Getting started TS-409U - disk initialization problem

[bzm]

Howdy,

I took the plunge and bought a TS-409U for my small business office. I bought 4 Hitachi 1TB drives - model # HDT721010sla360 - before checking the HCL. I've searched this forum and the hard drive HCL forum for ideas, but no had luck so far.

When I run the Finder application it finds the new server just fine over the network and I start the quick configuration.

The problem is that the disks never initialize. The Finder app says "version 2.1.2" so I assume that's for the firmware. I downloaded the latest firmware 2.1.4 build 0318, but I think I'm in a cart-vs.-horse race. Can't update the firmware without the initializing drives, can't initialize without updated firmware.

I tried resetting with the little button in the back, same result - hangs on initializing drives. I tried booting with no drives, then insert a drive after boot. System does not recognize drive. Tried same with 2 drives, same result.

Can I put the new firmware image on a USB drive and update/flash somehow that way? Is it possible to telnet/ssh into the system without having installed the OS on a disk?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

BZM

[bzm]

Well, as happens so often just after one asks for help, I think I figured it out. The drives are formatting, currently at 54%.

The Windows QNAP Finder has more options than the Mac Quick Install Wizard.

Please keep in mind that I'd already set some configuration options (e.g.: static IP, DNS, etc.) while trying to initialize previously.

In the Windows QNAP Finder, I went exploring. Here's what I did:

- Clicked Tools -> Update Firmware
- Browse and select new firmware file: TS-409U_2.1.4_Build0318.img
- Applied the update, waited. After system restart, update successful!
- Automatically opened Internet Explorer, which went to http://192.168.0.200:8080
- Logged into Administration page
- Surfed to Device Configuration page
- Clicked on SATA Disk on the left side of the page
- Under current disk volume configuration, see Physical: Disks 1, 2, 3, 4 recognized, 931.51GB, Ready, SMART: good
- Logical: RAID 5 Disk volume: Drive 1 2 3 4 Total size: -- Free size: -- Unformatted
- Clicked the "Format" button

Now we're waiting...got to 81% while I wrote this...

BZM

[Later] It worked! I have been able to play around (thanks for the How-To Guide!). Created users, groups, logged in via SSH, created folders, did chown, chgrp, chmod.[/later]

[zhasper]

I had the same problem. I don't have a Windows machine handy though - my network is entirely Mac and Linux.

I ended up following the instructions at http://wiki.qnap.com/wiki/Initializing_ ... ough_Linux - Mac being unix-based means the procedures listed there work just as well.