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Forum Discussion
ReadyNas Duo v2 - Installation & Setup
Hi all
This is my first post and I admit it is a little noobish, so please go gentle :)
After extensive research particularly on this forum, coupled with the fact that I own numerous Netgear products which I have always found reliable, I purchased the above Nas unit the other day. Was immediately impressed with it's cute smallness and build quality :)
I have slotted in 2 x brand new Seagate ST3000DM001 3TB drives and right now the unit is syncing nicely.
However I have a few questions to start off with to enable me to understand fully how to configure the Duo to my requirements.
1. I have Sky Broadband here in the UK and my D-Link modem/router is connected through a Netgear WNR3500 router (which doesn't have a modem). System works marvellously. When it was set up, I was informed that once I exhausted the WNR3500's ethernet ports (which I have now) I could use the available 4 ethernet ports on the D-Link. I initially plugged in the Duo to the D-Link but my network didn't see it. I then disconnected a cable from the WNR3500 plugged in the Duo to it and hey presto - I was up and away! Question - how do I plug in either the Duo or another piece of kit to the D-Link to make my network see it too? I will be happy to provide settings etc if someone could tell me exactly what to provide.
2. When I installed RAIDar it updated itself before I started and seemed to skip a step to allow me to configure my drives. Before I knew it RAIDar started syncing the two drives in the default X-RAID2 configuration. I was originally going to install the drives for maximum volume space but now it seems I will have to wait the 4 hours plus for syncing to complete before I can restore to the factory settings to start all over. Question - In order to see the maximum 6TB across both drives what configuration choices do I have please? Ideally I would like to see one volume of 6TB with 4 folders, Documents, Photos, Music and Video. I may also have one other for a private share - password protected. What is the best way to do this please?
3. Is it possible to partition the drives?
4. How do I get into the configuration screen and in which software (RAIDar or RAIDiator)?
5. I have a 4Drive NAS 1TB Buffalo Terastation, which once cleared, is going to be used for backup as it is in a RAID5 configuration - slow but fantastically reliable. Will it be possible to set up a backup stratedgy to this unit?
6. I haven't discarded the idea of redundancy yet but I am filling up numerous 1TB drives at present by downloading 3D Blu-ray ISO's. I eventually want a media player to play these straight from the disc as an ISO file - right now I haven't this capability so I have to extract them which doubles their size. I want to be able to stream to my TV via my Sony Bravia TV, a Sony Blu-ray player and my PS3. But that is for another post :) - Question - would I be better to go for redundancy, stick with the default X-RAID2 configuration and expand later when 4,5 and maybe 6TB drives appear? I am aware that 4TB drives are out there now but they seem to be in their infancy and optical drives haven't reached this kind of magnitude yet. If 3TB is going to be it, then I may opt for a 6TB configuration and scrifice redundancy.
Thanks for reading - would appreciate your help
roz
This is my first post and I admit it is a little noobish, so please go gentle :)
After extensive research particularly on this forum, coupled with the fact that I own numerous Netgear products which I have always found reliable, I purchased the above Nas unit the other day. Was immediately impressed with it's cute smallness and build quality :)
I have slotted in 2 x brand new Seagate ST3000DM001 3TB drives and right now the unit is syncing nicely.
However I have a few questions to start off with to enable me to understand fully how to configure the Duo to my requirements.
1. I have Sky Broadband here in the UK and my D-Link modem/router is connected through a Netgear WNR3500 router (which doesn't have a modem). System works marvellously. When it was set up, I was informed that once I exhausted the WNR3500's ethernet ports (which I have now) I could use the available 4 ethernet ports on the D-Link. I initially plugged in the Duo to the D-Link but my network didn't see it. I then disconnected a cable from the WNR3500 plugged in the Duo to it and hey presto - I was up and away! Question - how do I plug in either the Duo or another piece of kit to the D-Link to make my network see it too? I will be happy to provide settings etc if someone could tell me exactly what to provide.
2. When I installed RAIDar it updated itself before I started and seemed to skip a step to allow me to configure my drives. Before I knew it RAIDar started syncing the two drives in the default X-RAID2 configuration. I was originally going to install the drives for maximum volume space but now it seems I will have to wait the 4 hours plus for syncing to complete before I can restore to the factory settings to start all over. Question - In order to see the maximum 6TB across both drives what configuration choices do I have please? Ideally I would like to see one volume of 6TB with 4 folders, Documents, Photos, Music and Video. I may also have one other for a private share - password protected. What is the best way to do this please?
3. Is it possible to partition the drives?
4. How do I get into the configuration screen and in which software (RAIDar or RAIDiator)?
5. I have a 4Drive NAS 1TB Buffalo Terastation, which once cleared, is going to be used for backup as it is in a RAID5 configuration - slow but fantastically reliable. Will it be possible to set up a backup stratedgy to this unit?
6. I haven't discarded the idea of redundancy yet but I am filling up numerous 1TB drives at present by downloading 3D Blu-ray ISO's. I eventually want a media player to play these straight from the disc as an ISO file - right now I haven't this capability so I have to extract them which doubles their size. I want to be able to stream to my TV via my Sony Bravia TV, a Sony Blu-ray player and my PS3. But that is for another post :) - Question - would I be better to go for redundancy, stick with the default X-RAID2 configuration and expand later when 4,5 and maybe 6TB drives appear? I am aware that 4TB drives are out there now but they seem to be in their infancy and optical drives haven't reached this kind of magnitude yet. If 3TB is going to be it, then I may opt for a 6TB configuration and scrifice redundancy.
Thanks for reading - would appreciate your help
roz
29 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- Does it show as the v2 in RAIDar? If so, then you have the v2 and should use the v2 boot menu instructions as described in the hardware manual: http://www.readynas.com/docs
- Crikey, I didn't realise that was the proceedure! Many thanks for pointing me in that direction. I would never have known - the CD supplied with my unit was unreadable! Yes my unit is definately a v2 and I followed the procedures precisely and within I'd say 15 mins everything was sorted and I now have 2 volumes, one per disc of actual 2.7TB each. Strange how it didn't want to recreate the file system on either disk but I'm a happy bunny now :)
Just a couple of questions and I admit I haven't read the manual yet: -
1. How do I set a password on a particular share without it applying to the other shares I've created
2. By right-clicking c or d, in Windows explorer - it's properties doesn't show available disc size, it simply shows 0 bytes - is this correct?
Cheers once more
Roz - going to have a drink now :) rozel wrote:
1. How do I set a password on a particular share without it applying to the other shares I've created
You can't set a per share password. However you could create users. Each user will have a private home share. You can then use this trick to mount the shares: Using Multiple Credentials in Windowsrozel wrote:
2. By right-clicking c or d, in Windows explorer - it's properties doesn't show available disc size, it simply shows 0 bytes - is this correct?
Map a network drive and you should see how much space is available.- Thank you once more - I'm getting a strong feel for this unit now but have a few more questions. I have enabled disk spin-down but something is stopping it from performing after the set time duration. I notice that the disk LED flashes every now and then but am not sure as to why. I have exited both RAIDar and RAIDiator but something is making the disks remain active - any thoughts anyone please?
Roz - If you hover your mouse pointer over the disk status led in Raidar it will tell you if its sleeping.
Edit: have you mapped a network drive to it that could be stopping it from sleeping, eg: virus program accessing it. - Thank you - I know that the disks are not sleeping as a. the disk LED flashes occasionally and b I can hear and feel the disks spinning.
As mdgm suggested, I have mapped the the two separate drives c and d in Windows 7 and can confirm my virus program isn't accessing them
I will disconnect the ethernet cable temporarily to see what happens.
Roz - Nope - the ReadyNas's LED is still blinking every 10/15 seconds or so with or without it being connected to my network. RAIDar isn't showing any disk activity by the system itself.
Any more thoughts?
Roz - I seem to have sorted it by restarting the unit :)
Roz - The ST3000DM001 has a bug in it's release firmware where the drive constantly attempts to park the drive heads about once every 30 seconds to a minute. And it's performance with this release firmware is woeful at times. The CC4H firmware totally fixes both these issues with this drive as far as I can tell on the one I have.
This will however require connection of said drives to your PC to update them via the Firmware updater tool. If you can power down the NAS normally (i.e: via Frontview, or the double tap on the front panel button), you should be able to update the firmware on the drives and put them back in the NAS with no ill effects, and syncing speed should be improved. But I would backup your data in case a factory reset is required later on.
EDIT: Also make sure the drives are replaced in the NAS after updating, in the SAME bays from which they were removed.
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