Help: network hard drive

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

Hi. I'm interested in adding a network hard drive to my home network and have no idea where to begin.

My current setup is as follows:
Dell XPS420 desktop (mine)
Dell XPS M1530 laptop (my husbands)
Both running Vista
Linksys WRT300N v1.1 Wireless N Router
Westell 2200 DSL modem

I have a new XPS M1530 coming for myself. Seriously considering getting rid of my desktop computer as I'm tired of all the clutter.

We'd like to put all music, photos and documents that we both need access to on a network drive. Looking for something that's extremely simple to setup and use. Would like to get something under $250.00 if at all possible. Thinking that 500 gig would be more than good enough but would get something larger if the price was right.

My first question is, is my router good enough or should I consider an upgrade? Would like to stick with Linksys for the router as that's what we're used to.

The second question would be for recommendations for the network drive.

The last question would be, how do I backup the data from the network drive. We currently use a ClickFree external multi-pc 250 gig hard drive that we love. I'm not sure if it would be able to backup from a network drive.

Any help would be appreciated.
Lisa

BudDurland · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 475

There's a couple ways to go. Several vendors offer a netowkr attached storage device. I've used the D-Link DNS 323 NAS and real good luck with it. It can do music streaming, and other goodies. it hold two hard drives, so you can set them up as redundant, or and one big blob of storage. It also has a USB port that can share a printer.

There are other NAS devices out there, fo sure, but that's the one I have direct experience with.

However, if you are retiring your desktop, you might consider using Windows Home Server. It's a cut-down version of Windows Server 2003, but it's pretty slick. Shared folders, streaming media, and automatic backups of client computers. It can be had for about $100 at NewEgg. It automatically uses whatever hard drive space you throw at it, and you can add an external USB drive and configure the server to back up to it.

I just installed the home server on an older Sempron processor, and it works pretty well.

Just some ideas.

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

Hi Bud,

I definately need to do much more research. I saw that Linksys has a media hub that looks nice. I'm just wondering something. The Linksys one says that it finds the files on your network computers and then backs them up onto the hub. It said something about backing up from your computer on a regular basis. I'm a little confused. I want to put all the music, photos & documents that we both need access to on the network drive and not have them on our computers. But I do want to be able to back them up. The Linksys hub comes with one drive but you can add a second. This is starting to sound like it's going to cost more money than I can think about for a while. I'd want the second drive for a backup but I have no idea how to set them up properly. Do any of these drives already come with two drives installed?

I checked out Windows Home Server on the Microsoft site and it said it was a software/hardware combo. Sounds interesting but sounds like it would cost too much as it looks like a small computer. I'm so confused! LOL!

Lisa

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

Update: I've spent all day looking & researching. I just purchased the Dlink DNS 323 along with a new Dlink router. The more I looked around on the Dlink web site the more I liked things. I also like the idea of having both items be the same brand. Hope I didn't make a mistake....Have never had anything but Linksys routers before.

Lisa

BudDurland · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 475

I've deployed some d-link routers (wired and wireless) without significant trouble. I own a DNS323 and so far it's been a very reliable appliance. I have two notes which may or may not apply to you, since mine is 3 years old, and your is brand new:

1) the device has a 1.5Gbs interface. Many newer hard drives are SATA-II (3Gbs). The drives are supposed to auto-switch to the lower speed, but my experience in PC's is that doesn't always happen. If the drive(s) you are installing have a jumper to lock in 1.5Gbs, best to do that

2) Vista needed a registry hack to see shares made on the DNS323 -- basically it enabled an earlier version of Microsoft's LanMan protocol. I think this was fixed in a recent firmware update.

3) make sure you update the firmware before anything else (ok that's three)

Here at this forum you can read up on some of the crazy things folks are doing with the DNS323. I don't understand about 1/3 of it, but it's still a good reference site.

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

Hi Bud,

I hope I have good luck with the new router. I've never had anything other than Linksys routers. You tend to get used to a particular brand. I decided to get the new router for two reasons. One was to keep it the same brand as the NAS and the other was because the NAS said something about it being a gigabit connection and my current router isn't. I don't know how much of a difference it'll make. I purchased the D-Link DIR655 Extreme N wireless gigabit router. I ordered it through Dell as they had the best price and I was able to buy my mouse to match my new laptop...which I can't wait to get.

As far as the DNS323, I hope I don't have any problems with it. If I get it connected ok, I'll update the firmware before I do anything else.

I ordered this from Amazon.com as it was the only other place I had enough credit to buy from right now. I don't know much about hard drives so I purchased what was recommended. I was going to get a 500 gig as that's more than enough for our use (the Click-Free backup drive we use on both computers is only 250 gig and we hardly have a dent in it) but saw that the 1 TB had a larger cache and was faster. I did get two of them so I can mirror them. The drive is a Western Digital (have had that brand before in our computers) caviar green 1 TB bulk/oem hard drive 3.5 inch, 32 mb cache, 7200 rpm SATA II WD10EADS. I have no idea what some of that means. As I said it was what was recommended to go with it. I'll try to remember about the jumper lock and have my husband look for it.

Thanks.
Lisa

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

Hi again Bud,

Can you explain exactly what I do when I get this unit & drives. I know you mentioned the jumper. I see how easy it is to put the drives in. Do I put both drives in at the same time?

When I start the setup procedure how do I set these drives up? All this RAID stuff is a foreign language to me. I just want to be sure I do things the right way the first time around. I do definately want to use the 2nd drive as a backup of the 1st drive.

Any suggestions?
Lisa

PS. Remember to keep it very simple for me. Thanks.

BudDurland · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 475

I'll go over the stuff that directly related to your install, but don't be afraid to ask questions -- that's how ya learn.

First, a couple basic definitions. RAID is an acronym for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. Basically, RAID is a way to either (1) make several disks look like one larger disk, (2) provide redundancy in case of a failed disk or (3) both.

There are several type of RAID, all referred to by number; RAID-0, RAID-1, etc. The DNS323 can do only a few of them:

RAID-0, also called "striping". Basically, this slaps two same-sized disks together, doubling the capacity. Data written to the RAID volume is written in "stripes" across both drives. This RAID configuration provides the best performance.

Unfortunately, RAID-0 provides no safety. If one of the disks fails, the effect is that *all* the data becomes inaccessible.

RAID-1, also called mirroring. With this method data written to the RAID volume is duplicated on both disks. So, should one disk fail, the other one will hold a copy of your data. Indeed, the device will still be able to function with the failed disk. The drawback is that although you've paid for two teraabytes of storage (2x 1TB drives), in effect you have 1TB of storage.

There's a johnny-come-lately version of RAID called JBOD -- "just a bunch of disks". All the drives in a JBOD array are slapped together, and data "overfloaws" from one to the next. With JBOD you can mix and match disk sizes, but like RAID-0, there's no safety.

You can also elect to simply install and access the disks as independent volumes. This maximizes the amount of storage you get, and if one drive fails, it has no effect on accessing data from the other drive. But, there's no backup there, either.

The first thing I'd do is visit this link to download the latest firmware for the device.

When it arrives, pretty much just follow the instructions as shown in the manual. They did a pretty good job. The only thing I'd add is to update the firmware before putting any users or files on the device. I had one firmware update require a reformat of the drives. I don't know if it still behaves that way or not.

Also, it appears the drive interface on the DNS323 is still SATA, the original generation. The drive you purchased are SATA-II. They probably have a jumper setting on the drive to lock them into SATA mode (1.5Gbps data transfer speed, instead of SATA-II's 3.0Gbps). If the drives have such a jumper, I'd install it before putting the drives in the unit, just to make it a sure thing.

How about the networking stuff? Are you comfortable with that?

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

Good morning Bud,

Thanks for the information. I'm thinking RAID-1 will be the best option for what we're doing. We'd be putting all music, pictures etc onto the NAS and removing them from our computers. That would mean that they would no longer be getting backed up onto our Click-free drive. So I'd want some way of backing them up from the NAS and this seems to fit the bill. I'm not concerned about the space issue because we are barely going to be making a dent in it right now. We can always change things around later if need be.

I didn't really realize the whole SATA/SATA II thing. I was originally going to put the drives in myself as it seemed so easy but I'll have my husband do it so he can check on the jumper settings. Hoping we don't have a problem, if so I guess we'll send them back and get something else.

Thanks for the link to the download. I went ahead and downloaded it now so I have it ready to go. I did read it says not to do it over a wireless connection.....I know the unit plugs into the router....do they mean don't upgrade it on a computer that's connected wirelessly? It also said that applied to all Dlink products. Right now my desktop is hard wired to the router but the new laptop may or may not be. So I'll have to keep it in mind for future reference.

I'm fairly comfortable with setting up the router and re-doing the home network....although I haven't done it in quite a while. Anything I should keep in mind about Dlink routers or the D-Link DIR655 Extreme N wireless gigabit router specifically?

The DNS323 & drives shipped yesterday. We usually get stuff within 3 days of shipping from Amazon. The router is supposed to be here Monday. Hopefully the new laptop will ship soon and I will have lots of new toys to play with. Maybe even a new wireless printer soon.

I appreciate the help you are giving me. If you think of anything else let me know. I'll post back in this thread if I come up with more questions or have any trouble.

Thanks,
Lisa

BudDurland · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 475

The firmware upgrade should be done form a computer that is hardwired to the network. If you really need to use the laptop to do it, the laptop probably has an RJ-45 ethernet connector, so it could be hardwired as well. Make it a sure thing by flipping the switch on the laptop to turn off wireless.

The reason for insisting on hardwired computers is because if there's any kind of "burp" during the data transfer, your DNS323 becomes a brick.

For the networking, the big thing is to make sure the "workgroup" name for all the computers & the DNS323 is the same.

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

Hi Bud,

Ok, that makes sense. The router should be here tomorrow. The NAS should be here this week. The laptop hasn't shipped yet. They estimated my deliver would be the 14th so we'll see what happens.

Yes I know to keept he "workgroup" name the same.

Thanks,
Lisa

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

Hi. The new router came today. It didn't take long to get it set up and running even though I couldn't do it exactly the way it wanted me to. It said to run the CD first and to be sure you had an internet connection. Well, if I disconnected my old router first, I wouldn't be able to connect the modem into the computer because I can't access the back of the computer easily enough and I don't have the connection setup to run from the modem only.

I tried to run the disc with the current router running hoping it would just let me disconnect it and connect the new one. It just wouldn't work. So I did the manual hook up and then ran the disc and it was able to set things up very easily. I left the SSID the same in the hopes that I wouldn't have to do any configuring on my husband's laptop.

Everything is working fine on my computer. I turned on his and it picked up everything right away. So both computers are working for internet and the home networking since those were already setup.

I didn't install the shareport software as right now we aren't using that feature.

I also opted not to install the new firmware. Mine came with 1.21. The newest is 1.31. It made me a little nervous because it says you can't downgrade from the newest firmware and I didn't want to cause a problem.

How do I save my configuration file? When I do decide to upgrade the firmware, I need to do this.
Lisa

BudDurland · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 475

I wouldn't worry about upgrading the firmware on the router unless you come across a specific problem that is solved with the new version.

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

Hi Bud,

I'm not going to worry about the router firmware upgrade unless I have a problem. It was only one version number up anyway.

Got the DNS 323 the other day along with the two drives. My husband "borrowed" some jumpers from work to put them into 1.5 mode.

We hooked the unit up this morning. It setup very easily. I mapped the drive to my computer for easier access and copied over the music & pictures and it works. We're going to have to play around with it to figure out exactly how we want to have things setup. We don't want to use the backup software on our computers because we are basically pulling music, photos & certain docs completely off our computers and putting it on the NAS. So we just have to remember when we add new stuff to move it onto the NAS. Also have to remember that if we decide to re-format to back the stuff up first.

Now I have a question. I did setup a password to run the configuration of the drive. I have not put any users on yet as this confuses me. It's just my husband & myself and we don't want to have to enter a user name & password everytime we need a file. Do we need to add users?

Any other suggestions?
Lisa

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

Hi again. I ran into a problem. I had mapped the drive to our computers for easier access to it. I rebooted and when it came back on, it wouldn't connect the drive. It said something about the username not matching or something. I was able to put the CD in and run the Easy Search utility to re-connect the mapped drive. Also even though it wasn't accessable via My Computer as a drive, I could click on Network and access the drive & files that way.

What do I need to do to fix this?
Lisa

BudDurland · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 475

I'm in unfamiliar territory because the second thing I did was setup the user names and passwords. i never ran the ez search utility, so I don't know what that does. Do you enter (or choose) a user name to log in to your computer? As long as the name & password on your computer are the same as the one s you configure in the NAS, authentication will be transparent.

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

Hi Bud,

The EZ search utility allows you to map the drive and it allows you to get into the configuration area.

No. Our computers each only have the one account. We don't have the guest account enabled or any other users. And no, we don't have passwords setup. Since it's just one account on each computer, it logs us directly into Windows without having to go through the login screen.

So do you think I need to setup two users on the NAS and just use blank passwords?

My husband had the same problem on his computer when he rebooted but his doesn't give the error. It just says it's not re-connected. Like I said we can still access it via the Network, just not in My Computer with the drives.
Lisa

BudDurland · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 475

I would try setting up the user name(s) with blank passwords and see if that works. Even if the system doesn't stop to as for a name, you are logged into windows with *some* name. You an check the user applet in the control panel, or open a command prompt and type "set" and hit enter -- lots information there.

Once that's done, navigate the network, find the NAS volume, right click and map a drive, and set the check box to make it permanent.

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

On our computers we do have user names with blank passwords. Haven't had time to play with the NAS since my new computer came on Friday. I've been playing with it ever since. I don't think we're going to bother with mapping the drive because all we have to do to access the drive is click on network and then click on the drive and it works. It was nice to see the drive in My Computer but it's just as easy to click on network first. We did move some stuff from my desktop onto the drive and we're able to access it from all computers just fine. Barely making a dent though. Told my husband we need to buy more music and take more pictures. LOL!

Thanks for the help. Have a great day!
Lisa

BudDurland · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 475

Just wait -- file size always grows to 110% of available storage.