Spinpoint F4 HD204UI 2TB 5400 RPM working good so far

I'm currently copying back my data on my Duo. I added samsung two 2tb-disks yesterday and they seem to run without problems. At first, I didn't do a factory reset, because I switched both disks ath the same time. Just to be safe after 1 hour when the drive was in the process of resyncing I did the reset anyway. After 10 hours the drive went into redundancy and now I am copying back my data. Looks good so far.

I didn't do any benchmarks, but currently I'm around 13-15 mb/s (with lots of small mp3-files), a bigger avi startet with 25 mb/s and went down to 18mb/s. I think before it was a little faster (25-30), but this was only a quick test.

My partition log shows:

Disk /dev/hde doesn't contain a valid partition table Disk /dev/hdc: 2000.3 GB, 2000388448256 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243200 cylinders, total 3907008688 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00000000 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hdc1 32 4096031 2048000 83 Linux Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/hdc2 4096032 4608031 256000 82 Linux swap / Solaris Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/hdc3 4608032 3906992335 1951192152 5 Extended /dev/hdc5 4608040 3906992335 1951192148 8e Linux LVM Disk /dev/hde: 2000.3 GB, 2000388448256 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243200 cylinders, total 3907008688 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00000000

so I hope everythings ok.

Cheers soulseeker

Do me a favour and keep a post or two coming in as follow ups for me. I'll check in daily with the forum to see if you're good to go. I almost purchased 2 of the disks last night, but the fact that I'm skint stopped me. I'd thought I'd better beware and wait to see if anyone posts. Can't afford any mess ups, financially and data wise.

Just checked my seagate drive which I had on the long test overnight. And it passed. So I've just had to google for the difference between long test and long generic test, the latter being the option to fix bad sectors on disk. If any bad sector can't be repaired apparently the disk if failed. Another 8 hour stint I guess. So still wont know if I'm out of the woods yet with the seagate problem. If anyone can verify my little go at an explanation of the Seatools long tests, that would be handy.

Also while I'm sitting here, everyone is mentioning doing a backup. I'm never done that before updating Radiator. Have I been doing it wrong and taking a chance? I guess I have eh? And also, if the Duo is not some sort of backup system, i.e. redundancy because of the 2 disk setup. Then could someone give me a quick description of how I'm supposed to be running things. Should I have an external Usb hard drive attached to the Duo backing that up?

Someone be kind enough to clarify some of these question for me please. How many backups should one be implementing on a realistic level?

(and I know one can never have enough backups, before anyone replies with that one)

Also, I'd be trying to backup just under 1.5TB of data. So I'm assuming I'd need a drive that size of bigger, e.g. 2TB
Or is there a way of backing up with some compression tool within Frontview settings, that I might get away with a smaller external hard drive for instance? Otherwise it's more layout again on an external hard drive for the job of backing up the redundant backup.

I need someone's up to date thinking on these Q's please.

mutley

update - performance is still good - I turned on jumboframes, but forgot to reboot ;). After rebooting the performance is as usual :).

Thanks for the update Soulseeker

I'll keep an eye on this thread, if you could give me a couple update posts when you get a chance over the next couple of weeks. Or whatever you can manage.

I've almost pressed the button a couple of times today, thinking "sod it, take a chance", but like I said I'm skint. So I'm just holding fire for a bit.

Good news on my Seagate drive though. Although the RelocationSectorCount jumped up high over night from 15 to 144, I've just put it through all Seatools tests and it passed. So panic over for now. But it did remind me to pull my finger out and get ontop of this new 4kb hard drive change over.

mutley

Update

Couldn't stand the strain anymore and went ahead and bought 3 of the disks. 2 for Duo and one for caddy for a backup which I've never done before. Always thought the 2 disk redundancy was for that purpose. But I guess the purpose is if the Duo goes down for whatever, then you still have your backup? No IT stuff is foolproof so I guess the fact that the Duo could break for want of a better word, then I'd still have the backup.

I've still got a new thread opened in the Seagate section asking about high relocation sector count with my exisisting set up. Relocation sector count is high and climbing, but passes Seatools tests if anyone could answer that one for me over there, I'd appreciate it. link below.

http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=47788

Samsung F4's from ebuyer Uk for £70 for anyone interested.

mutley

I guess you won't run into problems ... but remember to do a backup and reset your nas. Frequent backups are a must have, what are 70 bucks compared to complete data loss?

My station is up and running with a good performance and no problems or smart errors so far.

Thanks soulseeker for update

You know it did cross my mind, that what would happen if my Duo did go down and I lost all data. Would it be the worst? If I had no computer, would it be the worst?

No emails, no ebay, go to dvd shop to hire a film, good ol' fashioned stereo system, books and using my head for exercise regimes etc.......

Man, it could be done. Sometimes I do wonder if this computer lark is kinda worth it. Yes I get some stuff for free, yes I've got access to unlimited knowledge.... but at what cost? In fact £250 today and a lot of stress.

The return to a simpler life does have it's merrits.

But Man, I do love my iMac.

And yet I'm still wondering.........

mutley

I need some guidance please

I've just gone back and re-read all relevant instructions on what to do. However I've got a couple of questions that the answers are not obvious to me.

1st. Do I update the radiator fimware to 4.1.7 before adding new Samsung disks, Factory Defaulting after adding Samsung disk? Or add one Samsung disk, let it sync and become redundant, and then update Radiator to 4.1.7 and then do Factory Default?

2nd. Once the first Samsung disk is synced and redundant with factory default, I add the second Samsung disk. Do I need a factory default a 2nd time, or 1st time is sufficient?.

3rd. What is the correct procedure for restoring the backup data? Do I wipe over existing data on the discs, eliminating data and basically dependent on backup restore not failing? This doesn't seem secure to me, but I can't see any other procedure. Could someone please tell me the correct procedure here.

My apologies if these questions are too obvious to some, or have already been answered in some fashion in earlier posts.

But I'm sure this post of questions will only help others in the future if people are willing to help with the answers.

Thanks
mutley

1. Do a backup
2. Upgrade your NAS to 4.1.7
3. Power down, add two new disks, power on
4. Use raidiator to find out the new IP-Adress
5. Although the NAS should be factory default by adding two disks (you can see that because all settings are gone), you can directly go to the system tab and do a factory default directly after Power on (I did it that way just to be sure that the correct partition alignment is used)
6. Wait until redundancy (10-12 hours)
7. Restore settings and finally data from backup

Thanks soulseeker

Instructions fully appreciated. The new disks turned up this morning. I'm just unpacking and inspecting. Will set up backup and then walk away from mac for a day. Now I've got to this stage, this is the easy part. Providing the disks are ok. Just thought, what's the best format for an external? I guess I'll go along with Fat.

Lets get cracking.

mutley