Hopefully somebody can give me some advice.
I have an Edimax NS2502 NAS device with 2 x 1TB drives in it arranged as RAID 1. When I first had it, I started to fill it up and then wanted to check that everything was working ok so removed one drive and saw that everything was still showing. I then removed the first disc and refitted the second and saw that everything was still there. Satisfied that it was all working, I have left it running ever since with the 2 drives. But ever since my experiment, the drive lights on the front have continued to flash as though they're being accessed.
Worried that I might have screwed something up, I looked at the options and found one called 'Fix RAID'. That is there apparently for use if one drive fails.
Should I use this to make sure that everything is 'synced' across both the drives in my box?
I've tried googling this for advice but all I've found is the acknowledgement that the option is there but nothing on whether it should be used or not.
Any help appreciated.
On 12 February 2013 12:02, Chris Walker cdw_alug@the-walker-household.co.uk wrote:
[...] But ever since my experiment, the drive lights on the front have continued to flash as though they're being accessed.
When you say "ever since then", how long are we talking?
I would expect the RAID to have to resync so depending on the drive size that could take a while (as long as it takes to mirror one drive over the other, I would guess). So quite a while (maybe hours) but not weeks.
On 12/02/13 12:56, Mark Rogers wrote:
On 12 February 2013 12:02, Chris Walker cdw_alug@the-walker-household.co.uk wrote:
[...] But ever since my experiment, the drive lights on the front have continued to flash as though they're being accessed.
When you say "ever since then", how long are we talking?
Several months and it's switched on daily. I don't normally leave it running overnight but in an effort to try and resolve the problem, I have in the past left it running for about a week.
I would expect the RAID to have to resync so depending on the drive size that could take a while (as long as it takes to mirror one drive over the other, I would guess). So quite a while (maybe hours) but not weeks.
My question really is, will I screw things up if I click the 'fix raid' button? The 'df' command shows this for the NAS :- //storage_server/FTP_RAID_C 917G 911G 6.1G 100% /media/linux_Share //storage_server/Epox_Share 917G 911G 6.1G 100% /media/Epox_Share //storage_server/Media_Share 917G 911G 6.1G 100% /media/Media_Share //storage_server/Laptop_Share 917G 911G 6.1G 100% /media/Laptop_Share
So I'd rather not lose everything on there ;-)
On 12 February 2013 13:08, Chris Walker cdw_alug@the-walker-household.co.uk wrote:
My question really is, will I screw things up if I click the 'fix raid' button?
I Googled for NS2502 "fix raid" and found a PDF manual for the device, which described the feature (copy+paste from manual below).
Based on that, (a) the flashing just means that the drives are not in sync, not that the drive is being accessed; (b) them not being in sync basically means you're entirely reliant on the one drive and currently have no RAID redundancy, and (c) that the "Fix RAID" button only appears when there's an inconsistency it can fix. So you're at risk by not pressing the button, and should press it asap! But it's your data and I'm not taking responsibility for it - obviously the best option is to back it up first.
--snip-- The "Fix RAID" button only appears when the storage server finds that RAID is not working well due to some problem. If any one of the internal SATA hard disk drive fails, the LED of the failed hard disk driver will blink. After you clicking the "Fix RAID" button, you should shut down and power off the storage server, and then replace any failed hard disk drive with a good one. When you power on the storage server again, the storage server will try its best to fix the RAID.
Note: It is possible to fix the RAID and keep all data correctly if you use RAID 1 and just only one of the two internal SATA hard disk drives fails and you have replaced the failed hard disk drive with a good one and the space of the new hard disk is not smaller than the failed one.
Note: If you replace the failed hard disk drive with a smaller hard disk drive when you try to fix a RAID in RAID 1 mode, part of the data previously stored in the RAID may be lost.
Note: It is IMPOSSIBLE to fix the RAID and keep all data correctly if you use RAID 0 and the RAID"s failure is due to one of the two internal SATA hard disk drives fails. The storage server just clears all old data and rebuilds a new RAID when you click "Fix RAID" button in RAID 0 mode.
Note: In RAID 1 mode, if you do not follow the normal shut down procedure and just directly power off the storage server, sometimes, it may make the RAID in an inconsistent state and the storage server will ask you to fix RAID. In this situation, you can click "Fix RAID" button, shut down storage server and then start storage server again. The RAID will work well again. If the storage server is still asking you to fix RAID, it may due the some internal SATA hard disk drive failure. You have to follow the fix RAID procedure described above to replace the failed hard disk drive. --snip--
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Chris Walker -
Mark Rogers