G'day from 'straya !

[VladTepes]

Hello from Down Under.

shrimp on the Barbie and all that... and no we don't drink Fosters here.


New to FreeNAS and have intentions of building a system as time and budget and wife permits.

Why? Because my Synology 413j failed massively and support from Synology has been non-existent or worse.


The first question I have - and feel free to point me elsewhere if this is answered elsewhere (I searched to no avail) is:

Can Synology disks be inserted into a FreeNAS system and read / re-encoded?

I'm hoping to recover the data that was on those disks - the disks themselves not having failed.


Thanks all, and I'll keep on reading.....

 

[jgreco]

shrimp on the Barbie and all that... and no we don't drink Fosters here.

NO NUDIES PLEASE!

Can Synology disks be inserted into a FreeNAS system and read / re-encoded?

I'm hoping to recover the data that was on those disks - the disks themselves not having failed.

It should be recoverable, but you may have an easier time of it on a PC with a Linux.

https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?t=51393

I would try that, first. Step lightly.

 

[anodos]

No pictures of the Alps or Lederhosen?
:D

 

[VladTepes]

No pictures of the Alps or Lederhosen?
:D

I can understand the confusion.....

 

[VladTepes]

It should be recoverable, but you may have an easier time of it on a PC with a Linux.

https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?t=51393

I would try that, first. Step lightly.

Thanks. I know bugger all about Linux so perhaps you are able to clarify..

1. Booting Ubuntu from a USB and the instructions definitely makes no change to the PC itself?
2. Do I need to unplug the existing drives in the PC in order to do this?
3. Do I need to plug in all the Synology NAS HDD's into the PC or can data be copied off as required disk by disk?

Thanks heaps.

 

[anodos]

I can understand the confusion.....

Interesting. Australia is still in its normal place next to Germany, but there's this big island next to Greenland. Europeans sure are funny people.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

1. Yes, but ...
2. Technically, no, but it would be the safest option.
3. Depends on how your Synology was configured. If it was a RAID, you should go for all disks at once.

 

[VladTepes]

Cheers, finding something to write all the data TO as interim storage is the BIG challenge......

 

[anodos]

Cheers, finding something to write all the data TO as interim storage is the BIG challenge......

Do you remember any details regarding how the storage was configured on the synology device? (Raid1, raid10, raid5/6) The largest issue with your previous setup was that you had no backups (raid isn't a backup).

Usually, the quickest and cheapest way to get storage capacity for backups is to purchase a large USB hard drive.

 

[Mirfster]

Cheers, finding something to write all the data TO as interim storage is the BIG challenge......

I am assuming that you eventually want to re-use these drives for the FreeNAS build once you have been able to copy the data off of them?

In your situation, I would consider first getting FreeNAS built (using new Hard Drives) and then creating a share. From there if you are able to access the data on the Synology drives from your PC (using the method mentioned previously) then you could simply mount the FreeNAS share and copy the data directly there.

Once all that is done and data is confirmed, you could then consider re-purposing those Synology drives in FreeNAS; as long as you have the physical space to do so.

 

[VladTepes]

anodos: Precisely, it isn't a backup. As I've discovered.... :) Sadly I really have no idea what the RAID configuration on the synology was. :(
When you say a large USB drive, how do you define "large"?
edit: Just looked online and saw JB HiFi has quite a few large capacity USB drives (not bloody cheap though) though on closer investigation they seem to be a box, with a number of WD Reds in a RAID 0 array.....

mirfster: Yes I am planning on using those same HDDs for the FreeNAS setup, primarily because I can't afford to buy a pile of new ones. I do agree your idea is an excellent one, perhaps just a slight $ issue for me...


If I had a 'box/enclosure' could I make one myself for less than the cost of a commercial one, and what would I need to do so? If the cost saving is enough, for example, then I could build say an 8Tb backup for the cost of a commercial 4Tb one.... maybe?

 

[anodos]

anodos: Precisely, it isn't a backup. As I've discovered.... :) Sadly I really have no idea what the RAID configuration on the synology was. :(
When you say a large USB drive, how do you define "large"

It's hard to say. What size are the hard drives that you pulled from the old NAS? How many of them do you have? Add them up and you'll get a good idea of the upper bound of what you want for a backup. Recently I've been using an 8TB seagate drive for USB backups, but I'm not familiar with prices in Australia. It might be cheaper to just get a couple of 4TB external hard drives. Once you get your old array mounted on a linux computer, copy your files onto the external hard drives.

 

[VladTepes]

3 x 3TB WD Red NAS drives. I'm certain it wasn't near capacity though.
Given it was probably in Raid1 then an upper limit of 6Tb I suppose

 

[anodos]

3 x 3TB WD Red NAS drives. I'm certain it wasn't near capacity though.
Given it was probably in Raid1 then an upper limit of 6Tb I suppose

That means you should be set with a single external 8TB archive drive (if you can find one). They're not terribly fast or great, but they are reasonably priced and easy to work with. You can continue to use it for backups once you settle down on a replacement NAS.

Hopefully you'll be able to recover the data. It seems like @jgreco has given the best technical advice you're likely to get here (which is to follow the linked recovery procedure on the synology forums). Please heed the admonishment to 'step lightly'.

 

[VladTepes]

Cheers

That means you should be set with a single external 8TB archive drive (if you can find one). They're not terribly fast or great, but they are reasonably priced and easy to work with.

Can you suggest / link one please, so I know specifically what type you mean?