Synology DS-212j (NAS)

[GimmeSlack12]

Just bought one on Amazon. I'm pretty excited about this as I've wanted a solid NAS device for quite a while. Good ol' tax return has finally made this a good time to buy.

One thing I've not totally figured out though is if I have to erase the current drives I plan on putting in the NAS. I have a 1.5tb and 1tb drives that have media on them and would really prefer to not have to do any formatting for the Synology to get up and running. Anyone with one of things have any answers?

 

[Ishmumrhmn]

Forgive me for not answering your question, but I'd love to know what NAS is and for what does one use it for?

 

[ljonesj]

network access storage. and to answer the other guys question i think u do have to erase the info on the drives or it will do it for u when it sets it up unless there is an option just to use them as a seprate drives still

 

[maflynn]

I can't answer specifically for Synology but my Qnap uses a different partition and format then my Mac so when putting in drives into the NAS, QNAP had to initialize them (partition/format) which would have the effect of erasing them.

 

[blueroom]

The DS212j will format the drives to ext4. It will not preserve their data.

If they're older used drives allow it to do an extended format.

 

[monsieurpaul]

One thing I've not totally figured out though is if I have to erase the current drives I plan on putting in the NAS. I have a 1.5tb and 1tb drives that have media on them and would really prefer to not have to do any formatting for the Synology to get up and running. Anyone with one of things have any answers?

I got the same, and the same problem: reusing hard drives with media on them.

Let's say you have 2 HDs: HD1 and HD2 with files on them. I did the following:

- Backup the data from HD1 I wanted to keep
- Insert and format HD1 in my Syno using Basic configuration
- Copy data from HD2 to HD1 using a USB enclosure attached to the Synology
- Insert and format HD2 in my Syno using Basic configuration

You need to have enough room left on your HD to copy all the data you want to keep, and you won't have a RAID configuration in your Synology.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

Ok, well in anticipation of the drives needing to be formatted I have decided to forgo backing up any video media and will only back up my music and pictures. Most of it is ripped DVD's and TV shows I've seen a bunch of times over so it's really not too much of a concern to me.

Getting this NAS is the final part of my solution for a clean household backup/storage solution that I'll hopefully maintain for several years until HDD's are completely phased out (maybe around 2018?). We shall see.

 

[carr1on]

Ok, well in anticipation of the drives needing to be formatted I have decided to forgo backing up any video media and will only back up my music and pictures. Most of it is ripped DVD's and TV shows I've seen a bunch of times over so it's really not too much of a concern to me.

Getting this NAS is the final part of my solution for a clean household backup/storage solution that I'll hopefully maintain for several years until HDD's are completely phased out (maybe around 2018?). We shall see.

I purchased the Synology 411j six months ago and think it's great. I have installed three 3TB drives. My only concern was heat, but so far the SMART reports don't show anything of concern, so the heat exhaust must be sufficient.

While the Synology does support AFP, I only use SMB for network share access.

 

[DavoteK]

I purchased the Synology 411j six months ago and think it's great. I have installed three 3TB drives.

Whats the noise level like with the 4 bay NAS? Still undecided between a 2 & a 4 bay.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

Question!

I got my DS212j and threw my 1TB and 1.5Tb drives in it (just what I had available). Can I setup two separate volumes representing each of these drives? So that I can have one as my Time Machine and other as Media drive?

I only played with it for a minute or two last night, but it seemed like I either had to RAID the disks, or SHR them and that created one lumped drive (2.5Tb).

Is using each drive separately possible? Should I do this, as I'm kind of educating myself on what the best configuration should be.

(hope people see this)

 

[r0k]

Question!

I got my DS212j and threw my 1TB and 1.5Tb drives in it (just what I had available). Can I setup two separate volumes representing each of these drives? So that I can have one as my Time Machine and other as Media drive?

I only played with it for a minute or two last night, but it seemed like I either had to RAID the disks, or SHR them and that created one lumped drive (2.5Tb).

Is using each drive separately possible? Should I do this, as I'm kind of educating myself on what the best configuration should be.

(hope people see this)

I would not create one lumped drive. I have a 212J and only installed one 2TB drive in it. If/when I get a second drive, I intend to make it separate from the first one.

 

[monsieurpaul]

Question!

I got my DS212j and threw my 1TB and 1.5Tb drives in it (just what I had available). Can I setup two separate volumes representing each of these drives? So that I can have one as my Time Machine and other as Media drive?

Yes, that what I did: 1 drive with 1 volume, the other with 2 volumes including 1 dedicated to Time Machine.

You have to choose "basic" when installing the drives.