to spin-up and the DNS-323 appeared to rebuild the degraded array. *However* the web GUI still showed the RAID1 volume as degraded.
To confirm any data was on the Right Drive: This morning I shutdown, removed the Left Drive and rebooted with just the Right Drive in the chassis. The data appeared intact on the Right Drive and I could navigate to all directories on the Right Drive just fine.
So, then I shutdown again, re-inserted the Left Drive (so that both drives are now in the chassis). After some disk activity it appears the DNS-323 is "normal" again (based on the LED lights on front panel) and that the Right Drive is operating properly. Again, however, the web GUI shows the RAID1 as "Degraded".
Any suggestions on how to proceed to get my DNS-323 working correctly? I am considering another re-format to RAID1 for starters and then installing the ffp 0.5 so I can telnet in and see what is going on. In fact, I may try that first and do an fdisk on both drives so that I know I am starting fresh.
Thanks for any suggestions...
Last edited by scaryogre (2008-05-27 14:56:48)
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bq041 wrote:
You need telnet acces through the fun_plug. I'm currently using fons' fun_plug 0.5 beta. I start up the unit with only the drive that had the fun_plug on it in. Once it was booted up and I telnetted in, I popped in the other drive. This allows you to break the RAID array if the old ones were RAID.
Question if following your procedure: How do you break the RAID from the command line? Here is what I see when running a df -k:
/ # df -k
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs 9911 7549 1850 80% /
/dev/root 9911 7549 1850 80% /
/dev/md0 478908352 83687808 395220544 17% /mnt/HD_a2
/dev/sda4 497861 2604 495257 1% /mnt/HD_a4
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Scaryogre - after the resync complete reboot the unit and the degraded message should go away.
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fordem wrote:
Scaryogre - after the resync complete reboot the unit and the degraded message should go away.
Thanks fordem. I did try that and it still was showing degraded. I tried a reboot and a shutdown with the same results. I am now formatting the drives (via web GUI) as individual disks after which i will try the fdisk to ensure the partitions are gone. Then try and rebuild the RAID1 array (empty of course) and move my data back.
I'm still nervous about that Right Drive. I suppose it could be the DNS-323 that is faulty as well since the disk seems to come back to life and hasn't had the clicking noise for months after I ejected and re-seated it. It is making me wonder if it's the drive or the drive bay that is having problems...
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scaryogre wrote:
Question if following your procedure: How do you break the RAID from the command line? Here is what I see when running a df -k:
/ # df -k
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs 9911 7549 1850 80% /
/dev/root 9911 7549 1850 80% /
/dev/md0 478908352 83687808 395220544 17% /mnt/HD_a2
/dev/sda4 497861 2604 495257 1% /mnt/HD_a4
You don't need to. It will break all by itself. If you only have 1 disk in , the array may or may not form with 1 disk. If you fdisk and delete the partitions when it is mounted, you will get an error when trying to write the information, but since it is a delete and not trying to create partitions, ignore the error and when you reboot the device, it will be gone. If you want to break the array, but not redo the partitions, you can follow the instructions I posted here in message #110: http://dns323.kood.org/forum/t1150-Tuto … night.html
It will allow you to retain data on both drives. I'm still working on manually building an array. I have it working, but I need to set the configuration files correctlly, because the web interface keeps thinking that the drives are swapped.
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