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[Warchild]

Hiya,


I'm running low on hair to rip out right about now. I bought the DNS-323 to effectively replace a dead Drobo, since I learned the hard lesson about using a device that stores your "safely backed-up files" under a proprietary format (ie. "safe storage" went right out the window when the hardware croaked). I wanted something that would allow me to still read my files from the drives in the event of hardware failure, and the 323 looked like the ideal sollution.

Unfortunately the ads and tech specs on the various websites offering the DNS-323 leave out some important info, and give misleading info. Nowhere does it say anything about the EXT2/EXT3 file system, or that FAT32 and NTFS aren't supported. Yes, that info is in the docs that come with the device, and on the home website, but not in any of the descriptions where it's being sold. I got around this one by simply installing a driver that allows the format to be read, so that's not a big deal, but the one that really got me was the lack of USB. In all the ads it boldy states "USB!" Nowhere beyond the manual included with the device does it bother to tell you that the included USB port is only for hooking up a printer, not a method of utilizing the device for its primary function.

So now I've gotta figure out how to hook this puppy up directly to the computer. Oh, I tried hooking it up to the router, but since most of the PCs in this house only handle wireless-G, and the router for some weird reason doesn't connect at all when I set it for both G & N, I'm stuck with G, and it's ungodly slow (a 600 MB file wanted to take almost an hour to transfer). One day I'll upgrade everything else and get a spiffy new router, and I do see the advantage of having a DNS-323 when I do, but for now my only option is to do a direct connection. And this is where things get weird.

I connected it to my old laptop (a 2006 model HP Pavilion, which is my main PC for the time being, as my desktop system died and is gonna take me months to rebuild) using the included network cable. The 323 was visible in the Network window, and the Easysearch software could see it, but everything was greyed-out. No option to configure or connect (mount) the drive. Directly clicking the device in the Network window just stalled out. So I suddenly remember that direct connections need a crossover cable, and I order a decent one (cat-6, all four pairs crossed). It arrived yesterday, so this evening I try to hook it up and start over. Now it's not showing up at all, and the system (I'm running Vista, since my lappie can't handle W7) interprets it as a new, public network connection, which screws up my wireless and kills my connection. I eventually got all the fixed (had to disconnect the cable) and was back up and running. So I search the forums here and read similar queries, and see various comments saying the crossover cable isn't needed. (Thumping head on wall at this point, heh heh.)

So I switch back to the blue cable that came with it, and hook it back up. Now it doesn't see it with this cable, either! There is, however, a listing under the Properties of the Network (Network and Sharing Center) of an Unidentified Public Network (local), so the system does know it's there after a fashion.

And that's where I'm stuck now. I haven't got a clue where to go from here. I've read older posts relating to this subject, but most of the suggestions are using terms I don't understand, so I can't try any of them without additional info explaining what the terms mean, and where to actually go to modify something within Windows, etc.

If anyone's familiar with the ins-and-outs of my plight, and has the patience to walk me through what needs to be done, I'd be eternally grateful.

[dosborne]

My suggestion (rant issues aside):
- Hook it back to your router
- Assign it a static IP
- Assign your NIC a static IP in the same subnet
- Connect it directly to the NIC using the striaght thru cable
- Run the easy search or access using the static IP.

[Warchild]

Now, now. There's nothing wrong with a good rant once in awhile. It's good for the soul.

Anywho, I see where you're leading, if not the exact application (I'm incredibly rusty when it comes to networking stuff). By NIC I'm assuming you're effectively referring to the jack on the side of my laptop, but I'm a bit confused by two points.

First, when you say that I should assign a static IP for the 323, do you mean from within the router, or using Windows? I used to do a lot of port forwarding, years ago, and vaguely recall once having to set up a static IP. From what I remember, I had to forward software from within the router, but the PC's static IP was a Windows function enabled under the TCP/IP settings. Or am I remembering wrong?

Second, I'm curious why I would need to assign a static IP to the laptop, too. Wouldn't that be redundant?

Also, I ran across the following comment relating to this subject in an older thread. I'm curious as to your opinion (especially since I have no idea what he's talking about)...

For a stand-alone configuration, probably the easiest is to configure the DNS-323 DHCP server so your configuration on the computer doesn't change.

And this I'm doing simply because it's nifty and I haven't seen it in a forum before...

Weeeeee!!!!!
(Yeah, I'm easily amused).

[dosborne]

If you connect the PC and the DNS323 directly together via a network connection, then there is no DHCP server available for either of them to get an IP address from therefore you must assign static IP addresses. Your laptop has multiple NIC (Network Interface Cards) and each must have an IP addresses, either static or dynamic, in order to be used.

Assigning an IP to the DNS323 is done using the web admin console.

[jamieburchell]

Since this is NETWORK Attached Storage, the USB port was never designed to give you access to the hard drives. Which is probably why it doesn't say that anywhere.

You would have been better off buying a USB hard drive if you are attaching it to 1 computer.

[fordem]

Second, I'm curious why I would need to assign a static IP to the laptop, too. Wouldn't that be redundant?

Every device on a network must have it's own unique network address - and if you have a device with two network interfaces on two different networks, then each network interface must also have it's own, preferably unique, network address.

In your case the laptop has a wireless interface with one ip address, presumably dynamic, and leased from the router's DHCP server, so if you connect the wired interface to a second network without a DHCP server, then you need to assign a static ip address to the wired interface.

Also, I ran across the following comment relating to this subject in an older thread. I'm curious as to your opinion (especially since I have no idea what he's talking about)...

For a stand-alone configuration, probably the easiest is to configure the DNS-323 DHCP server so your configuration on the computer doesn't change.

The DNS-323 has a very basic DHCP server, which is disabled by default - if you wanted to, you could enable this DHCP server and have both the wired & wireless interfaces on the laptop configured for DHCP addressing, this would make life easier if you used the laptop's wired interface frequently.