FAQ DEONET Backup Systems

An important difference is the throughput. USB speeds vary up to 45 mb/sec while E-SATA (SATA-II) speeds vary up to 300 mb/sec. So USB (2.0) is more limited on speed.

When connected by E-SATA it is not possible to simply disconnect the DEONET backup system from your computer and connect a different system with new disks. The computer will not recognise the system and you will need to restart your computer. When connected by USB a switch of backup systems is possible.

A: We test our units with Seagate hard disks. For a complete list of hard disks that have been tested, please contact our technical support.

1. Please first check whether the DEONET Backup System is executing data auto-rebuild.

2. Please examine if the length of the S-ATA cable, that connects the drive to the computer system, meets the requirements. S-ATA cables longer than 30cm are not recommended.

3. If both length and specifications of the cable are checked and are ok, please turn off the DEONET Backup System and remove the hard disk from the DEONET Backup System. Test the hard disk directly with the computer system. Bad sectors in the hard disk might cause a down time that is longer than usual.

The total storage capacity of the DEONET Backup System is determined by the storage capacity of the primary hard disk installed during the initial usage. The storage capacity will not increase after initial installation even when placing a brand new hard disk with larger storage capacity. When choosing RAID 0, the total capacity is double the capacity of the primary hard disk.

If the DEONET Backup System is executing data rebuilding simultaneously while the computer system is accessing the data, the auto rebuilding process and the saving process will take longer than normally. This is because the DEONET Backup System must divide its resources between the normal system operation and the data rebuilding process.

However, the priority for the DEONET Backup System is to maintain the proper system operations. Therefore, the data rebuilding speed will slow down until the system is finished with the data saving operations. Depending on the hard disk, the average rebuild speed will be just over 3GB per minute.

A: Yes, it can be influenced by using DEONET manager software. There is a “slow” and a “fast” mode. In slow mode, rebuilding will be slower but the user will have faster access to data. In fast mode, rebuilding will be faster but access to data will be slower. Fast rebuilding takes about half the time of slow rebuilding.

If the power is switched off in the middle of the auto rebuilding process, the controller will remember the auto rebuilding percentage process and resume the rebuilding process when the power is switched back on.

A: The data auto rebuilding function will copy data from one sector to another sector. Technically speaking, the data will not be lost during the auto rebuilding process. However, if the original hard disk is detected with bad sectors during the rebuilding process, the DEONET Backup System will make a hypothetical duplication instead of treating the bad sectors as hard disk failure. Therefore, the data stored in the bad sectors could potentially be lost during rebuilding.

The manufacture default setting for the buzzer in the DEONET Backup System is Buzzer On. The user can use any pointed materials to push the button on the front dash board to turn the buzzer on and off.

A: You can't shut down the system while rebuilding, because the system won't be recognized with restart. If the backup system is switched off (manually or by a power outage), please resume rebuilding where it stopped. It is also possible to start with one disk in the system, and add a secondary disk. The rebuilding will restart then.

A: In some cases it can be necessary to install new firmware. If your system has been stable for a longer period this is unnecessary. If you do wish to have new firmware installed, please contact our technical support for more information.

A: No, this does not matter. If the rebuilding process is 100% finished, you can switch the primary hard disk with a new disk. All data will be copied from disk B to the new disk A.

1. The storage capacity of the second hard disk must be larger than the first hard disk. Otherwise, the DEONET Backup System cannot rebuild the new hard disk and the LCD display screen will display "Wrong Capacity".

2. The LCD display screen might display rebuilding error messages such as Pri(s)->Sec(s) or Sec(s)->Pri(s). The term (s) signifies that both hard disks are treated as original hard disk. The user must determine which hard disk will be the original hard disk prior to installing the hard disks into the DEONET Backup System. Once the original hard disk is designated and installed in the DEONET Backup System, the user can place the second hard disk and the rebuild will initiate automatically.

A: The DEONET Backup System uses more strict requirements and standards to examine the bad sectors in the hard disk. The user can first overwrite the bad sector on a PC before placing the hard disk into the DEONET Backup System.

A: There seems to be something wrong with the primary hard disk. Remove this disk and replace it by a new disk. Important: do not remove the secondary disk! The computer will crash. If you restart your computer, it’s possible that the primary disk will start rebuilding to the secondary disk. This will cause memory loss.

A: You need to restart your computer, this will reboot the DEONET backup system.

1. Please check whether the readings on the DEONET Backup System LCD display screen appear normal.

2. Please check whether the S-ATA connection cable is properly connected to the computer system and whether S-ATA drives are functioning normally. If the S-ATA cable is connected, the computer system will choose to run the S-ATA drive.

3. Please check whether the backup system is recognised in the BIOS.

4. Please check whether the S-ATA port on the mainboard is on standard IDE modus.

5. If everything is functioning properly but you are still unable to start the computer system, then the problem might be system incompatibility. If such an incompatibility problem occurs, please contact our technical support. Call +31 (0)40 238 000 or send an email to support@deonetstorage.com.

A: Please check whether the readings on the LCD display are normal or if there is a hard disk failure. Please also pay attention to any other symbols displayed in the LCD display. For example, if the "F" symbol is displayed, this means that there is a cooling fan failure. If the "T" symbol is displayed, this means that the system is overheated.