Promise Comments: Quieting Down the Promise SmartStor NS4300N and NS4300N Review!

[PromiseNasDude]

Hi PromiseNasDude,

Good on ye for interacting with the end users of the product in the way you are and actually using the feedback you get to better the product. Its heartening to see.

I just got delivered another NS4300N (this time for myself!) and am wondering if it will support 3 x 1.5TB Seagate drives in RAID 5? Have you tested disks larger than 1TB?
Also wondering if there is any planned support for an encrypted container / volume on a disk? At present I achieve encryption by using the Mac HDD Util to create an encrypted sparse disk image and storing it on the NAS, however native support would be cool.

Am looking forward to getting SR5 as im sure alot of my customers are!

Thanks for being here.

Andy

Hi Andy, sorry for delay on reply.. I have been out sick and recovering..

1.5TB support is available in SR5 FW. SR5 will be posted tomorrow.

The Encrypted Container support is a good request. We have no plans at the moment, but I will definitely consider.

Need anthing else, let me know.

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

Hi PromiseNASDude,
you are my last help to rebuilt my NS4300N from a mistake I made in 'engmode'. Had problems to mount and read/write to NFS-shares from my digital SAT-receivers and wanted to go into root by telnet on the NAS to change owners/rights of the files on my RAID-5 with 3x 1TB drives.
did this, and the RAID-5 was gone:

NAS400N ##> peinfo
Physical Disk Extend Information
ID LD     Size(MB)  StartLBA   MainStatus   FuncStatus AssignStatus  SmartStatus
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 0  0    953805.71      0.00         Idle   Functional     Assigned         Work
 1  0    953805.71      0.00         Idle   Functional     Assigned         Work
 2  0    953805.71      0.00         Idle   Functional     Assigned         Work
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAS400N ##> pdinfo
Physical Disk Information
ID CH         Size(MB)            Model           Serial              F/W
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 0  0        953869.71     ST31000340NS         9QJ172S0             SN05
 1  1        953869.71     ST31000340NS         9QJ1HCNQ             SN05
 2  2        953869.71     ST31000340NS         9QJ1CL96             SN05
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAS400N ##> pdtest
This test may take some times. Please wait ...
  Logical volume "lv001" successfully removed
  Logical volume "nsswap" successfully removed
  Volume group "vg001" successfully removed
  Labels on physical volume "/dev/sda1" successfully wiped

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SATA Channel test pass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAS400N ##> pdinfo
Physical Disk Information
ID CH         Size(MB)            Model           Serial              F/W
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 0  0        953869.71     ST31000340NS         9QJ172S0             SN05
 1  1        953869.71     ST31000340NS         9QJ1HCNQ             SN05
 2  2        953869.71     ST31000340NS         9QJ1CL96             SN05
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAS400N ##> peinfo
Physical Disk Extend Information
ID LD     Size(MB)  StartLBA   MainStatus   FuncStatus AssignStatus  SmartStatus
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 0  0    953805.71      0.00         Idle   Functional     Assigned         Work
 1  1    953805.71      0.00         Idle   Functional     Assigned         Work
 2  2    953805.71      0.00         Idle   Functional     Assigned         Work
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAS400N ##> ldinfo
RAID Information
ID         Name   Level Size(MB)       Status         Activity             PDs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 0  RAID-218355   RAID0   953805   Functional             Idle           [ 0 ]
 1  RAID-218509   RAID0   953805   Functional             Idle           [ 1 ]
 2  RAID-218517   RAID0   953805   Functional             Idle           [ 2 ]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAS400N ##> logout

Can you give me an advise, whether there is a chance to rebuilt the RAID?
many thanks
Wolfirr

Hi Wolf, sorry for delay..

This is not good. Engmode features can destroy data. Let me discuss this with engineering and get back to you.

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

Hey PromiseNasDude,

Don't mean to hijack the thread but I'm having some terrible problems with a fairly easy setup. Is e-support responsive and the best approach to take?

TIA,

Vince Fulco

Sorry for delay. I have been out sick and recovering. Do you contact support? All escalated stuff from support comes to me. Send me a PM if you still need help.

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

I just receieved my 4300N and 4 seagate 1.5TB drives

After doing the setup everything runs fine until i do a reboot. After the reboot the system tells me the file system needs rebuilit.

I have opened a trouble ticket.. Called in for support and was told sorry only use the drives that are compatible and we dont know when they will be tested..

I have been running into a road block. I called in and was told to only use the drives that are supported. I didnt realize the drives would make that big of a difference and have opened them and installed them.. I have 4 at 220 and cannot return them. I really dont want to waste that money is there anything i can do to make this work?

Hi VW, sorry for the delay, I have been out sick and recovering. What Hard Drives do you use? We have just about everything qualified? Sounds like File System Errors are occuring. Send me a PM so we can move forward (if needed).

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

I just receieved my 4300N and 4 seagate 1.5TB drives

After doing the setup everything runs fine until i do a reboot. After the reboot the system tells me the file system needs rebuilit.

I have opened a trouble ticket.. Called in for support and was told sorry only use the drives that are compatible and we dont know when they will be tested..

I have been running into a road block. I called in and was told to only use the drives that are supported. I didnt realize the drives would make that big of a difference and have opened them and installed them.. I have 4 at 220 and cannot return them. I really dont want to waste that money is there anything i can do to make this work?

Sorry, I missed the 1.5TB part.. 1.5TB is support in SR5 FW. SR5 will be posted tomorrow. Send me a PM if you want sooner.

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

it could be long before there is a new firmware to correct this. Peharps you must sell them to buy some compatible in exchange?

Seagate 1.5TB Drives are now supported in SR5 FW. SR5 will be posted tomorrow.

Thanks..

 

[PromiseNasDude]

promisenasdude i sent you a pm

my nas is still under warranty. please let me know

Sorry for delay.. I will respond to your PM shortly..

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

Mine took 3 days to expand from 2 1 tb drives to 4.. then it took 5 hours after that to rebuild the file system, i dont think nasdude is answering anymore his mailbox if full..

My experience so far with their support is less than I would expect.. I would love to hear from someone that has received a positive response from their support.

I keep noticing they are closing my ticket each time i respond so i have to add a line to my request to open it up..

Why cant they support 1.5 TB drives? what is the technical hold up?

1.5TB is now supported in SR5. SR5 will be posted tomorrow. In addition to product management I run our Strategic Technology Alliance Program. The 1.5TB Drive (Brinks) is a new family with new HDC and FW. Compatibilities happen which is why we maintain an AVL (Approved Vendors List). It is very important to use this list an changes and or bugs on either the Promise or Seagate side can resolve in undesirable behavior. This is the way of the world. We found this issue when I received the early engineering samples which has lead to the fix in SR5.

When is SR5 coming?

Posted tomorrow or send me a PM to get access now.

How does the DLNA server decide when to index?

Again the initial scan, the services scans every 2 minutes if there is activity on the unit.

Why cant we get some FTP logging? Wouldnt you like to know who has ftpd to your box?

I am considering this for future Service Release. Good feedback.

Anything, let me know.

/QUOTE]

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

Hi,

I have 1x 1.5TB drive in my NS4300N (awaiting another 2 drives from the supplier), it works fine for me at the moment - quick too!

On the 8/10/08 promise e-support advised SR5 will be released in '2 weeks'. watch this space I guess!

Hi Andy, SR5 will be posted tomorrow. For access now, please send me a PM.

Thanks..

 

[PromiseNasDude]

Finally someone replies. I wish the support team replied but hey, I'm not complaining.

I've lost all my data with an SMC NAS a few months back, TWICE!!. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on ME, so you can imagine how careful I am now. I have twice the number of hard drives than I use online, just to XCOPY the lot onto the spare drives once a week. Back breaking job you might say and not cheap but one learns to be careful!!!

I'm quite happy with the box so far I must say. The speed is not bad at all even though I have a 10/100 router (got to change that)

Yes it took forever to finish the task mentioned above but it got there eventually. We'll see what happens when I add yet more drives to it !!! Time will tell, and again I say I am not complaining about you answering nor about the product itself. What encouraged me to get the nas4300n was the fact that there was someone from the support team actually answering this forum, but like everything else that is good, it comes to an abrupt end

Such is life!!

Oh yes, one last thing!!!

I hate the fact that NTFS is not supported when I connect a drive to the USB ports at the back of the NAS - I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!!

Sorry for delay.. I have been out sick and recovering.. I will be here for a long time. By the way, I am on the Product Manager/

NTFS with USB is not a bad request all. Let me see what can be found for SR6.

Anything else, let me know.

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

Do we have a date estimation for the SR5 release?

SR5 will be posted tomorrow evening or you can PM me for access now.

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

Does anyone uses the dlna plugin on the ns2300n?

I can't get it to work. When i enable dlna plugin the status shows "ON", but some seconds (30- 40) after, the status shows "OFF". The status changes between "ON" and "OFF" every few seconds until i disable dlna....very stupid :-(

In the few seconds the status is "ON", the dlna works and i can play music on my xbox 360 but after few seconds the connection gets lost.

Does anyone have same issues?

P.S. : Sorry for my bad english...

Sorry for delay in response.. I have been out sick and recovering.

This is a known bug and will be fixed in SR1 for NS2300N. If interested, I can get you a BETA version in a day or two. Please let me know.. Sorry for issue.

Thanks..

 

[PromiseNasDude]

They are telling me that it wont handle past 4TB so when you put drive 2 in you should be ok...

When i put drive 3 in, im doomed.

It runs fine until a reboot is needed which happens, then the file system is corrupted and nothing works to repair it.

Thats why Im hoping that SR5 will expand their 4 TB limit

Check my previous post to you.. SR5 is here..

 

[PromiseNasDude]

On a previously owned NAS, I could browse to my bittorrent client using internet explorer. Can this also be done on the NS4300N? How?

Thanks

Hi Ruff, at the moment, you can browse using SmartNAVI (direct access to share which opens file explorer window) or the usual way of opening browser and file explorer (use network name or IP). We may add browsing support from the browser. I will work to see what we can do.

Stay Tuned..

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

No word on when the next generation NAS will be out? The 4 drive bay model with the $499 price point.

Hi Cip, we are working on the NS4600 now. It will be released in Q1. More details to come in December/Jan.

Stay Tuned...

 

[PromiseNasDude]

99% of my entire music collection is .wma lossless but I cannot play any of them via the xbox 360, the music stutters badly. I have a few CD's that were ripped .mp3 and they play fine.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Hey dude, send me a PM and I can provide access to new BETA Plugin. Curious to see if this helps..

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

I have been trying to connect to my Active Directory on a Win2000 server without any luck. Keep getting told "Protocol Control - Service has started. And joined the AD domain failed."

Any ideas anyone please???

Sorry for delay.. We have a special character issue and a workaround. The issue is now resolved in SR5 so workaround is not necessary. SR5 will be posted tomorrow or you can PM me for access now.

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

About the plugins i've seen here, are they compatible with the Promise SmartStore NS2300N?
Is there any development in progress for a webserver plugin, that can support mysql, php, asp.net and ajax (this last two using the open source mono project - http://www.mono-project.com)?
This kind of plugin would be great!
I'm not talking for big websites, but it would be a good solution for low/mid enterprises that only need some basic homepage or even a simple intranet page...

Regards,

Michael

Hi Michael, sorry for delay.. Been out sick and recovering..

Our plugins are for both the NS2300N and NS4300N.

We are working on a plan for Web Server support. Could be available in Q1. Please Stay Tuned..

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

PromiseNasDude, are you ever coming back? Last time you posted here was over a month ago...

It's been a few months now since you first let us know about the exchange for quieter NS4300N units and I was just wondering, what's the status of these new improved/quiet units?

Also, any idea when the next firmware version (SR5) will be released? There's been a lot of chatter about how it will fix a lot of things, but again, it's been months now and no sign that it's coming any time soon... It would be GREAT to get some kind of an update...

Thanks!

Eddie

Sorry for delay.. Been out sick with sinus infection and recovering. SR5 is out tomorrow.

I will post a list shortly.

Thanks.

 

[PromiseNasDude]

i'm very sure in my heart that promise company kill promisedude for helping us.

Company don't like very much black sheep going outside the rules

Peharps he has some problem with hierachy after posting here?

No worries, I have been out sick.. Sorry for delay..

This is my show so no one has "killed" me for helping the community.

Need anything, let me know..

Thanks.