Basic NAS questions

[snuuggles]

I started another thread with a ton of questions, but I didn't get a huge amount of response. I'm going to simplify here.

I have a DNS-320 NAS. It's got 2 1TB WD drives in it set to RAID 1. If the NAS device itself craps out, can I remove the drives and put one in my win7 system and access the data?

I can't tell what format the NAS formats these drives as, looks like it's not FAT or NTFS, but some sort of linux format...

OK, so assuming I *cannot* access the data on the drives if the NAS is gone, is there a type of network accessible device that will allow this.

What I'm looking for:

- enclosure that holds 2 HDDs in RAID 1 or mirroring in some way
- enclosure attaches to network in some way (gigabit preferred, USB to router possible, I have a airport extreme)
- HDD formatted to allow for two things: r/w access from networked win7/osx lion devices *and* removal of drives in the case of major enclosure failure so that I can attach one of the drives to a win7 sata lead and access the content.

What I'm after is a redundant system (to protect from drive failure) *and* a format-type that would allow me to access the drives themselves in case the enclosure fails.

Am I not thinking about this right? Should I just get an external enclosure that has a RAID chip in it, attach it directly to my desktop and set it all up as RAID 0, then just attach the thing to my router? I know it would be slow-ish, but it seems like that's the only way to get what I want.

Someone must know the answers, please tell me. Thank you!

 

[cmetz]

snuuggles, nearly all SOHO NAS systems run a flavor of Linux. Most of these use md RAID and then ext3 as a filesystem, though some use xfs, JFS, or ZFS instead. This is a good thing for you - the disks are almost always readable by another Linux system if you know how to do it. Proprietary formats (e.g., ReadyNAS's funky RAID, DROBO, etc.) would require you to buy another of the device.

The easiest way to mount these disks from your Windows PC is to use a Linux virtual machine in VMWare player. You could then potentially even use the VM to file serve them back to your Windows host. So you can get the data back. This will require you to do a bit of learning, but it's not a big deal.

If you truly can't learn how to use Linux, then look into a Windows Home Server box like the Acer EasyStore.

 

[snuuggles]

snuuggles, nearly all SOHO NAS systems run a flavor of Linux. Most of these use md RAID and then ext3 as a filesystem, though some use xfs, JFS, or ZFS instead. This is a good thing for you - the disks are almost always readable by another Linux system if you know how to do it. Proprietary formats (e.g., ReadyNAS's funky RAID, DROBO, etc.) would require you to buy another of the device.

The easiest way to mount these disks from your Windows PC is to use a Linux virtual machine in VMWare player. You could then potentially even use the VM to file serve them back to your Windows host. So you can get the data back. This will require you to do a bit of learning, but it's not a big deal.

If you truly can't learn how to use Linux, then look into a Windows Home Server box like the Acer EasyStore.

Interesting. Yeah, I know how to setup and run linux (or did a long time ago). I guess I could set up a VM to get the data back.

*However*

I actually already *have* the EasyStore. I was in the process of dumping it for the DNS-320 because the easystore suddenly crashed and I was struggling to restore it using the provided restore disc (couldn't find it on my network, but I finally was able to do it). The thing that annoyed me was that, and here's where I could be wrong, my understanding was that I couldn't simply remove the drive(s) from the easystore and put them in my win7 machine to retrieve the data. Are you saying I could have done this? I know it's *formatted* in the correct way, but the issue is that I only duplicated certain folders, so wouldn't some files be spread over two drives and thus irretrievable w/o the whs software?

To simplify my question:

- if I turn on duplication for all data on the easystore, will that insure that if the easystore hardware self-destucts, I can remove the drives and stick them in my win7 machine to get the data?

If that will work, then I can just return the 320. Obviously I'm pretty ignorant about this stuff, really really appreciate your help!

 

[snuuggles]

Ive cofirmed my own question--whs allows you to insert the drives in a desktop for data retrieval. Even if you don't mirror, the files themselves are not broken up into chunks, so you can get back any complete file from one of the disks. Hope this helps someone else. The files are in a hidden directory caled 'DE'

 

[tomt4535]

Ive cofirmed my own question--whs allows you to insert the drives in a desktop for data retrieval. Even if you don't mirror, the files themselves are not broken up into chunks, so you can get back any complete file from one of the disks. Hope this helps someone else. The files are in a hidden directory caled 'DE'

That only works in the original WHS. 2011, that feature was removed.

 

[cmetz]

I must say, from what I've read, WHS is a truly user hostile product. It's like they really tried hard to make it painful, and when by accident they did something right they removed that feature in 2011.

snuuggles, you can also hack the EasyStore and run Linux on it

The DNS-320 is a much, much slower NAS, so odds are if you have the EasyStore getting it to a state where you'll be happy with it would be a better way forward.

 

[snuuggles]

That only works in the original WHS. 2011, that feature was removed.

Seriously?! That is just strange. So does 2011 use some proprietary format?

 

[snuuggles]

I must say, from what I've read, WHS is a truly user hostile product. It's like they really tried hard to make it painful, and when by accident they did something right they removed that feature in 2011.

snuuggles, you can also hack the EasyStore and run Linux on it

The DNS-320 is a much, much slower NAS, so odds are if you have the EasyStore getting it to a state where you'll be happy with it would be a better way forward.

Yeah the DNS-320 was gone as soon as I realized it wouldn't be any better than what I already had. I guess what I have actually fulfills all my requirements after all, since I know know I can remove the drives and stick em in my win7 desktop...

 

[Geofram]

That only works in the original WHS. 2011, that feature was removed.

This is not correct.

WHS 2011 doesn't use Drive Extender anymore, so it doesn't treat all drives as one big "blob" of space. Instead, all drives are treated like a normal system (aka, you have to assign drive letters).

What this means is putting a storage disk from Server 2011 into any other machine works just like putting any HD from one windows machine into another. You can read the data fine.

I have and use WHS 2011, and it works great.

 

[snuuggles]

This is not correct.

WHS 2011 doesn't use Drive Extender anymore, so it doesn't treat all drives as one big "blob" of space. Instead, all drives are treated like a normal system (aka, you have to assign drive letters).

What this means is putting a storage disk from Server 2011 into any other machine works just like putting any HD from one windows machine into another. You can read the data fine.

I have and use WHS 2011, and it works great.

Interesting. So there's no longer a 'JBOD' option?I can't say that would matter to me, since I basically want to use the server in RAID 1 mode... simply 1 disk mirroring another. I guess I should read up on it, although the 2003 version is basically all I need it turns out... good to know if I wanted/needed to move off of the easystore.

Geofram (or anyone else): I posted an issue I'm having with my easystore not "seeing" a WD green drive here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2210743

*any* suggestions you can offer would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!