URGENT HELP REQUEST: with replacing 2TB for 4TB HDD's

[arfo0210]

Dear all,

First of all, let me apologize upfront if I’m posting this topic in the wrong category . My issue is really with backing up and restoring the entire NAS setup/install after the replacement of the current HDD’s, rather than just backing up (some) data. So I thought it’s more related to this category as it’s part of a hardware replacement process and how to do the HDD replacement as quickly and smoothly as possible. Please do guide and direct me if it needs to go somewhere else …

On topic: since a couple of days, I’m experiencing some issues with (at least) 1 of my HDD’s in my NAS; it’s making really “funny” half a second during beeps every now and then; sometimes very quickly after each other and sometimes with pauses of several minutes. The really worrying part is that I can clearly hear a “stack/click” sort of sound and the beginning of each beep; like the needle of the HDD is hitting the surface really hard. I've experienced the same in the past with a HDD in my PC, which crashed soon after it made this noise. That’s why I suspect it’s really a HDD issue, although all checks (File System Check and SMART) are reporting no issues and all is working fine…( )

Nevertheless, since I’m using RAID-0 at the moment and before I’m losing everything, I decided to replace both HDD’s with new ones. My current HDD's are Seagate’s 2TB (ST2000DL003-9VT1CC32) and the new ones are also Seagate, but 4TB (ST4000VN000). I want to set these up as RAID-1 to secure my data for disk crashing in the future.

I’ve played around with the backup/restore functionality, but have to say I’m not familiar with it. I know how to back up my system settings via the initial screen of the [Backup/Restore] functionality (1st tab-sheet). But this is “only” backing-up my system settings, such as users etc. It’s not backing up the installed applications, right?

So I also played around with the functionality of the Backup Station, but that’s really covering only data stored on the NAS…

I’m really looking for a tool or procedure that allows me to back up the entire NAS, and let me restore it completely once I replaced both the old 2TB HDD’s in RAID-0 with the new 4TB HDD’s in RAID-1. This should include all applications I’m running.

You know, I’ve been through quite some effort in getting quite a lot of apps working, with great help of this community, but I’m not really looking forward in doing it all over again. So if anyone could help me with a simple step-by-step procedure, how to back up my entire NAS, including the installed apps, I would really appreciate it.

BTW, I did search the forum for the same, but couldn’t find a satisfactory topic describing in simple but detailed step-by-step action the “how to” I’m looking for .
If, however, I missed something, please accept my apologies . Also please find below my details as described and requested here: http://forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=68954

• 1 OS used to access NAS: MS Windows 7 Ultimate, SP-1, 64Bit
  2 NAS Model: TS-239 Pro II+
  3 Firmware Revision: 4.1.0 (build 20131219)
  4 Network Setup: Single Port (Ethernet 1=up; Ethernet 2=down)
  4a DHCP: No (manual, fixed IP)
  5 If Port Trunking is present: N/A
  6 Disk related question: Yes; want to replace both existing 2TB HDD’s at ones for 2 new 4TB HDD's
  6a Drive Configuration: RAID-0
  6b Number of drives: 2, setup as 1 single Striping Disk Volume
  6c Existing/Old Drives Info: See below
  6c1 Manufacturer: Disk 1: Seagate / Disk 2: Seagate
  6c2 Drive Model: Disk 1: ST2000DL003-9VT1CC32 / Disk 2: ST2000DL003-9VT1CC32
  6c3 Drive Firmware revision: Unknown; not sure how to check
  6c New Drives Info: See below
  6c1 Manufacturer: Disk 1: Seagate / Disk 2: Seagate
  6c2 Drive Model: Disk 1: ST4000VN000- / Disk 2: ST4000VN000
  6c3 Drive Firmware revision: Unknown; not sure how to check

Your quick help/response is very well appreciated; Thanks a lot,

Arie

[pwilson]

Dear all,

First of all, let me apologize upfront if I’m posting this topic in the wrong category . My issue is really with backing up and restoring the entire NAS setup/install after the replacement of the current HDD’s, rather than just backing up (some) data. So I thought it’s more related to this category as it’s part of a hardware replacement process and how to do the HDD replacement as quickly and smoothly as possible. Please do guide and direct me if it needs to go somewhere else …

On topic: since a couple of days, I’m experiencing some issues with (at least) 1 of my HDD’s in my NAS; it’s making really “funny” half a second during beeps every now and then; sometimes very quickly after each other and sometimes with pauses of several minutes. The really worrying part is that I can clearly hear a “stack/click” sort of sound and the beginning of each beep; like the needle of the HDD is hitting the surface really hard. I've experienced the same in the past with a HDD in my PC, which crashed soon after it made this noise. That’s why I suspect it’s really a HDD issue, although all checks (File System Check and SMART) are reporting no issues and all is working fine…( )

Nevertheless, since I’m using RAID-0 at the moment and before I’m losing everything, I decided to replace both HDD’s with new ones. My current HDD's are Seagate’s 2TB (ST2000DL003-9VT1CC32) and the new ones are also Seagate, but 4TB (ST4000VN000). I want to set these up as RAID-1 to secure my data for disk crashing in the future.

I’ve played around with the backup/restore functionality, but have to say I’m not familiar with it. I know how to back up my system settings via the initial screen of the [Backup/Restore] functionality (1st tab-sheet). But this is “only” backing-up my system settings, such as users etc. It’s not backing up the installed applications, right?

So I also played around with the functionality of the Backup Station, but that’s really covering only data stored on the NAS…

I’m really looking for a tool or procedure that allows me to back up the entire NAS, and let me restore it completely once I replaced both the old 2TB HDD’s in RAID-0 with the new 4TB HDD’s in RAID-1. This should include all applications I’m running.

You know, I’ve been through quite some effort in getting quite a lot of apps working, with great help of this community, but I’m not really looking forward in doing it all over again. So if anyone could help me with a simple step-by-step procedure, how to back up my entire NAS, including the installed apps, I would really appreciate it.

BTW, I did search the forum for the same, but couldn’t find a satisfactory topic describing in simple but detailed step-by-step action the “how to” I’m looking for .
If, however, I missed something, please accept my apologies . Also please find below my details as described and requested here: http://forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=68954

• 1 OS used to access NAS: MS Windows 7 Ultimate, SP-1, 64Bit
  2 NAS Model: TS-239 Pro II+
  3 Firmware Revision: 4.1.0 (build 20131219)
  4 Network Setup: Single Port (Ethernet 1=up; Ethernet 2=down)
  4a DHCP: No (manual, fixed IP)
  5 If Port Trunking is present: N/A
  6 Disk related question: Yes; want to replace both existing 2TB HDD’s at ones for 2 new 4TB HDD's
  6a Drive Configuration: RAID-0
  6b Number of drives: 2, setup as 1 single Striping Disk Volume
  6c Existing/Old Drives Info: See below
  6c1 Manufacturer: Disk 1: Seagate / Disk 2: Seagate
  6c2 Drive Model: Disk 1: ST2000DL003-9VT1CC32 / Disk 2: ST2000DL003-9VT1CC32
  6c3 Drive Firmware revision: Unknown; not sure how to check
  6c New Drives Info: See below
  6c1 Manufacturer: Disk 1: Seagate / Disk 2: Seagate
  6c2 Drive Model: Disk 1: ST4000VN000- / Disk 2: ST4000VN000
  6c3 Drive Firmware revision: Unknown; not sure how to check

I'm afraid you probably won't like the answer:

1. There is no method of migrating from RAID0 to RAID1, except to backup your data externally, and then restore it to your new RAID1 array/drives.
2. You were using incompatible drives:

   Seagate - ST2000DL003 (9VT1CC32) Incompatible TS-239 Pro

   • (WD Green & Seagate Green)
     These hard disk drives have passed QNAP lab's initial verification of compatibility. However, because many users have reported unstable experience with these hard disk drives, we do not recommend using these hard disk drives with QNAP products. WD10EADS-00P8B0 and WD15EADS-00P8B0 are not suggested because of slow performance and stability issues

   .

[arfo0210]

Hi Patrick,

Many thanks for your quick reply. I have used the old drives (Seagate ST2000DL003-9VT1CC32) for over 2,5 years without any issues. However, I noticed the same and hence figured it's my time to change. That's also why I double checked today on http://www.qnap.com/i/en/product_x_grad ... =68&hf=old to ensure the new drives (Seagate ST4000VN000) are! Are you aware of any reported issues with these new ones? They suppose to be especially created for NAS devices and Seagate is even stating they have been tested in cooperation with QNAP.

Anyway, on topic: are you saying that once I have installed the new drives and configured them as RAID-1, I have to install all application from scratch again? I'm more than happy to back-up/restore my data as you pointed out, but am not so happy to re-install all applications like NZBGet, SickBeard, etc. It took me quite a while to get them installed and running as required, you know...

Is there no way to back-up and restore the installed applications as well, similar to the data?

Many thanks in advance for the quick response.

Arie

[arfo0210]

Just added a screen shot of the QNAP compatible check... See attached picture.

[pwilson]

Hi Patrick,

Many thanks for your quick reply. I have used the old drives (Seagate ST2000DL003-9VT1CC32) for over 2,5 years without any issues. However, I noticed the same and hence figured it's my time to change. That's also why I double checked today on http://www.qnap.com/i/en/product_x_grad ... =68&hf=old to ensure the new drives (Seagate ST4000VN000) are! Are you aware of any reported issues with these new ones? They suppose to be especially created for NAS devices and Seagate is even stating they have been tested in cooperation with QNAP.

Anyway, on topic: are you saying that once I have installed the new drives and configured them as RAID-1, I have to install all application from scratch again? I'm more than happy to back-up/restore my data as you pointed out, but am not so happy to re-install all applications like NZBGet, SickBeard, etc. It took me quite a while to get them installed and running as required, you know...

Is there no way to back-up and restore the installed applications as well, similar to the data?

Many thanks in advance for the quick response.

Arie

Sorry I can't help here. My 20+ year old relationship with Seagate came to end a couple of years ago. My future drives will be WD Reds.

[arfo0210]

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for the reply, however, what about my original request with help of backing-up the applications ? Any experience with that ?

@ All readers of this post:

Does anybody have a good suggestion how to simplify the process of replacing the HDD's without the need to re-install all apps?

Many thanks in advance,

Arie

[xavierh]

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for the reply, however, what about my original request with help of backing-up the applications ? Any experience with that ?

@ All readers of this post:

Does anybody have a good suggestion how to simplify the process of replacing the HDD's without the need to re-install all apps?

Many thanks in advance,

Arie

as far as i know there is no way of doing that since their locations will change when moving form raid-0 to raid 1...honestly the effort of configuring them should not be that much...

[pwilson]

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for the reply, however, what about my original request with help of backing-up the applications ? Any experience with that ?

@ All readers of this post:

Does anybody have a good suggestion how to simplify the process of replacing the HDD's without the need to re-install all apps?

Many thanks in advance,

Arie

Nope. You will have to re-install everything, including all your Apps. RAID0 is not only dangerous to your data (ie no redundancy), but it is also a dead end. All upgrades from RAID0, (including to larger drives still in RAID0) requires "backup/wipe/start-again". Such is the "joy" of choosing RAID0. Bite the bullet, and endure the misery you chose for yourself when you initially chose RAID0 in the first place.

Once you are on an actual RAID storage volume, you will be able to use: Expand Capacity (Online RAID Capacity Expansion), until then enjoy "backup/wipe/start-again". People who choose RAID0 seldom research the "dead end" it creates for them, until:

1. They loose all their data on all drives due to drive issue on a single drive.
2. They need to restore their data from their non-existent Backups
3. They want to Upgrade to RAID
4. They want to upgrade their drives.

I would have sympathy for your circumstance if this wasn't documented properly in the manual. You put yourself in this situation, the above advice will help you get out of it. (As you chose RAID0 in the first place, (despite overwhelming advice not to), I suspect you will also ignore my advice provided here too).

How recent is your recent backup?

[arfo0210]

Thanks Patrick for the reply.

I would have sympathy for your circumstance if this wasn't documented properly in the manual. You put yourself in this situation, the above advice will help you get out of it. (As you chose RAID0 in the first place, (despite overwhelming advice not to), I suspect you will also ignore my advice provided here too).

It's clear though that I have to go through the pain as you sad . Meanwhile I started the process and have installed the new HDD's in RAID-1, as I could no longer wait. And indeed all is gone and I had(ve) to install all apps all over again . No worries, I'll take it as it is . Thanks again for the advise which, as you can see, I do take into account an value very much (dispite your prejudgement that I wouln't ).

Arie