Disk Manager

The disk manager helps you manage the disks and partitions your network drive. Before you can properly use the device, one drive has to be setup as system drive. This includes creating a SWAP partition for the system and creating a partition for the data, which is mounted as HOME.

The auto mode is the recommended method to setup your system drive. The process is fully automated and no further user input is required.

1. Click Auto to automatically setup and format the internal drive(s).
   
2. The installation wizard will deactivate all disks and if two drives are installed, it will create RAID 1 array. It will create a SWAP partition for the system, a partition for your data, format the drive(s) using the XFS file system and then mount the partitions.
3. When the process is completed, your system is ready for use.

The advanced mode is still half automated but requires further user input, allowing you to choose your preferred RAID mode and the file system. If you would like to create a RAID 0 array for your system drive or format an external USB drive, use this mode.

The hard drives listed under internal disks are either drives that are installed inside the network enclosure or drives that are attached to the eSATA port of the network drive.

1. Make sure you have two disks available in your list for internal disks.
2. Place a tick in the box for both drives or control (Ctrl) click on both drives to select them.
   
3. Select your preferred file system (e.g. xfs).
   
4. Select your preferred RAID mode (e.g. RAID 0).
   
5. Click Apply to create the required partitions for your system drive and format it.
   
6. Wait for the formatting process to complete. Depending on the capacity of your drives, this might take a minute or two.
   
7. When the formatting process is completed, click OK to close the confirmation window.
   

The hard drives listed under external disks are USB drives that are attached to the USB port of the network drive. If the drive is already formatted, it will be mounted automatically. If needed, you can use the disk manager and format the drive by choosing a file system from the drop-down menu (e.g. FAT32, NTFS, HFS+, EXT4, XFS) and by clicking on Apply.

The expert mode allows you to manage the disks manually and setup the drives according to your own preferences. This mode should only be used by advanced users. If the drives are not setup correctly, it can affect both the functionality and the stability of the system.

Button	Function	Description
	Info	View more detailed information about the selected disk or partition.
	Erase Device	Delete all partitions on the selected disk.
	SMART Info	View the S.M.A.R.T. information of the selected disk. Please note that not all types of hard disks provide this kind of information.
	Mount Partition	Open the “Partition” tab to access further commands to mount the selected partition.
	Unmount Partition	Unmount the selected partition.
	Delete Partition	Delete the selected partition.
	Format Partition	Open the “Partition” tab to access further commands to format the selected partition.
	Refresh	Refresh the content.
	Back	Go back to the disk manager selection screen.

To see more detailed information about a particular disk, select a disk from the list and click Info or select the Partition tab to view the details.

S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology; also written as SMART) is a monitoring system for computer hard disks to detect and report on various indicators of reliability. If the disk supports SMART, select the disk from the list and click SMART Info to view the details.

To see more detailed information about a particular partition, select a partition from the list (not a disk) and then select the Partition tab to view the details.

1. Select the disk that you would like to erase from the list.
2. Click Erase Device.
3. Confirm that you really want to erase this disk.

1. Open the Partition tab.
2. Select the free space (not the disk) from the list or select the free space in the area that shows the partition map.
3. Select a partition type from the drop-down menu (e.g. primary, extended or logic).
4. Enter a size for the new partition or use the default value to create the largest possible partition.
5. Click Create.

1. Select the partition that you would like to delete from the list.
2. Click Delete Partition.
3. Confirm that you really want to delete this partition.

1. Select the partition that you would like to format from the list.
2. Click Format Partition to open the Partition tab for further commands.
3. Enter a label (name) for this partition.
4. Choose a file system from the drop-down list (e.g. EXT2, EXT3, EXT4, XFS, ReiserFS, FAT32, NTFS, HFS, SWAP).
5. Click Format to format the partition.
6. Wait for the formatting process to complete.

1. Select the partition that you would like to mount from the list.
2. Click Mount Partition to open the Partition tab for further commands.
3. Enter a mount point or if you would like to use this partition as your system storage, check Mount as HOME.
4. Click Mount.

1. Select the partition (not the disk) that you would like to unmount from the list.
2. Click Unmount Partition.

You can create a disk RAID if you have more than one internal disk. You can also create a RAID using one or more partitions, but we do NOT recommend to do this. Disk RAID arrays are listed with the name Linux Soft RAID.

1. Open the RAID tab.
2. Drag the partitions or disks from the list to the RAID table. To remove an item from the RAID list, click the red cross in front of the item.
3. Select your preferred RAID mode from the drop-down list.
4. Click Create to build up the RAID array.

1. Select the RAID array that you would like to delete.
2. Open the RAID tab.
3. Scroll down and click Destroy.
4. Confirm that you really want to destroy the RAID array.

When a drive in a RAID 1 array has failed, rebuilding the data has to be done manually.

1. Replace the faulty hard drive.
2. Select Linux Soft RAID and open the RAID tab.
   
3. Drag the new drive (the drive with free space) and drop it into the existing RAID array.
   
4. Scroll down and click Rebuild. This will create a partition identical in size to the existing drive already in the RAID array and start mirroring the data.
   
5. Click Refresh to update the status and monitor the rebuilding progress.
   
6. Depending on the capacity of the new drive, you will have some additional free space. If the capacity is identical to the existing drive, the remaining space can be used for SWAP. If the capacity is larger, you can create an additional partition for extra storage. Either way, to make use of this free space, you will have to manually create a partition, format and mount it.
   
7. Assuming that the capacity of your new drive is identical to the existing drive, we suggest creating a SWAP partition. To do so, select the Free Space, open the Partition tab and click Create. The partition type and size can be left at default.
   
8. Select the new partition, name it SWAP, select SWAP for the file system and click Format.
   
9. Select the new SWAP partition and click Mount.
   

Whereas for the internal system drive, the file system has to be XFS, for additional storage on an external USB drive, most of the common file systems are supported. However, depending on how the drive has been formatted, there are some limitations. In general, it's best to format the drive on your computer.