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[DenisM]

My DNS-320 has been working reliably in RAID1 for a no of years now, with two 3TB Seagate drives. Early this year ( February) one drive failed ( Raid degraded) and I replaced it . No problem, it rebuilt and worked. This week it reported 'degraded' again and it now will not detect the second drive (right slot).   I can see all data on the left drive.

I extracted the drive and installed it in  a Win7 to see if it was detected. It was  was as three drives, two of which appeared to be unformatted.  I ran Seatools and it passed SMART and basic short test.

I tested the HD in with a a live ubuntu bootup  and it tests as OK, showing as having three partitions.   I could not see any of my files tho'

I installed another older 3TB drive that I know is good (even tho' it fails a SMART test).   It was NOT detected either.

It looks like the NAS is failing to detect  any drive in the right slot.
Could the drive be intact, while not being detected ?

Is there any option open to me at this stage ?

If I buy another NAS , could I simply swap in the two drives, and would they work OK ?

[ivan]

A few points.

1) the fact you put the drive in a computer with a windows operating system and then allowed windows to access it means that any data you had on it is gone because windows does not understand the Linux file system and destroys the file system data.

2) since you can read the data on the remaining disk make a backup of that data, you will need that backup if you have to get a new NAS because although the physical disks are transferable between NAS boxes the software RAID array setup is not and they will need to be formatted in the new NAS.

Physically checking the NAS will depend on your level of skill and ability because you need to open the NAS box and examine the mainboard.  With the mainboard exposed check the voltage of the CMOS battery, it will most probably need replacing, also check for any dust and fluff that may be blocking the drive slots.  Then use a high power magnifying glass to examine the solder joints of the drive connectors on the underside of the mainboard (you are looking for dry joints which appears as dark rings between the pin and the solder on the board).

If you don't think you are able to do the physical work in the NAS box you may be able to find a shop that specialises in repairing computers and equipment to do it for you.

[DenisM]

Thank for that advice.

I've checked the hard drive with Seatools - it passed all tests , also the long generic test.   I 'cleaned'  the drive with Diskpart in Win 7 .

I then re-inserted it in the NAS. (The faulty one was the RIGHT slot).

Now when I select Management SMART test , both drive are listed and both pass the SMART test....

When I select Management -> AutoRebuild  config ->   and select Manual rebuild, it says (in status bar bottom of screen "Waiting for 192.168.1.102"  , then quickly flashes to
' Hard Drive Config'  ->  Initialising.... '
Then quickly flashes another message under the initialinsing progress bar ( too fast to read ..something like SWC _ done ??) .

And then quickly returns to the Hard Drive Config menu ....
Only the power blue LED and the RIGHT blue LED are lighting now.. No indication from the left LED.

Now I'm puzzled    

Is it rebuilding ?   

Thanks again.



 

[DenisM]

I restarted and followed the process outlined in the FAQ section .

http://support.dlink.com/ProductInfo.aspx?m=DNS-320

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

    How do I restore my RAID1 settings if a drive has failed on my DNS-320/321/323/3


It's now syncing as expected.   It makes sense to research before diving in ...

Let's hope it completes ok. 

Thanks again.

[DenisM]

Sync completed successfully.  All up and running again. Nothing lost.

One remaining issue :    The LEFT drive LED seems to have failed. I see no activity - neither  blue nor orange.  I suspect the LED has failed. Strange since it was the RIGHT  drive that failed

The whole problem was, most likely  caused by a power cut , and I suppose it could have  killed one of the LED also.

Anyone know if it's a composite LED blue/orange or two separate LEDS ?   
I'm handy with soldering . I could  replace it quite easily, if that was the issue.

Could it be a  LED driver component that's failed ?

Hmmm............... questions questions 

[FurryNutz]

Glad you have the drives going.

You might open up the case and see what the LED is. Some are a single LED that does two color modes...If the colors are seen in a single window, could be a single LED.

[DenisM]

Will do that over the weekend. 

[ivan]

Depending on which series mainboard you have the LEDs may be surface mount units with with SMT driver transistors on the underside of the board.

All of the LEDs are bi-colour units although, in some cases, it is possible to use a pair of rectangular LEDs side by side (mainly in the DNS-323 and 343 units).

[DenisM]

I open it up to look. It involves an almost complete disassembly to get at the PCB.   The LEDS are indeed surface mount , and so tiny. Additionally they are covered by a strip of sponge - presumably to seal the light in. The light is fed upwards through plastic elongated lenses, bent forward towards the front face of the case.

I decided to let well enough alone. The NAS is working fine. I've set it to email to me all event that can occur, which will keep me advised.
In any case, I rarely see the NAS, so the absence of LEDs is not that important, I suppose.

Thanks  for your input