Virtual disk not visible in Windows Explorer

[Markbe22]

All,

Guidance please.

I created a 250GB virtual disk on my QNAP TS-219P II to allow my surveillance cameras to spool continuously. The issue is the virtual disk, mapped as Y: drive, does not become visible in windows explorer until I manually enter the QNAP Finder and then right click on the device and select "Storage Plug & Connect". Once in that area the virtual disk appears then also becomes visible in windows explorer and I am then able to manually launch my surveillance system software.

Am I missing a setting which automatically maps the virtual Y: drive on windows boot?

Thanks
Mark

[pwilson]

All,

Guidance please.

I created a 250GB virtual disk on my QNAP TS-219P II to allow my surveillance cameras to spool continuously. The issue is the virtual disk, mapped as Y: drive, does not become visible in windows explorer until I manually enter the QNAP Finder and then right click on the device and select "Storage Plug & Connect". Once in that area the virtual disk appears then also becomes visible in windows explorer and I am then able to manually launch my surveillance system software.

Am I missing a setting which automatically maps the virtual Y: drive on windows boot?

Thanks
Mark

Not much to work with.

Please access your NAS via SSH, login as "admin" and run:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
rm -f /tmp/nasreport
touch /tmp/nasreport
chmod +x /tmp/nasreport
cat <<EOF >>/tmp/nasreport
#!/bin/sh
#
# NAS Report by Patrick Wilson
# see: http://forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?f=185&t=82260#p366188
#
# 
echo "[code]*********************"
echo "** QNAP NAS Report **"
echo "*********************"
echo " "
echo "NAS Model:      \$(getsysinfo model)"
echo "Firmware:       \$(getcfg system version) Build \$(getcfg system 'Build Number')"
echo "System Name:    \$(/bin/hostname)"
echo "Workgroup:      \$(getcfg system workgroup)"
echo "Base Directory: \$(dirname \$(getcfg -f /etc/config/smb.conf Public path))"
echo "NAS IP address: \$(ifconfig \$(getcfg network 'Default GW Device') | grep addr: | awk '{ print \$2 }' | cut -d: -f2)"
echo " " 
echo "Default Gateway Device: \$(getcfg network 'Default GW Device')" 
echo " "
ifconfig \$(getcfg network 'Default GW Device') | grep -v HWaddr
echo " "
echo -n "DNS Nameserver(s):" 
cat /etc/resolv.conf | grep nameserver | cut -d' ' -f2
echo " "
echo " "
echo "HDD Information:"
echo " "
alpha='abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
drives=\$(getcfg Storage 'Disk Drive Number')
for ((i=1;i<=drives;++i)) ; do
	echo -n "HDD\$i -"
	if [ ! -b /dev/sd\${alpha:\$i-1:1} ] ; then
		echo "Drive absent"
	else
		hdparm -i /dev/sd\${alpha:\$i-1:1} | grep "Model"
		echo " "
		parted /dev/sd\${alpha:\$i-1:1} print
		echo " "
		/sbin/get_hd_smartinfo -d \$i
		echo " "
	fi
done
echo "Volume Status"
echo " "
mdadm -D /dev/md0 /dev/md1 2>/dev/null
echo " "
cat /proc/mdstat
echo " "
echo "Disk Space:"
echo " "
df -h | grep -v qpkg
echo " "
echo "Mount Status:" 
echo " "
mount | grep -v qpkg
echo " "
#echo "Contents of \$(dirname \$(getcfg -f /etc/config/smb.conf Public path)):"
#echo " "
#ls -lF \$(dirname \$(getcfg -f /etc/config/smb.conf Public path))/
echo " "
echo "Windows Shares:" 
echo " "
for i in \$(grep \] /etc/config/smb.conf | sed 's/\[//g' | sed 's/\]//g' | grep -v global) ;do 
	echo -n "\$i:"
	testparm -s -l --section-name=\$i --parameter-name=path 2>/dev/null 
done
echo " "
#echo "QNAP Media Scanner / Transcoder processes running: "
#echo " " 
#/bin/ps | grep medialibrary | grep -v grep
#echo " " 
#echo -n "MediaLibrary Configuration file: " 
#ls -alF /etc/config/medialibrary.conf
#echo " " 
#echo "/etc/config/medialibrary.conf:"
#cat /etc/config/medialibrary.conf
echo " "
echo "Memory Information:" 
echo " "
free | grep -v cache:
echo " "
echo "NASReport completed on \$(date +'%Y-%m-%d %T') (\$0) 

"
echo " "
EOF
sleep 2
clear
/tmp/nasreport
#done
[/code]

Please cut&paste the output of the resulting NASReport back to this message thread.

What is the name of the "share" in question. (You referred to it as a "virtual disk", whatever that is?.

[Markbe22]

Patrick,

The virtual disk was created within the QNAP "Storage Plug & Connect" facility. Please refer to the attached image.

The virtual disk is always present, I created it once, but I have to visit this after windows boot up to make it active in explorer as the Y: drive.

Mark

[pwilson]

Patrick,

The virtual disk was created within the QNAP "Storage Plug & Connect" facility. Please refer to the attached image.

The virtual disk is always present, I created it once, but I have to visit this after windows boot up to make it active in explorer as the Y: drive.

Mark

Good point. Please access the command prompt of Windows are run:

Code: Select all

net use

Please cut&paste the output back to this message thread too. TIA.

[Markbe22]

Patrick,

Thank you for your continued interest in this topic. Out of curiosity, may I ask your connection with QNAP?

Maybe a better track for this thread would be to review my objective. Primarily I have several surveillance cameras which I want to record to the NAS. However, as they produce a large volume of files I want to establish a quota which will cause the recordings to recycle after reaching a designated volume. I attempted to accomplish this with simple mapped drives however, due to Windows 7 limitations, I am forced to access the drives with a single windows ID and establishing a quota in QNAP for one specific user is not possible without impacting all of the windows IDs.

I discovered the virtual disk feature while exploring the QNAP "Storage Plug & Connect" application. This works well as the virtual disk is a fixed size and I can mange the consumption of that in detail. However, the virtual disk does not appear automatically and I am required to visit the Storage Plug & Connect application following each window reboot to activate the Y: mapping in windows.

Also, there is no documentation from QNAP on how to manage this feature. Only some marketing content on the existence of this.

The "Net Use" output is attached per your request depicting that status both prior to and following launching of the QNAP Storage Plug & Connect application. Alternative recommendations for creating and managing a quota for my cameras will be appreciated.

Thanks
Mark

[Markbe22]

Patrick (+),

Ok, problem solved.

The Virtual Disk created in the "Storage Plug and Connect" did not establish the complete processes required to make it visible when Windows reboots. After researching "iSCSI" in the QNAP user manual, imagine that, I discovered that the Windows iSCSI Initiator service must be running in order to automatically map the desired drive in Windows Explorer. I changed that service to Automatic and now when I reboot, the Y: drive is present in Explorer.

Thanks again for your desire to assist,
Mark

[pwilson]

Patrick (+),

Ok, problem solved.

The Virtual Disk created in the "Storage Plug and Connect" did not establish the complete processes required to make it visible when Windows reboots. After researching "iSCSI" in the QNAP user manual, imagine that, I discovered that the Windows iSCSI Initiator service must be running in order to automatically map the desired drive in Windows Explorer. I changed that service to Automatic and now when I reboot, the Y: drive is present in Explorer.

Thanks again for your desire to assist,
Mark

I'm glad you figured it out. I didn't even know you were talking about ISCSI. You posted to the wrong subForum, hence the confusion. I will move this thread to the iSCSI – Target & Virtual Disk subforum, for the benefit of future QNAP NAS Community members, so that they can find it when they use the Advanced search function of this Forum system.

Going forward, please try to post to the correct subForum. Doing so will make it easier for the Community to assist you properly. TIA.

Thank-you for taking the time to tell me it is resolved, and for providing the solution to the issue. This will be useful to other people that experience a similar issue in the future.