How to format a disk to use it

[sebapupillo]

Hello!

I understand it's probably quite a dumb question but I swear I looked for an answer on other topics without success.

I'm trying to use an already used disk in a very simple configuration on my TS-231P nas. I always have two disks as simple volumes, no more than that. One is the so-called "system" disk and the other one is (more or less) swappable with other disks used in the past in the same nas. After making some mistakes I'm now in this situation: the system disk is up and running without any problem. I just want to add another empty disk to create a new single volume on it. And here it's my problem: the nas is refusing to create it. When i insert the disk it tells me it's inside, it's a good disk, without bad sectors etc. Then I try to create a new volume and... there's no disk available (it says something like "disks available 0/2). I tried to delete all the partitions, to format it with different file systems but it seems it doesn't care. Any clue?

Thank you so much

s.

[dolbyman]

QNAP internal disks are not for external usage (system partitions and complicated structure for user data) ... if you want external usable usage, use external disks

[sebapupillo]

QNAP internal disks are not for external usage (system partitions and complicated structure for user data) ... if you want external usable usage, use external disks

Thank you, I understand it. But I just want to install a disk and use it, as it is intended to be used. There must be a way to use a disk that's not brand new, I suppose. In fact when creating new volumes in the pas I clearly remember a warning about data being erased in the process.

[dolbyman]

Make sure the disk is clean (e.g. clear with diskpart with clean option on windows PC) and insert that disk.

As the disks contain the OS and are not meant for regular swapping, make sure you do not swip swap the internal drives

[sebapupillo]

Make sure the disk is clean (e.g. clear with diskpart with clean option on windows PC) and insert that disk.

As the disks contain the OS and are not meant for regular swapping, make sure you do not swip swap the internal drives

I tried to clean it with different programs, diskpart included (with the clean option as you suggested) with no luck. Just to be sure I'm not making other mistakes, I insert the disk with the nas ON, and it makes 2 loud beeps. Then I try to create a new static volume... Thanks!

[dolbyman]

The beeps should just be an info that a disk was inserted ..

What exactly happens when you create a volume on that disk (screenshots?)

[sebapupillo]

The beeps should just be an info that a disk was inserted ..

What exactly happens when you create a volume on that disk (screenshots?)

it simply does not let me create any volume because there's no disk available (I attached a screenshot but it's in Italian, sorry...)

nas-01.jpg

[dolbyman]

You can always switch the UI language to English with two clicks ..

What is the status of the new disk? .. it must be "free" to show up in there

[sebapupillo]

You can always switch the UI language to English with two clicks ..

What is the status of the new disk? .. it must be "free" to show up in there

as you can see in the screenshot (now in English) it's "blue", so it seems there's data on it.. should I try to erase the old data on the disk? I presumed deleting the partition was enough...

nas-2.jpg

[dolbyman]

If you cleaned the disk with diskpart, there should be no data on it .. I am very confused

[sebapupillo]

If you cleaned the disk with diskpart, there should be no data on it .. I am very confused

me too. May I try a low-level format? Do you think it could help?

[dolbyman]

I have moved ton of drives between QNAP units and a simple clean with diskpart was always enough for them to show up brand new

try a clean and then put a format on it (e.g. NTFS)..the drive should be erased again after by the QNAP

[sebapupillo]

I have moved ton of drives between QNAP units and a simple clean with diskpart was always enough for them to show up brand new

try a clean and then put a format on it (e.g. NTFS)..the drive should be erased again after by the QNAP

Tried as you suggested (probably already several times, but I did it again now) and it doesn't change anything. The drive appears as in the last screenshot...

[dolbyman]

are you sure that disk1 is a single disk ?

If it is a RAID1, then it would automatically sync back into any empty drive to clear the degraded state

If it is really a single disk, best to open a ticket with QNAP

[sebapupillo]

are you sure that disk1 is a single disk ?

I'm no expert but so it seems (another screenshot attached). As an added bonus, the same drive (formatted in NTFS as suggested) works nice as external storage via USB. At this point I'm tempted to leave it as external backup unit and buy another one, hoping to be a bit more lucky...

nas-3.jpg