2TB Mirror Edition [RAID when connected to router]

#1

I recently purchased and have successfully connected a My Book 2 TB Mirror Edition HDD to a WNDR3700 NetGear

router, which effectively I think enables the drive to act as a NAS device. The router which is a DLNA certified device can then I think, act as media server.

The HDD and router are located in my main living areas and next to a DLNA certified AV receiver and TV which are also connected to the router and have successfully been able to browse and view media on te Mirror Edition HDD.

The two notebooks which I would also like to read and write to the HDD are each a few rooms either side of the living area. One is a Home Office notebook and the other is strictly a work/business notebook located in a studio.

As the Mirror Edition HDD is preconfigured for RAID 1 mode and I have little experience in this area, can the Mirror Edition HDD function:

  1. As a network drive; and if so,
  2. Operate in RAID 1 mode?

It could be the fault of the receiver, however I am asking because the receiver is having difficulty streaming audio files from the HDD connected to a router connected in this way and I think functioning as NAS. The reciver ‘sees’ the media server (NetGear router) and can browse the folders on the MyBook drive attached to it and even start playng an audio file however I haven’t yet been able to play one track from beginning to end without a interuption or interruptions, skipping to the next file, or the media server stopping altogether often after a ‘file format error’ or ‘server error’ message.

On the other hand I am able to play the same files on notebook connected to same router as the MyBook HDD without any problems.

Any ideas, suggestions?

#2

If you use a USB to Network Adapter, you should be able to use the Mirror on a network.  However, you won’t be able to use the Drive Manager utility to monitor or set the RAID array.  To set the array to RAID 1 or 0, you will need to connect the drive by USB to a computer directly, install the Drive Manager if you haven’t, and set the RAID to whichever you want.  Then you can reconnect it to the network, once the RAID has be rebuilt.

#3

Bill_S wrote:

If you use a USB to Network Adapter, you should be able to use the Mirror on a network.  However, you won’t be able to use the Drive Manager utility to monitor or set the RAID array.  To set the array to RAID 1 or 0, you will need to connect the drive by USB to a computer directly, install the Drive Manager if you haven’t, and set the RAID to whichever you want.  Then you can reconnect it to the network, once the RAID has be rebuilt.

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your reply and suggestion.

What’s a network Adapter. Would that be in the NetGear router itself?

I have since had another suggestion that the buffering problem I encoutered between the WD Mirror/NetGear router and the Denon receiver might have more to do with an incompatibility between the router’s built in UPnP media server and the Denon rather than the Mirror drive itself.

Which is quite possible as I had no troubles streaming from the Mirror to the Denon receiver using server software when I connected the Mirror to my notebook.

So you think I could try (re)connecting the Mirror to the router but this time disabling the router’s built in UPnP media server functionality and using something else?

#4

What I was referring to is something like this.  [edit] I’m not recommending this particular device.  I’m just showing you what they are.

As for the upnp functionality of your router, and it hindering the drive functioning, I wouldn’t know.