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Hi, I'm new to all this and have just set up my 323 (with 2 seagate barracuda 500g) . I want my data to be as safe as possible on this thing, so I chose Raid 1. When asked for the desired capacity I seem to have chosen a little less than the full amount. it is know showing two volumes as follows:
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HARD DRIVE INFO :
Volume Name: Volume_1
Volume Type: RAID 1
Sync Time Remaining: Completed
Total Hard Drive Capacity: 487213 MB
Used Space: 8327 MB
Unused Space: 478885 MB
Volume Name: Volume_2
Volume Type: Linear
Total Hard Drive Capacity: 8986 MB
Used Space: 28 KB
Unused Space: 8986 MB
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1) I'm backing everything up to volume 1. Does this mean that everything is being saved on both the hard drives, so that if one of them fails, then there will still be a copy on the other drive?
2) what is the volume 2? can i also just use that as extra storage, and on which drive would it be saved?
3) on 'my computer' the new drives appear as ntfs. I thought the 323 used a different format, no? when I set it up, the 323 just formatted automatically without asking anything.
Thanks!
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When you choose RAID1 and select less than the full capacity available, the DNS-323 will create a RAID1 array of the desired capacity and a JBOD volume from the remainder - so yes your RAID is configured safely.
You say you're "backing everything up to Volume 1" - yes - everything is being saved to both disks, and one fails there will still be a copy on the other drive. I just want you to know, that using this approach you now have three copies of the data - the original, and the two backup copies, not really necessary, but it's your data and if you like the "belt & suspenders" approach, that's fine.
Volume 2 would be that JBOD - Just a Bunch Of Disks - volume that I mentioned earlier - yes you can use it as extra storage. The data will go to the first drive (right bay I think) until that is full, and then to the second drive (left bay) - you can write to it and watch the drive LEDS to see which drive is being written to.
The disk format is ext2, and the DNS-323 won't ask because ext2 is the only format available - WIndows doesn't know what the format the disks are, because the DNS-323 uses SAMBA to "export" them so that they appear in the SMB/CIFS protocols, so that Windows thinks it's another Windows server.
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many thanks for the answers.
my primary computer is a laptop, so while i do of course have all my main documents on it, there is not enough room for all the movies and music, and some of these will be kept only on the dns, i.e. there will only be two copies on the mirrored disk - which is why i wanted to make sure it was set up right. anyhow, considering that i'm not much of a techie and am using windows, etc, there is always a fair chance that the belt or suspenders will snap at some point, so i'm happy using both...
by the way, is it normal that the fan is running all the time, even though disks are not being accessed? the unit is at around 35-37c.
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Ok - now that you mention keeping stuff only on the DNS, a word of caution - RAID is not a substitute for backup, you need to have a second copy somewhere, and a mirror copy doesn't count.
As for the fan - I have no idea if it's normal, I have never checked mine and it's pretty much inaudible over the general ruckus made by the rest of my gear (my DNS-323 lives on a shelf in an equipment rack along with my other network gear)
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thanks again. can i ask why mirroring doesn't count as backup, if copies exist on both the drives in the dns? is there a real likelihood that both of them would fail together? (at any rate, the important documents exist also on my computer, as does my favourite music, so it would just be the movie collection that would be lost if both dns drives went. a shame, but not the end of the world)
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The problem isn't as much that 'both drives go simultaneously', but rather some user-error... (or low-level filesystem screwup) takes out the root filesystem all at once.
My personal backup strategy? I use a main-RAID'd drive as a working-environment, and then sync to a secondary single-drive every once in a while. (backing up thigns to a cdrom/tape/whatever would also work).
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sambalgado wrote:
thanks again. can i ask why mirroring doesn't count as backup, if copies exist on both the drives in the dns? is there a real likelihood that both of them would fail together? (at any rate, the important documents exist also on my computer, as does my favourite music, so it would just be the movie collection that would be lost if both dns drives went. a shame, but not the end of the world)
Both copies are on one device, and are written to simultaneously.
If that one device fails, you could lose your data - if you accidentally delete data, it's immediately deleted from both copies, if a virus gets your data, it'll get both copies.
If you can live with the loss - by all means use it this way - I just want you to be aware of the risks.
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Thanks. another question on whether it is set up correctly - when I copy data on to the RAID1 volume, the led blue light is lit and does some blinking for the right side drive. The left side drive light is not lit at all. is that normal? I thought that if it is copying to both drives, then both lights should be lit and blinking.
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Both LEDs should be lit and blinking.
There are several posts here that report failure of the LEDs themselves - this may be the case with your device.
You can test it if you like - power the unit off and remove the right side drive and then power it back on - try to read data from it (do NOT try to write to it) - if you can read the data, the drive is there and functional, even though the LED may be off. After the test, power the unit off and reinstall the right side drive.
Please note - if you have email alerts configured, the unit will send you an email telling you a drive has failed.
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Followed your suggestion - I took out the right drive, and then (it took a couple of minutes after at first the pc was saying disconnected) I managed to see my files, and I sucessfully played an mp3 file from the dns. Can I assume then that the left drive is functioning ok, and it is just a problem with the light?
Should I also take out both drives and switch them around or is that something that shouldn't be done?
when I checked the status while the drive was out, it looked the same as before - sholdn't it be showing something. however, i do seem to have received an email of hard drive failure, while the drive was out.
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What I've noticed is that the unit takes a few minutes to boot up - during which time it's not available - you can see this - the unit is not accessible until the front panel LED stops flashing.
If the drive with the non functional LED can be read from, then yes, it would appear to be a LED problem - I'm not certain what happens if you swap the drives around.
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I tried switching the drives around:
The only difference was that only drive a in the right gave me access to the smaller jbod volume, although it didn't show the actual folder. with drive b there was only one volume (the raid 1) showing up. once the two drives were back in, the jbod volume was showing normally together with the raid one. I assume this is because the jbod only stores on one drive, so what i saw was normal?
Most importantly - in all configurations of just one drive inserted - drive a in right, drive a in left, drive b in right, drive b in left - I was able to access my files from the raid 1 volume (tested by playing mp3 files from it each time).
In all of the above, the right led light was working whenever either drive was on the right, and the left led light never lit up with either of the drives.
I suppose I can now be confident that the raid is configured ok, and that both drives are working, but that there is faulty led light. Correct?
If then we assume it's just an led problem, do you think i should try and have it fixed? it's brand new and a bit annoying to have a problem, but i'm not really eager to send the box away...
by the way, thanks for all your answers so far!
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The JBOD will store data on the first drive only - until it is full (the partition, not the drive) and then on the second. As for the LED problem, it's really up to you, but I like my gear fully functional, and when it's not going to cost me a fortune - either in cash or in time - I fix it.
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