D-Link Forums
The Graveyard - Products No Longer Supported => D-Link Storage => DNS-325 => Topic started by: Fug1 on January 21, 2015, 11:53:42 AM
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So I took my eye off the storage capacity on my DNS-325 NAS for a couple of weeks and now the volume is full. I can't access it via CIFS or the ShareCenter GUI to delete files. The ShareCenter GUI itself will come up, but when I try to browse my files I get a perpetual "Processing, please wait..." message. I have tried rebooting. If anyone knows of a way to recover files when the NAS is in this state, you'll be my hero!
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Hi, just some semi educated guesses. Assuming standard disk or Raid 1, I think I would try removing the disk and seeing if I could access the files via a LINUX machine, or with one of the softwares mentioned in the sticky for data recovery.
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=41398.0
If you get very lucky, and you are able to see actual files or directories, you should then try to move some small amount of data to something else, or failing that, try to see if you can delete something. Good luck
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Thanks, cable2. It's set up as RAID 1. I just purchased a SATA to USB adapter, so I'll try that. I'm quite surprised that the NAS software would get into such a state that I can't access the file system at all. Seems like a "full volume" would be a fairly common condition, and the filesystem should protect itself from a complete failure.
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Although Cable is probably correct, I'm curious how full you think the Volume should be based on the last time you've checked.
Although the symptoms don't point to this, another circumstance that could cause the Volume to fill up is if the Surveillance Center application is running and recording in the background. Recorded video data is stored in hidden directories, which can fill up the Volume rather quickly. Since the data directory is hidden, users are often confused when their Volume is full and the total size of their data doesn't add-up.
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Hi again,
As far as the Dlink notifying you when the disk approaches "full", I am not sure how common this is. I haven't seen a post like yours as far as I can recollect so it may not occur that often. Just to be sure, if you can get into the 325's gui and check through the log files, it is possible that you could configure some type of email alert similar to the Smart Test, but I don't know for sure. I don't use Dlink's cameras so I don't have to worry about the hidden files issue that JavaLawyer has pointed out. I do know that some recommend never allowing a hard drive to more than 85 to 90% of it's capacity as the drive becomes increasingly sluggish and unresponsive. I have to say also, I am not an fan of Raid 1 especially when the user assumes that this functions as a "true" backup, it is not and if you google Raid 1 failures you may come to agree. You need a seperate backup and at least one local with one remote backup is highly recommended, more if data is critical or high value. JavaLawyer has a sticky regarding the limits of Raid 1 setups, worth reading
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=52519.0
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The volume was definitely full. It was reporting 99% full (16MB remaining) in ShareCenter and via CIFS.
Understood that RAID 1 isn't really a backup. For my most critical files, I maintain a backup copy on a separate storage system and try to keep that backup up to date within a month or so. I have been thinking also about an offline, remote backup solution, in case of a fire at my house, but haven't actually implemented anything yet.
Having said that, I was able to resolve my problem. Posting my steps here in case they become useful for anyone else. Note that this is only applicable to RAID 1 configurations.
1. Shut down the NAS.
2. Pull one of the drives (I pulled the right-side drive).
3. Power up the NAS.
4. At this point, the Volume should be available. I think the sluggishness/responsiveness issue was due to the fact that the Volume was full AND it was trying to sync between the two drives.
5. Delete a few files to get your space under control. I deleted around 300GB out of a 3TB Volume.
6. Take a fresh backup of any critical data.
7. Shut down the NAS.
8. Re-insert the drive.
9. Power up the NAS.
10. At this point, the RAID volume will be in a "degraded" state (meaning that the two drives are not in sync). I didn't have auto-rebuild enabled, so I had to kick off a manual rebuild.
11. Life is good again.
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Legend, saved me here. Same trouble with a RAID1 volume. ;)