Can anyone help a newbie!? Re PLEX and RAID 1 set up. THANKS

[grahamja]

I bought an HS-251 a few months ago, mainly to house my expanding collection of photos, music and video. Initially installed one x 6Gb WD Red hard drive.
Set up was all very easy (even for a novice like me) and was quickly up and running, all my files transferred over to it, and using PLEX as a media server was managing to connect that up to my (non smart) HDTV using a Chromecast device.
All was working well!!

Then I decided it would be a good idea to buy the 2nd disk for the unit (couldn't afford to buy both in one go) a few months later when I had saved up, with the intention of setting it up as a mirror image of the first hard drive so that if for any reason one hard drive failed I had an automated back up of all my files.

Problem 1 - Setting up 2 drives to work as mirror images / backups of each other (RAID 1?)

I'd never heard of "RAID" but after a little online research worked out that the "RAID 1" format sounded like what I needed. However (and please don't slate me for not being savvy enough!!), I can't easily see from the QNAP online web pages how to set this up. I can connect to the NAS homepage on my browser, can see the "Control Panel" and all the menu items such as Storage Management. But I am afraid I can't work out how to properly add the second disc, and then make sure they are both set up in the "RAID 1" format so work as a mirror image of each other.

Problem 2 - Issues with Plex media server

All was working well with Plex, but after I had inserted the second hard drive into the NAS unit it stopped working. I am not sure if this is cause and effect or plain coincidence!
Now when I go to the NAS page on my browser, I still see the PLEX app as normal, but when I click on it, instead of a new page opening with the PLEX server (where i could do things like set up new folders) I just get a new page opening with the following error message:
Safari can't open the page "192.168.178.81:32400/web" because Safari can't connect to the server "192.168.178.81".
I have tried removing the PLEX app, and re-installing, but same problem persists

Sorry to ask what are probably such stupid queries, or if this is the wrong place to ask them. But really happy with my QNAP NAS, just exasperated with myself that despite hours of trying to work out the solution I can't
Would be massively grateful for pointers and advice,

Thanks,
Jaime

[pwilson]

I bought an HS-251 a few months ago, mainly to house my expanding collection of photos, music and video. Initially installed one x 6Gb WD Red hard drive.
Set up was all very easy (even for a novice like me) and was quickly up and running, all my files transferred over to it, and using PLEX as a media server was managing to connect that up to my (non smart) HDTV using a Chromecast device.
All was working well!!

Then I decided it would be a good idea to buy the 2nd disk for the unit (couldn't afford to buy both in one go) a few months later when I had saved up, with the intention of setting it up as a mirror image of the first hard drive so that if for any reason one hard drive failed I had an automated back up of all my files.

Problem 1 - Setting up 2 drives to work as mirror images / backups of each other (RAID 1?)

I'd never heard of "RAID" but after a little online research worked out that the "RAID 1" format sounded like what I needed. However (and please don't slate me for not being savvy enough!!), I can't easily see from the QNAP online web pages how to set this up. I can connect to the NAS homepage on my browser, can see the "Control Panel" and all the menu items such as Storage Management. But I am afraid I can't work out how to properly add the second disc, and then make sure they are both set up in the "RAID 1" format so work as a mirror image of each other.

Welcome to the Forum. Congratulations on your new Hardware.

I hate you tell you this, but you have already created issues for yourself. You can not migrate from SingleDrive Volumes to RAID1, except by wiping and starting again.

[quote="QNAP Turbo NAS "SMB" User Manual 4.1"]
Note: Storage pool expansion is not supported for the RAID 0, RAID 1, Single and JBOD configurations.
[/quote]

Due to this unfortunate revelation, you will need to Wipe/Start again in order to support RAID1, which is the only reasonable choice on a 2-Bay NAS. Single Drive/RAID0/JBOD are very poor choices to make. (I strongly recommend use RAID1 on a 2 Bay NAS).

You will find all the information you need to setup a RAID1 Storage Pool, in the Storage Pool section of the QNAP Turbo NAS "SMB" User Manual

I would recommend that you stop "playing" with your new hardware, and spend 8 hours reading the manual before making changes, copying your data to it, or installing Apps. You need a thorough understanding of your device, and an understanding of the terminology used in the manual in order to be able to understand what is and isn't possible, and so you can make informed choices. (You wouldn't have even attempted a SingleDrive configuration if you understood the risks/disadvantages of doing so).

I have no idea if you are a Windows, OS X or Linux user, so I wouldn't know where to start. We are more than happy to help you, but we need "basic" information from you, before we can do much to help you. Please review article: When you're asking a question, please include the following, and provide answers to those questions whenever you start a new Forum thread. (We can't help without this information, particularly answers to question #1 thereof).

This is not Windows nor OS X, so it will be a steep learning curve for you, which is why I so strongly recommend reading the manual first. The manual is extensive. Don't let this scare you, it is actually a useful read. This user manual is fully hyperlinked, indexed, and is searchable.

Please direct your Plex questions to the Plex subForum within this Forum System, long after your NAS is up and running properly. (Please never put more that a single issue in a Forum post unless they are closely related to each other).

Your NAS natively supports KODI via it's HDMI port, so you are unlikely to even want to use Plex once you are up and running.

Again: Welcome to the Forum.

[grahamja]

Oops and many thanks. No harm done and nothing lost, just need to start again.
Afraid I found the manual a little intimidating and hard to follow. Clear that I need to knuckle down and start afresh and try a bit harder!
Anyway, thanks for putting me back on the straight and narrow re this!
Jaime

[pwilson]

Oops and many thanks. No harm done and nothing lost, just need to start again.
Afraid I found the manual a little intimidating and hard to follow. Clear that I need to knuckle down and start afresh and try a bit harder!
Anyway, thanks for putting me back on the straight and narrow re this!
Jaime

It's a steep learning curve, but you'll get there. As you get more familiar with your device, and your choices available, you will start asking informed questions of us so that we will be able to help you. We were all "newbies" once, even myself, so this really isn't a problem. We'll try to be as patient with you as possible.

Wisdom comes from Experience,
Experience comes from bad judgement.

Sometimes we learn more from making mistakes. Trust me, I'm not different than you. I've made some really bad mistakes along the way too, which is why I have the experience I have. (I too attempted to run without RAID when I first started, and it took 5.4TB of lost data, and a divorce, (particially due to that data loss, as I lost all Photos of my children from birth to 14 years old. My ex-wife still hasn't forgiven me) before I got it right.

Hopefully you can learn from "our mistakes" before making your own.

Welcome to the Forum. Keep asking questions... We'll be here for you.

[grahamja]

Bless you and thanks. It's precisely that photo loss that initially made me think I needed more backup options. Genuinely sorry that something so awful happened to you. Guess such "experience" is older than both of us and will outlive us both too.... In the days well before digital my mother had photos from my first 6 months developed and the lab destroyed them all by mistake. Then again I was probably an ugly baby so no harm done.

Will be back with more questions in a few weeks once I've started over and done my homework first. People often say the modern world has lost a sense of community. I find it reassuring to know that it's actually just changed and there are communities such as this which engage in altruistic behaviours to help others.

All the best
Jaime