New RN314 3x4TB Question

If you are using xraid, just put all the drives in at the beginning, and power up the unit. Slot number doesn't matter.

A factory reset will wipe the old drives.

Another way is to hook them up to a windows PC, and zero them with seatools. If you can hook them up with SATA, seatools will zero them using a special new ATA command (secure erase) which is built into every new drive. Otherwise it will do a block by block erase. Then put them back into the duo, and when the new owner starts it up, and the system will do a factory install then.

Thanks for the quick reply, unfortunately, the only pc I have that will hold the 3.5" drives has a SAS controller, so I guess I'll just have to rely on the factory reset.

You should put all the drives before doing the factory reset, that way they would be set up directly as raid5. Otherwise you would have to rebuild the array twice (after adding the second disk (raid1), then the third disk(raid5)).
The order has no importance for the NAS (except for expansion, you can't add smaller disk later so you insert the smallest one first (in time, not slot)).
That said, places at the center of the NAS tend to heat more, so I would put the ST4000DM000 at each end of the NAS and the ST4000VN000 at the center. What do you think Stephen ? is this possible (to insert in the 4th slot without filling the 3rd) and desirable to proceed like this to mitigate heat and vibrations ?

Depending on the data you had, I would zero-write the old disks at least 7times (US DoD 5220-22M standard according to Apple) or just keep them around as backup (everyone needs a good backup).
I think SAS card often accept SATA drives, I often see SAS/SATA on controller description so your card may have SATA ports too.

xeltros wrote:
Depending on the data you had, I would zero-write the old disks at least 7times (US DoD 5220-22M standard according to Apple) or just keep them around as backup (everyone needs a good backup). I think SAS card often accept SATA drives, I often see SAS/SATA on controller description so your card may have SATA ports too.

The idea that multiple overwrite passes increase security is debunked.

If you absolutely want to make sure your data is impossible to read no matter how many billions of dollars are spent trying to read it, then the recommended procedure is degaussing - which destroys the drives, erases the timing tracks, and everything else.

For everyone else, a single but complete overwrite is enough. The NIST recommendations are a better guide on this topic: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistp ... errata.pdf

Using the built in ATA command is ideal, because then the drive firmware itself erases everything. No possibility of something getting overlooked.

If the drive is encrypted (not this case), then all you really need to do is zero the encryption key.

I agree with Stephen that multiple overwrites is pretty meaningless compared to a single overwrite. If someone wants my identity badly enough to analyze the underlying magnetic patterns to determine prior content, they can probably get it more easily elsewhere.

The concept of populating slots 1,2 & 4 or 1, 3 & 4 to minimize heat problems on the middle drive when populating 1, 2 & 3 is deserving of an answer though. Can the unit handle a blank in the middle?

The pro can handle a empty slot in any position, I see no reason why the RN314 wouldn't. Keep the tray in, since the airflow design assumes its there.

The temp difference in my NV+ (my only 4-bay unit) is 3 degrees C at the moment.
Bay 1 - 35
Bay 2 - 37
Bay 3 - 38
Bay 4 - 36

It is 4°c with my st4000vn000 in my RN104, but I assume that with disks that already generate more heat, the difference will be higher, letting them on the side may give identical temperatures across disks. This was just a suggestion, I'm not sure this will have any impact but that's just a thought that came to mind and didn't seem completely stupid ;)

xeltros wrote:
It is 4°c with my st4000vn000 in my RN104, but I assume that with disks that already generate more heat, the difference will be higher, letting them on the side may give identical temperatures across disks. This was just a suggestion, I'm not sure this will have any impact but that's just a thought that came to mind and didn't seem completely stupid ;)

The orientation of the bays (relative to the fan) probably does matter. I'm not sure how hotter drives would change the heat buildup across the chassis if the drives were identical, but if you have a mix, I know the hotter drives heat the cooler ones.

The difference on my pro-6 is 8°c. I have a ST31500341AS in bay 1 that normally runs at 41°c and 5 WDC Reds, which run much cooler. The Seagate heats up the WDC red in the bay 2 to 38°c, the other 4 drives are 33-34°c. So the temp in bay 2 is halfway between the seagate temp and the other reds.

I think if I replaced the ST31500341AS with another red, the difference would be perhaps 2°c.