BlackArmor NAS Network Storage Server

[Cataphractster]

 My brand new NAS-400 showed the "System Warning: Has Foreign Disk(s)" on first start-up. It was not detected on my network either. I followed the online troubleshooter to the point where it requires you to perform the pin-hole reset by depressing the recessed button in the hole for 30 seconds. No matter what I did, my NAS does not want to reset, regardless of how long or short I pressed the reset button for.

Any assistance will be appreciated. I also have a NAS 440 that is running without problems on the same network.

[RAsg]

A 440 comes with 4 drives. A 420 comes with 2 drives. A 400 doesn't come with drives. With the 400 off and you put in 4 blank drives then on the first power up it will extract the OS and build a Raid 5 which takes 8-12 hours and probably will not be available until the LCD screen shows Seagate BlackArmor. Inserting 2 blank drives it will default to a Raid 1 and I think will only take an hour or less to build.

I am not sure why you would need to reset anything on the new NAS other than let it build on first startup.

[Cataphractster]

Is it normal, while this build is taking place (I have 2 identical disks in the unit), that the unit will display the message: "System Warning: HasForeignDsk(s)" and that the unit would not be visible on the network?

[Cataphractster]

Problem sorted, thanks.

[SeanR]

Hi,

I have the same problem, got the Blackarmor 400 yesterday, installed 4 new 1TB seagate disk. System booted and then it says "System Warning: HasForeigndisk(s)". The Blackarmor is also not recognized on the network.So I cannot claim the disk as instructed...

I have waited 15 hours already and nothing happen. How did you sorted it out?

Thanks.

[Varatreiber]

Hi!

I solved tha same problem with this approach:

Just install the 1st HD. (Leave the other 3 uninstalled)

The 1st HD must be absolutely blank (no partition & no filesystem on it)

then start the BA and you will see, that the BA will claim the 1st HD and install the OS!

After this the BA is with the default IP Adresse 192.168.1.2 visible in your network...

Hope this will help you,

regards, Hannes

[Cataphractster]

Hi SeanR,

My problem was caused by the fact that I used two Samsung drives (they were not on the list of supported drives) and they had been previously formatted.

I then took two supported Seagate drives (unformatted and with no active partitions on them) and they worked perfectly with no problem. Because I used 2 drives, the NAS created a Raid 1 setup by default. I think it only took about 5 minutes and the LCD screen will show you that the system is extracting the image of the OS and thereafter the progress in creating the volume. If it says "Warning: System Has Foreign Disk(s)" it is actually standing still and not doing anything so leaving it for hours like that will not help.

Once the image has been extracted and the volume created, you will see the NAS on your network and all the functions will be accessible.

Converting the Raid 1 volume to a Raid 0 volume with the supplied software was very quick and easy. I will add two more drives later and set up two separate Raid 0 volumes.

So, bottom line: use only unformatted, unpartitioned Seagate drives that are on the list of supported drives.

[SeanR]

Hi Cataphractster and many thanks,

Well there is a progress, however still not there...

Indeed after more than 24 hours of waiting, nothing happened. I turned off the machine. Extracted all the disks out and turned it on again. Now all hdd leds became green instead of amber (though no disk was inside...).

I then inserted disk by disk. All leds stay green. In the LCD it now says:

NoSystemHDDFound

IP: 192.168.1.2

I looked at a different post, where is says that the disk is not supported. However my 4 disks are seagate disk which are on the supported drive list (1tb st31000528as)

In addition, while i can ping the 192.168.1.2, the blackarmor discovery does not recognize it.

I am quite puzzled here....:-(   any idea? 

[SeanR]

Thanks Hannes,

I've followed your instructions and figured it out.

The disk I was using was from an old raid array I had, so they they were formatted as a "dynamic disk".

So what I did:

1. Connected the disk to my pc, converted it to simple unallocated volume.

2. Turned off BlackArmor and booted it with this one disk.

3. It recognized it and started with initialization processs (dumping OS...)

4. When it will finish I will add the 3 other disks as you instructed.

Many thanks!!! :-)

Sean.

[Cataphractster]

Cool! It is important that the drives are "fresh". Once the OS is dumped you'll be good to go.