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[zogyoby]

i have  just set up my DNS-320L  only have  one hard drive at the moment.  would like  to get a second drive next month but I want to set it up an rid so I have a backup off  all my files on the second drive in case  the first one  fails when I plug in the new drive . How do I make it so it just copies of the data from my first drive so I don't have to format the drive and lose everything I got on my first drive now. as I would not want to lose what i have store on the drive now !!  this would not make me a happy bunny


this new drive will be an new drive

[ivan]

First let me say that any data that you only have one copy of can be damaged or lost - even if it is on a device used for backups.

If you are considering using a RAID setup for your unit I would recommend using RAID 1 as this gives the best protection if a single disk fails.  But, and it is a big but, the safest way of setting that up is to backup your data to and external USB drive that has its own external power supply, format both drives as RAID 1 and then restore your data from the backup.

There are ways to convert one drive to a RAID array but their use always comes with the warning of making a backup of your data to protect against data loss.

[zogyoby]

thanks for the reply so I am best to make a backup copy off all the data on my drive reset up my NAS drives and set them as RAID after putting the new drive in

I can't just put the second drive it and it will become apart off the RAID for me without having to format my drives again and set up my NAS again  ?

all I want to is add a Second Drive to my NAS as at the moment I have one and want a backup copy of the data on the second drive ?

[ivan]

If you want an EXACT copy of your data on both drives then RAID 1 is the best way to go.  The two drives are exact copies of each other and IF one fails then you can just remove and replace that one and it will be rebuilt to match the good one.

If you don't mind doing some work then you can just add the new drive, format it as a single drive but then you are responsible for making sure that the data is copied to it - it is NOT automatic.

Just inserting a new disk into a unit that was formatted with only one disk does not make it a raid array.  Almost all NAS boxes use a software RAID system (there are hardware RAID array NAS units but they cost big money) and software RAID arrays usually require all disks used to be formatted together.  As I said, there are ways of adding another disk to a single disk and creating a RAID array BUT anyone that does that without a FULL backup of their data is being very foolish - without the backup they could lose all their data.  We have never tried that with our data or the data of our clients but we did have a client that tried it and they were very thankful that we had full backups of their data (they only lost half a days work).

 

[zogyoby]

ok thanks for your reply so In other words when I add my new drive I need to reformat them both together and then move my data back after I set it all up as RAID 1 then move my data back in (of course back up all data before i reformate)

so that means then if this the case if one drive did then fail later on down the line years to come I would then have to move all the data to elsewhere off the NAS and then move it all back again

os my better option might be to put the second drive it and just copy and over new files to myself ?


this why i got an copy on both drives and it make  adding new ones on fail easier ?

[ivan]

so that means then if this the case if one drive did then fail later on down the line years to come I would then have to move all the data to elsewhere off the NAS and then move it all back again

No, that is the big advantage of RAID 1, both disks are identical and when the RAID array information is stored on the disks at format time you can have a disk fail sometime in the future and just replace that disk and the array will be restored to the two disks again without you having to worry about data loss.  It is that initial setup and formatting that allows this to happen.

All of our NAS boxes are setup as RAID 1 (even our servers but they are hardware RAID) and we always setup clients with RAID 1.  Over the last 10 years we have seen a few disks fail but the data was secure and the array rebuilt without problems when the failed disk was replaced.

On separate disks with you copying data from one to the other you have only to forget to copy one important set of data and you no longer have a full backup. 

With RAID 1 that copying is taken over by the NAS firmware so that each disk is an exact image of the other.  As an example of that we have a client that had a need to call in the police and the police needed to take the original disk with the data on it as evidence. The client powered down the NAS, pulled one disk and gave it to the police.  When they powered it up again it reported a degraded RAID array, we supplied a replacement disk and installed it, the array was rebuilt without problems.

[zogyoby]

Great thank you for this fully understand what to do now do you work for d-link can i pm you a bit off feedback via pm about getting this and setting up etc  it be very useful to d-link I think

[ivan]

I am pleased that I was of some help.

I don't work for D-Link but I do own my own company that provides IT and engineering services and consultancy to manufacturing companies in the small to medium size range.

Pleas give feedback because that is the only way we know if our advice solved the problem and if it does we can pass it on to the next person with a similar problem.

[robgray]

Hi Zogy,

I did this just last night, and it was smooth. To re-cap ...

I had one drive in my dns-320l as a standard volume, i inserted a new drive (same make, model and size) into the existing empty slot, and followed the process in the following webpage ...
http://www.dlink.com/uk/en/support/faq/network-storage-and-backup/nas/dns-series/uk_dns_how_to_add_a-second_disk_and_reconfigure_as_raid_1

it formatted the new drive (just the new drive, not the old one) and built a raid1 volume.
It went surprisingly smoothly!

Rob

[FurryNutz]

Glad you got it working. Thanks for the pointer. Hope it helps future users.

Enjoy. 

[ivan]

Hi robgray,

The one thing missing from http://www.dlink.com/uk/en/support/faq/network-storage-and-backup/nas/dns-series/uk_dns_how_to_add_a-second_disk_and_reconfigure_as_raid_1 is the very important notation to have a full tested backup before you start.

While D-Link have added that ability to the DNS-320L it is not foolproof.  We had one client lose their data on the NAS doing exactly as stated in that article, fortunately, we had the nightly backup stored (they did this to try and save making backups by taking out one disk, replacing it with a new drive and remaking the RAID array - they now make proper backups).

[zogyoby]

wow thank you for the other link robgray yer ill make sure I do an backup before even if it does work always better to be safe then sorry my new drive should be coming to my door to day . so hopefully I get it installed today i think i write an nice feedback post here at some point for all to see think it would make having this nas so much easiter for the less Techy ill make it on an new post i think 

Hi robgray,

The one thing missing from http://www.dlink.com/uk/en/support/faq/network-storage-and-backup/nas/dns-series/uk_dns_how_to_add_a-second_disk_and_reconfigure_as_raid_1 is the very important notation to have a full tested backup before you start.

While D-Link have added that ability to the DNS-320L it is not foolproof.  We had one client lose their data on the NAS doing exactly as stated in that article, fortunately, we had the nightly backup stored (they did this to try and save making backups by taking out one disk, replacing it with a new drive and remaking the RAID array - they now make proper backups).

[robgray]

I agree, a backup is totally worth having before starting this work.

Thankfully I didn't need it, but wouldn't like to be in a position where I needed it and didn't have it!