I have a brand new PRO4100, and it seems before I can do anything with it, I need to configure a RAID and/or JBOD array.
My question is this: If I use 4 drives that already have data on them to create the JBOD, will they be wiped when setting up the array?
In the RAID setup options when selecting a JBOD array, it warns you that “changing the RAID mode will erase all the data on the drives”. Would this still be the case even though no RAID array has ever been set up on this 4100 or these disks? Since this is a new JBOD array and isn’t being “changed” from a RAID to a JBOD, I’m curious (and a little terrified) if this is still the case. I’m loading up 16 TB of data into this thing and cannot under any circumstances lose this data.
If setting up the JBOD will result in the drives being wiped, I’ll have to go out and buy 4 fresh drives and then manually transfer the data over to each after the JBOD has been set up.
Thanks for your help, dswv42, that worked fine. I was able to setup 4 fresh drives under the JBOD configuration. Last question for now - is it possible to rename the drives? At the moment they’re all stuck under Volume_1 → Volume_4, and while it works, I’d prefer giving them custom names. Is this at all possible?
I went ahead and created shares for each drive, and then mapped them to my network. It basically accomplishes what I need, and I can indeed see drive usage and capacity.
A shame, really, that WD has somehow ignored some basic functionality, and yet advertises this thing as being totally consumer-ready. Most consumers will have no idea how to handle this thing. I mean, I’m kind of familiar with networking solutions and configurations, and with a consumer-ready product, that should have been enough. Even then, I had trouble. No where in the instructions does it mention that you must set up a RAID/JBOD array before you can do anything at all with the device. I’m flabbergasted that nobody at WD considered that little snag. How many returns have they suffered due to inadequate documentation?
When I set up my DL2100 a few years ago, I first looken in the user manual and found info regarding RAID and JBOD.setups and decided to stay with the original default setup of RAID1.
Today, I wish I had selected JBOD and want to change to JBOD, because all data on my NAS is COPIES of media files stored on other drives. I do not need the redundancy of RAID1, and I can double the NAS’s capacity
Another reason regards something forum member dswv42 mentioned a while back when he wrote businesses need to use RAID, but most individuals do not if they have backups of the files on their NAS, Makes sense to me.
What info did dswv42 send you? I am in the same boat and would like to setup existing drives a JBOD on the NAS, dont want to lose the data I have on them.
Thank you. I am trying yo use drives that are already formatted with NTFS and have data on them, without having to have the NAS format them and losing the data.
