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[OneBitWonder]

Hello,
I am not new to computers but I am to Network storage, kind of.  I have had a DNS323 with a 2TB drive for 4-5 years now and it has worked flawlessly.  I just bought another drive and installed it, the fw formatted it but I can't use the new drive.  I can see there are 2 volumes labeled Standard in the Hard Drive Info section of the Status Tab in the configuration tool (web) but when I use the D-Link easy search utility to map the drive, it does not appear there; only see the original drive. As far as the original drive goes, nothing has changed; functions as normal.

Am I doing something wrong, or missing something?  I'd like to remove the drive and start over but I don't want to lose my existing data.  Not sure if I would so I am asking first.

Thanks

[ivan]

It appears that you have correctly installed the new drive but I would recommend that you read the 'replacing or adding a new hard drive' section in the manual just to confirm that you did everything in the correct order.

There should be no problems with removing the new drive provided you turn the unit off first (it is a good idea to mark the drives as to which slot they occupy especially if you remove both - that way you get them back in the correct slots).

Since we have never used the easy search utility - it doesn't run on our OS/2 operating system - I would ask if you see the new drive in network places as well as your old drive?  If you can then, depending on your operating system and version, it is possible to map the drive from there.

[OneBitWonder]

Thanks Ivan,
I only just got to this last night. When I installed the drive I had the manual open to replacing or adding a new drive and followed it step by step.

I shut the NAS down and removed the drive.  I restarted the NAS to make sure I could still access my existing data and then shut it down again.  Re-installed the drive and booted the NAS again.  I thought this would trigger it to re-format and go through the whole process again, but it didn't.

What it did do was name that drive BT and it created the BT folder just like I had installed on Volume_1.  I assumed it would label the second drive as Volume_2.  Does this seem right?

Regardless, I now have full access to the second drive.

Thanks for your help

[ivan]

I think you may have stumbled over the 'which slot is the master' problem.

Strange as it may seem the slots are master on the right when looking from the front while most people put a single drive in the left slot when looking from the front (this is why we always tell people that are going to remove both disks to label which slot they are in).

A single drive will always get the label Volume_1 regardless which slot it is in.  If the single drive is in the secondary slot and you then add a second drive in the master slot the firmware, which is rather simple, does not know how to label the new drive, it knows it is there but that is as far as it goes.  Your making a folder broke that deadlock and made the drive visible which gives you full access.

DON'T try and change things, you would be very likely to lose your data and what you have should work without problems - even if it is an odd volume label.

[OneBitWonder]

Thanks Ivan,
That's funny because the quick start guide for this NAS says, if you are only using one drive, then put it in the left slot.

Another thing I learned from this is the DNS-323 only supports 2TB and less drives while the new drive I installed is 3TB.  Since I was having an issue at the start of this I decided to look into making my own NAS.  I have a spare mini-ITS MB and am planning on running NAS4Free on that and using the new 3TB drive with that.

You mentioned I shouldn't change things as I may lose my data.  Do you think if I simply remove the drive that would affect my current data?

I should have quite while I was ahead when the initial install didn't work.

Thanks again

[ivan]

If you want to remove the new drive and you have not put any data on it then all you need to do is switch the unit off, remove the drive, switch back on and everything on the old drive should be there without any problem.  It is only getting a drive from one slot into the other one where problems occur.

If you do build your own NAS backup your data from the 323 then format the drives in the new system and restore from the backup.

Another thing you might like to consider if the unit is functioning correctly is to change the firmware to Alt-F (see the sticky at the start of this forum) which I think can use larger drives.