Really need some help!

[pellinimax]

Hi guys,

Right, I have a NAS with two hard drives configured in RAID 1 but I need to move all the data. Moving 1TB over a network is gunna take some time so I just wanted to know if its possible to turn off the NAS, take one drive out and just stick it in one of my computers and then move the contents to another hard drive.

If I take out a drive from the RAID 1 config and just plug it into my computer will I be able to put it back in the NAS afterwards as if nothing has happened, and will windows be able to read it? The whole thing would be pointless if I have to format the drive first.

Hope some of this makes sense. Advice is very much needed!!!

 

[Bartacus]

This may not help since quite a bit of this is speculation from my own experience with home RAID arrays (and NO experience with NAS stuff), but here it is:

1) short answer: yes it most likely will work
2) BUT your RAID1 array will be rebuilt once you place the drive back in the NAS
3) assuming your comp recognizes the drive, you shouldn't have to format

I'd probably still err on the side of caution and do the copy from the NAS overnight, just in case. It really depends on how important the data on the NAS is (ie thou must protect they pron).

 

[pellinimax]

The main issue with moving the data over the network isnt the time it will take but more to do with my NAS having some odd power saving features. It will randomly disconnect from the network even while its writing to another computer -.- . Putting the drive in a PC is the best way forward, but only if I know its not going to wipe the drive first.

To add some information, I just need to get the data off the drive, once the data is off the drives are going to be formatted anyway. So I just need to know if my PC will be able to read the data from one disk and move it

 

[vorticalbox]

The main issue with moving the data over the network isnt the time it will take but more to do with my NAS having some odd power saving features. It will randomly disconnect from the network even while its writing to another computer -.- . Putting the drive in a PC is the best way forward, but only if I know its not going to wipe the drive first.

To add some information, I just need to get the data off the drive, once the data is off the drives are going to be formatted anyway. So I just need to know if my PC will be able to read the data from one disk and move it

should be able to import the partition in disk management. windows will ask to format first so you can always say no

 

[pellinimax]

Okay, but if I do that is there any risk that when I put the drive back into the NAS it will stop working? For example have to reformat to rebuild the RAID or something silly?

 

[Bartacus]

Okay, but if I do that is there any risk that when I put the drive back into the NAS it will stop working? For example have to reformat to rebuild the RAID or something silly?

I know if a drive gets disconnected from an internal array, for any reason, it needs to be rebuilt. I had a wonky SATA cable that would cause one of the drives in my on-board RAID1 array to vanish, and it would always need rebuilding every time. No formats or anything, but I always had to let the rebuild happen automatically in the background, and it takes a LONG time. Pain in the arse, but I never had to re-create the array at least, so that's one positive.

 

[pellinimax]

Fair enough. If I turned off the NAS first and didnt turn it back on until the drive was back in, would that help

 

[Bartacus]

Possibly, but I really have no experience with NAS stuff. I suspect you're right though; if you do as you said, the array should remain intact.

 

[pellinimax]

I god damn hope so aha, its a music collection... just under 39000 songs :L

 

[Bartacus]

Damn! I'd be wanting to know why the NAS times out during copying before yanking the drives out. A good music collection is something to be careful with. Can't you just disable all the power management stuff prior to copying?

 

[pellinimax]

Errrm, well I didn't set up the NAS and I was never given the Admin details -.- .

 

[Bartacus]

Hmmm, how do the NAS drives show up in Windows? Maybe you could disable all the power management stuff in your OS? I did that with my local RAID arrays, just because I got sick of hearing drives power up when I wanted them.