Hi,
Ok I naively purchased a Buffalo LinkStationQuad today, new in its box, from a company that specialises in nuying up stock from retailers that they can no longer sell because parts have been removed. I didn't imagine there would be a problem, but now I'm not so sure.
The enclosure looks in brand spanking new condition, and also in the box was the power supply, an ethernet cable, the quick start guide and the warranty statement.
There were no drives included, as they had been removed, and the installation CD was also missing. The box says it is the 4TB version.
So, here are the issues.....
1) The specification online indicates that the LinkStationQuad accepts 4 drives, up to 2TB in size each. So I bought 4x 2TB drives. While searching this forum though, I've seen somebody say that actually, you cannot change the size of the hard drives, because there something preset in the box that determines what size drives it takes. So if somebody bought the 2TB or 4TB model, they can't upgrade the size later on to 8TB by replacing the drives? Is that true?
The person even goes so far as to say that if all four drives are changed at once, something is lost (presumably something gets written to the drives) that can't be replaced, and that the box may be bricked as a result. That sounds a bit extreme, is that true?
I'm hoping these comments aren't true, otherwise the box is probably useless to me.
2) Other than the drives, the only other thing missing from the box was the installation CD. Am I correct in assuming that I need the Navigator software in order to configure the box? Or can I do that using the webaccess facility? If I need the Navigator software, does anyone have any idea of how I might go about getting a copy?
On the website, you need a serial number to download the latest version of the software. I tried entering the serial number of the LinkStation itself, but that is not accepted, so I am assuming that the original installation CD must come with its own serial number, which of course I do not have, as it was missing from the box.
I've tried contacting Buffalo via tech support, but no reply as yet, plus I'm not sure if I will get a reply, as the page says tech support is only available in the US or Canada. I'm in the UK.
Any ideas, help, comments would be appreciated.
The company I bought it from has said that they will refund me if I can't get it working, but that would be the last resort for me. If anyone can help me get this thing up and running I'd be most grateful.
Kind regards,
Nigel Prymak
PS I've not installed the drives yet, and haven't done anything to setup the box using webaccess.
I don't want to do anything until I'm sure it isn't going to destroy the box.
1. Clean all the partitions of the 4 HDDs by formatting them in a PC.
2. insert the hdds into the unit and follow FAQ 3 of 5 in the storage section to get the unit into EM mode.
3. Once it is in EM modefollows FAQ 2 of 5 to debug the firmware, when debugging the firmware enable all the options including rebuild partition table.
4. Strt using the NAS :-)
Any questions then just ask but post as much detail a possible.
Thanks for the prompt and informative reply, much appreciated.
Just one more question before I start working on it ......
Can I add drives gradually, say 2 now and 2 later?
I have 2 drives that are still in their wrappings, they've never had data on them. Can I put those in first, to get it up and running, and transfer data on to them?
The other 2 drives have data on that I will need to back up before adding into the box. Can I add them later?
Or when I add the other drives will I have to reformat the ones already in there? I guess I probably would have to do that if I wanted the drives to all appear as a single big drive, but if I am happy to have them appear as 2 different arrays ( each consisting of 2 drives), can I set up the 1st pair now, and the other pair later?
I don't intend to have any mirroring going on in the box, as I have several other nas enclosures that I use for backup purposes.
Hope my explanation is clear,
Kind Regards,
Nigel