D-Link Forums
The Graveyard - Products No Longer Supported => D-Link Storage => DNS-323 => Topic started by: hoglyf on July 25, 2009, 08:26:47 PM
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is this possible? or would i have to back the files up to another drive before inserting in to the DNS-323?
this is just using it as a standard format, by the way. thanks!
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Something tells me the answer is no the 323 will format them to ext2 or ext3 file formats i dont think it can read a fat or ntfs drive
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thanks krenkey. i skimmed through the manual and did not find that the DNS-323 could not read NTFS format. so this means that you can not take a drive out of the DNS-323 and plug it in (externally or internally) a docking station on a Vista computer and be able to access the files, am i right?
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First - there is no such thing as a 'standard' format, and every drive has to be (partitioned and) formatted before use - most operating systems use different (and frequently incompatible) file system formats, Linux has ext2, ext3 & rieser (to name a few), Windows has FAT, FAT32, and several different variations of NTFS.
Your question really becomes can I insert a (specify file system here) formatted drive into the DNS-323 (and use it) without formatting, and the answer may vary depending on what file system the drive was originally (partitioned and) formatted with. It will also depend on what drive configuration your DNS-323 is configured for.
If you insert a drive with the correct ext2 partition structure into a DNS-323 that is configured for standard volumes it will not prompt you to format it, and you will be able to access the files - to approach from a slightly different angle, if you were to place the same drive in a DNS-323 that is configured for RAID1 it will prompt you to format.
You can take a drive from the DNS-323 and connect it to a Windows system and you should be able to access it using an installable file system driver such as the ext2ifs - I have done this with Windows XP, I have heard of people having difficulty doing it with Vista, but I have not tried it with Vista personally.
One last thing - be very careful when swapping disks in and out of the DNS-323 - you just might create unneccessary headaches for yourself.
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thanks fordem.
if i understood you correctly, the DNS-323 would require a re-format of an NTFS formatted drive, but it should bypass the re-format if the drive is already in the ext2 format (assuming that the DNS is in standard format configuration).
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so you're saying that the DNS doesn't support standard file formatting?
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so you're saying that the DNS doesn't support standard file formatting?
How about YOU define what YOU mean by standard file formatting.
I have just explained (a few posts earlier) that there is no single standard disk format, do you want me to go through a similar explanation on file formats - just as an example, do you have any idea how many different (and incompatible) file formats Microsoft Word alone uses?
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thanks fordem.
if i understood you correctly, the DNS-323 would require a re-format of an NTFS formatted drive, but it should bypass the re-format if the drive is already in the ext2 format (assuming that the DNS is in standard format configuration).
Yes, the DNS-323 will require a repartition and reformat of an NTFS drive before it can be used, it MAY also require a repartition and reformat of an ext2 drive if the partition structure does not match what the DNS-323 expects.
My suggestion would be to install the drives, format them and then use the DNS-323 as a NAS, fiddling with the drives and swapping them back and forth will, sooner or later, result in lost data and grief.
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thanks again fordem.
i went ahead and purchased my DNS-323 today and got it up and running painlessly. i was asking all these questions prior to my purchase, and now that i actually have the NAS things are really making sense.
i'm a little disappointed in the file transfer speed of my network (none of which i believe is the NAS's fault). i have AT&T U-verse's 2-Wire Residential Gateway as my modem/router which i'm hoping will be upgraded to a gigabit ethernet (10/100 only currently). i'm only getting about 11mbps etherner-to-ethernet, and about 10.1mbps wireless using 2 of d-link's DAP-1522 for an access point and wireless bridge (802.11n).
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The DNS-323 is no speed demon - on a 100 mbps network, you'll probably see 8~9MB/sec and perhaps double that on gigabit. Oh - that's with large files (>2GB) - throughput will plummet with small files.
When you go gigabit, try to get a switch that supports jumbo frame - you can push as much as 30MB/sec on a good day.
Please note - the equipment at the other end of the transfer (that you're copying to/from) also plays a part, the figures above were achieved using an IBM server with a RAID1 array, my Dell desktop is a lot slower.
One last thing - don't be surprised if you find that the throughput using wireless generally sucks (even wireless-n), a good wireless-g install will give you 2~3MB/sec, wireless-n might double that - it's just the way wireless works.
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The DNS-323 is no speed demon - on a 100 mbps network, you'll probably see 8~9MB/sec and perhaps double that on gigabit. Oh - that's with large files (>2GB) - throughput will plummet with small files.
geez! i guess i'm at the top end of the spectrum @ 11mbps (more or less) :o
and you were right about small files (< 2 gig), the transfer rate dropped drastically!
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Lets try to keep our units straight, shall we ;) is that 11 mbps - 11 megabits/sec or 11 MegaBytes/sec?
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Lets try to keep our units straight, shall we ;) is that 11 mbps - 11 megabits/sec or 11 MegaBytes/sec?
i believe Vista reports it as 11 MegaBytes/sec, so that will be 88 megabits/sec and some change. ;D
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Whilst there are 8 bits in a byte - the math ignores the network overheads - addressing, framing, etc. so 11MBytes/sec is probably right on "wire speed" - I'd say you doing pretty good there.
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just got an email back from d-link tech support. i sent a question regarding removing and re-inserting a hard drive that's been formatted by the DNS-323. the question was would the DNS-323 recognize this drive as a previously formatted drive and skip the formatting process, or would it still re-format the drive? the answer was it would still re-format the drive.
somehow i don't agree with that since the DNS-323 stores the formatting info on the drive itself. it's like turning the unit off and on again, but it does not reformat the drives. i guess i'll find out sooner or later.
what do y'all think?
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It has been my experience that if you remove a drive that has been previously formatted as a standard volume (not RAID0, not RAID1 and not JBOD) that it can be reinstalled at a later date without the system prompting you to reformat it provided the system has not been reconfigured for anything other than a standard volume.
Having said that - recent firmware updates now track the installed drives by serial number and this behaviour may have changed.
In any event - and as I posted earlier - be very careful when swapping disks in and out of the DNS-323 - you just might create unneccessary headaches for yourself.
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It has been my experience that if you remove a drive that has been previously formatted as a standard volume (not RAID0, not RAID1 and not JBOD) that it can be reinstalled at a later date without the system prompting you to reformat it provided the system has not been reconfigured for anything other than a standard volume.
Having said that - recent firmware updates now track the installed drives by serial number and this behaviour may have changed.
In any event - and as I posted earlier - be very careful when swapping disks in and out of the DNS-323 - you just might create unneccessary headaches for yourself.
thanks, fordem. your earlier post is what actually prompted me to ask tech support about this (which i probably should not expect too much from).
my concern is that i know i will use up all the space on the drives i have in the DNS-323 eventually (i rip my blu-ray movies to ISO files for backup and HTPC) and i will have to put new ones in. and of course, i would have to re-insert the other drive(s) back in when i want to access the ISO files that are in them.
i know that i will keep the format "standard" and hopefully that will virtually eliminate any issues later. and hopefully, this new FW (with its serial number tracking feature) will know not to re-format the drives it has records of (unless prompted to by the user).
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Unfortunately the serial number tracking mechanism only stores two serial numbers, one for the left and one for the right - it's sole purpose is to establish the fact that the drive has been changed and force a format.
This is a NAS server, however, the mode of operation you describe is not the way a NAS should be used - it seems that what you are looking for is a high capacity removable media storage unit - if you treat this unit in that fashion, sooner or later you will end up with lost data.
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i'm sure glad you're around this forum, fordem, thanks.
i did not realize that the 1.08 FW will only store two serial numbers. that leaves me no choice but to stay with 1.07 (which so far works for me, anyway).
and you're right, i'm treating this NAS like a high capacity removable storage device. i still think it will work as such (as long as i stay with the 1.07 FW). my plan is to keep the volume 1 hard drive in the DNS-323 permanently, and place/change/remove/re-insert volume 2 hard drives only as i fill them up to capacity. this way, the DNS-323 will format a new hard drive as volume 2 everytime, which then makes all the hard drives i'm switching around as volume 2 drives (and i hope this plan works!)
a real high capacity removable storage device is really out of my price range, which is why i went with the NAS.
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I never said that it was 1.08 that would only store two serial numbers - as far as I know, none of the firmware releases store more than two - I used the phase "recent releases", the earlier releases didn't track the numbers at all.
If you insist on using the unit in a mannerit was not designed for, do not be surprised, if/when, sooner or later you end up loosing data.
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I never said that it was 1.08 that would only store two serial numbers - as far as I know, none of the firmware releases store more than two - I used the phase "recent releases", the earlier releases didn't track the numbers at all.
sorry, my bad. would you happen to know the most recent FW release that still does not track serial numbers? thanks.
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If you insist on using the unit in a mannerit was not designed for, do not be surprised, if/when, sooner or later you end up loosing data.
i totally appreciate the warning...duly noted. :)