DSM-G600, DNS-3xx and NSA-220 Hack Forum

awesome · 2009-01-08 22:16:19

I'm thinking of picking up a DNS-323 since I've found that it seems to have the largest community support and reasonable price. My two main purposes are:

- More HD Space (my laptop is almost full)
- Redundancy (my laptop is getting old and I want to ensure all my photos/music don't get lost)

So I'm thinking about picking up the DNS-323 and a pair of 500 gig HDs to run in RAID 1. I have a few questions that I hope people can answer.

1) Any recommendations on good hard drives? I don't follow hardware much (I'm a software engineer...) so is there a brand/type of hard drive that is considered "the best" now a days?

2) i) What happens if/when a hard drive fails? I've read that the DNS-323 can be setup to send you an email saying there's a failure. But then what?
ii) You require matching hard drives, correct?
iii) Does this mean that if one HD fails in 5 years that since 500 gig HDs will likely be obsolete that I'll have to buy 2 new HDs since they'll need to match? Then dump the data from the working drive to one of new drives and let it mirror to the other RAID 1 drive? So the working 500 gig drive will be garbage?

3) If there is a failure, can I just pick up another hard drive? Or do you need to be matched pairs?

Any info on this would be great. I've spent hours trying to find this information in reviews and forums with no luck.

Thanks again!

awesome · 2009-01-08 22:31:55

And sorry, one more quick question that I've been trying to find. Is it possible to simply play an xvid/divx file off the server? Let's say I download a torrent using the BT manager, do I then need to copy the file to my laptop before playing? I know it's using a 54 mbit connection wireless G to connect to my laptop, but I'm not sure whether that's fast enough. Anyone have any experience with this? I've read on one review that it was choppy. Is this true? I would think that an xvid/divx file is small enough to stream fine.

mig · 2009-01-09 01:44:12

From D-Link's FAQ has the answers to a lot of your RAID questions:

http://support.dlink.com/products/view. … NS-323#faq

One thing to note, RAID1 will only protect your data from a single
hard drive failure. If you want your data protected from any other
type of failure (and there are many other types of failures). You
must make a backup of your data.

Last edited by mig (2009-01-09 01:45:13)

duhblow7 · 2009-01-09 22:50:12

1) Any recommendations on good hard drives?

-I do not. I have had every brand of drive fail on me. I can't say one drive is better than another, however I'm sure others will have a preference.

2) i) What happens if/when a hard drive fails? I've read that the DNS-323 can be setup to send you an email saying there's a failure. But then what?

- you would replace the drive and the software raid should initialize the new disc. the dns-323 uses the linux package mdadm. if i had a failed drive, i would telnet into the box and ensure the array has been rebuilt. you can do so with the cmd-line mdadm. i'm not sure how gracefully the dns-323 handles a crash and subsequent rebuild, however if you shell in, you have full control. You could even remove the drives from the dns-323, install them in a desktop computer, boot to a linux bootCD and mount up your array so long as the bootCD has mdadm support.

ii) You require matching hard drives, correct?

- incorrect. you require two drives and the RAID-1 will be as large as the smaller drive. For instance with a 40GB and a 30GB drive, you would build a 30GB RAID-1.

iii) Does this mean that if one HD fails in 5 years that since 500 gig HDs will likely be obsolete that I'll have to buy 2 new HDs since they'll need to match? Then dump the data from the working drive to one of new drives and let it mirror to the other RAID 1 drive? So the working 500 gig drive will be garbage?

- see above. in 10 years if a 500gb failed, you could throw a 10TB drive in there and rebuild your 500GB RAID-1 leaving a ton of unused space.

3) If there is a failure, can I just pick up another hard drive? Or do you need to be matched pairs?

- you can pick up a new drive of larger size obviously. doesn't need to be exact model numbers.

awesome · 2009-01-14 01:13:36

Thanks so much for the answers. Anyone know about the streaming of video over wifi off the server? A xvid movie for example playing on to my laptop computer? Will it lag?

kinetek · 2009-01-14 18:23:23

I have had no issues streaming xvids from my DNS-323.
This is through a wired 10/100 connection, and a wireless G connection.
Sometimes I experience stutter when transferring files to the device while streaming, but thats just general bandwidth and/or bus limitations.
I highly recommend a wired connection for streaming large HD .mkv's etc.
Also, the program used to play the files can have an impact.

heavybass · 2009-01-15 11:01:38

I want to add that for RAID 1, it is better to use HDs of different brands. The propability that two HDs of the the same brand (and even the same production series) fail at the same time is definitely higher than two HDs of different brands. By using two different HDs you increase the hardware redundancy.

I set up my DNES 323 yesterday and used two 1TB HDs (one WD and one Samsung).

Iznakurnog · 2009-01-15 12:10:52

Two WD10EADS - 1TB each is quite good cold and silent for me ....

fordem · 2009-01-15 15:19:37

heavybass wrote:
I want to add that for RAID 1, it is better to use HDs of different brands. The propability that two HDs of the the same brand (and even the same production series) fail at the same time is definitely higher than two HDs of different brands. By using two different HDs you increase the hardware redundancy.

I set up my DNES 323 yesterday and used two 1TB HDs (one WD and one Samsung).

Is this conjecture or do you have statistics to back it up? One day I'll put together a web site to highlight the myths and misconceptions of RAID.

Search the net - not only will you find this theory, but you will find the exact opposite hypothesis - that, for RAID to work, you need to have the exact same drive, capacity, make & model - which one is correct.

Going on personal experience - neither one is - I've been implementing RAID arrays since the early '90's - a factory shipment from any of the big three PC server manufacturer's will more often than not contain drives not only from the same manufacturer, but frequently the same model and even batch - it is possible to have a defective bad batch, but only once have I seen any one of those manufacturers recall drives for that reason - and on that occassion, I pro-actively replaced the customers' drives as instructed and personally ran the drives from the defective batch - I still have some of those drives in use today, over three years later.

To deal with the opposite hypothesis - if you have a drive fail under warranty, the same big three will ship you a replacement, which may be a different, a different model, a different capacity (it will work as long as it's larger), a different speed (it will work as long as it's faster).

DSM-G600, DNS-3xx and NSA-220 Hack Forum

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#1 2009-01-08 22:16:19

DNS-323 Raid 1 Noob Question

#2 2009-01-08 22:31:55

Re: DNS-323 Raid 1 Noob Question

#3 2009-01-09 01:44:12

Re: DNS-323 Raid 1 Noob Question

#4 2009-01-09 22:50:12

Re: DNS-323 Raid 1 Noob Question

#5 2009-01-14 01:13:36

Re: DNS-323 Raid 1 Noob Question

#6 2009-01-14 18:23:23

Re: DNS-323 Raid 1 Noob Question

#7 2009-01-15 11:01:38

Re: DNS-323 Raid 1 Noob Question

#8 2009-01-15 12:10:52

Re: DNS-323 Raid 1 Noob Question

#9 2009-01-15 15:19:37

Re: DNS-323 Raid 1 Noob Question

heavybass wrote:

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