Fantec QB-35U31R User manual

Model QB-35U31R
4-Bay HDD-Enclosure with RAID-Functionality
Manual English

Inhalt
3 Contact
4 Introduction
4 Technical Data
4 Delivery
4 Features
4 Connections
5 System Requirements
5 Working Environment
5 Security Instructions
6 Overview
6 Front View
7 Controls
8 Rear View
8 Side View
9 Assembly
9 Hard Drive Installation
11 Opening the Front Panel
11 Changing the Fan
12 Setup
12 RAID-Modes
12 Single Mode
12 RAID 0 Spanning
13 RAID 0 Striping
13 RAID 1 Mirroring
14 Operation Manual
14 First Use
14 Setting the RAID-Mode
15 Particularities in Single Mode
15 After Installation of a Set
15 Usage of Hardware-RAID-Managers
15 Usage of Hard Drives
16 RAID 0
16 RAID 1
16 Hints for the Installation of Hard Drives with Data

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18 DataLossduetoMechanicalInuences,Software-InuencesorFaulty
Operation
18 Reading of Hard Drive Information
18 Secure Removing of the Hard Drive
20 Initialising, Partitioning and Formatting
20 Windows
21 Mac OS
Contact
Contact our technical support at:
[e-mail]
[phone]
We are online at:
www.fantec.de
Declaration of Conformity:
http://www.fantec.de/unternehmen/ce
Adress for RMA Sending from Germany
For RMA-Service outside of Germany please contact your dealer!
fantec GmbH
Abteilung RMA/Service
Billwerder Billdeich 605 B
21033Hamburg–Germany

EN 4
Introduction
SaveyourDatawiththefantec QB-35U31R with room for up to four SATA hard
drivesinoneenclosure.WithdiverseRAID-Levels(Single,0,1)theQB-35U31R
offersdifferentsettingsfordatasecurityorincreasedperformance.Allhard
drivescanalsobedisplayed,controlled,changedandreplacedindividually
aswellasexpandedindependentlyofproducerorcapacity.WiththeUSB3.1
interfaceyoucantransferyourdatalightning-fastwithupto10Gbit/sandthe
UASP-transport-protocol allows even more increased performance. The built-in
temperature-sensorcontrolsthefanautomaticallyin3stepsforoptimalventila-
tionofyourharddrivesandtheintegratedUSB-Hubpreventsthelossofinterfaces
onyoursystem.
Technical Data
Delivery
• 1× USB 3.1 Cable
• 4× Hard drive Handles
• 1×ExternalPowerSupply
• 1× Screwdriver
• Manual
Features
• Suitablefor4×8,89cm(3,5“)SATAI/II/IIIHDDs
• RAIDmodesSingle,0Spanning,0Striping,1Mirroring
• USB 3.1 Gen. 2 Interface
• USB-Hub(1×USB3.0TypA,1×USB3.1TypC)
• Data transfers up to 10Gbit/s
• Internal 80mm fan
• Automaticfancontrolbyintegratedteperature-sensor
• SynchroniseddeactivationwhenPCisshutdown
• LEDdisplay(frontside)
• SetupforRAIDMode,fancontrol
Connections
• 4×SATA(internal)
• 1×USB3.1Gen.2TypeCDevice(backside)
• 1×USB3.1Gen.2TypeCHub(side)
• 1×USB3.0TypeAHub(side)

EN 5
• 1×Powerconnection(side)
System Requirements
• Microsoft Windows 7 / 10
• Mac OS X 10.13 or higher
Working Environment
• Temperature: 0 ~ 40 °C
• Humidity: 5%~90%RH
Security Instructions
• Protect the product against moisture and direct sunlight
• Do not place this device near water.
• Cleanonlywithadrycloth.
• Donotblockanyventilationopenings.
• Install in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Donotplacenearanyheatsourcessuchasradiators,heatregisters,stoves,or
thedevices(includingampliers)thatproduceheat.
• Protectthepowercordfrombeingwalkedonorpinchedparticularlyatplugs,
conveniencereceptacles,andthepointwheretheyexitfromthedevices.
• Onlyuseattachments/accessoriesspeciedbythemanufacturer.
• Unplug this during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time.
• CarefullyreadandfollowtheQuickInstallGuideandUserManual.
• Donotdroporshakethedevice.
• Do not move the device when it is powered on.
• Do not overload wall outlets.
• Referallservicingtoqualiedservicepersonnel.
Servicing is required when the devices has been damaged in any way, such as:
• power-supplycordorplugisdamaged;
• liquidhasbeenspilledorobjectshavefallenintothedevices,
• thedeviceshasbeenexposedtorainormoisture,
• doesnotoperatenormally,orhasbeendropped.

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EN 6
Overview
Front View

EN 7
Controls
1. Main Switch on press switch
off hold switch ca. 3 sec.
2.  RAID-mode-change: hold ca.3 sec.
3.  RAID-mode-change: hold ca.3 sec.
4. Smart Fan automatic fan control on / off
5. Status LED blue Device is switched on
orange Deviceisinstandby
off Device is switched off
6. USB Port active/accessUSB3.1Typ-Cportdevice
active RAID-Mode Set 1 orange
SINGLE simulates single hard drives
RAID 0 SPN Spanning(BIG)
RAID 0 STR Striping
RAID 1 Mirroring
active RAID-Mode Set 2 green
SINGLE simulates single hard drives
RAID 0 SPN Spanning(BIG)
RAID 0 STR Striping
RAID 1 Mirroring
7. HDD Error LED² signals hard drive errors / rebuilding a RAID
8. Status Smart Fan on faniscontrolledautomaticallyby
temperature
off fan is running with minimal
number of revolutions
9. HDD Status blue active
 Access
purple pulsating active rebuild of a RAID1
10. HDD Error red active rebuild of a RAID1
 malfunction or incompatible to
RAID
11. Disk Holder
This device consists of two independent RAIDs.
²HDDErrorisnotdisplayedinSingleMode.

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3
2
EN 8
Rear View
Side View
1. Fan
2. RAID-Mode-Conrmation
3. USB3.1Typ-Cport
1. USBHubTyp-Aport
2. USBHubTyp-Cport
3. Current input
4. Power plug
HDD Handle Front Cover Metal Cladding
2
3
1
1
4

EN 9
Assembly
Hard Drive Installation
1. Please attach the included handles to the hard drives with screws.
2. Pushthecircularindentation,toopentheenclosure.
3. Pushbothhandles,toremovethemetalcladding.

EN 10
4. Pleaseremovethetransportsafetyboard.
5. Pushtheharddrivesintotheenclosureandcheckiftheyareinstalledinthe
correct order from top to bottom.
Toremovetheharddrives,pushtheattachedhandleslightlydownwardsand
then pull the hard drive out.
6. Putthemetalcladdingwhichwasremovedinstep3backinandbecareful
thatitlocksinaswell.Afterthatthefrontpanelcanbeclosedagain.
7. Connect the device with the power adapter and switch it on.
Attention: When the USB-cable is removed the enclosure switches to stand-
by-modeautomatically.

EN 11
Opening the Front Panel
Ifyouforgottoputthemetalcladdingbackinplacebeforeclosingthefrontpanel,
simplypush–asshownintheimage–thelowerlever.Thismakesthefrontpanel
openslowly.Pleasedonottrytoopenthefrontpanelwithasharpobject.
Changing the Fan
Positive
red Cable
Negative
black Cable
Ifthefanbecomesnoisyshutdowntheenclosureandopenthepanelingonthe
backside.Nowyoucanremovethefanandcleanitcarefully.Shouldthenoisenot
stopdespitethecleaning,youcanreplacethefanwithanidenticalone(80×80×
20mm).Incaseofcompletefailureofthefanpleasecontactourservice.

EN 12
Setup
RAID-Modes
The QB-35U31R offers the following RAID-modes: Single,RAID 0 Spanning(Big),
RAID 0 Striping and RAID 1. These modes can be created in two independent sets
of two hard drives. The QB-35U31R has no standard mode.
ToinstallaRAIDyouneedharddriveswhichdonotcontainimportantdata.Usu-
allynoalreadysaveddatacanbetransferredintoaRAID-system.
Only in Single Mode you can use hard drives which already contain data. Please
read Hints for the Installation of Hard Drives with Data (P.17).
Single Mode
InSingleModeor“Non-RAID”Modethehard drives of a set are displayed as inde-
pendent drivesatthecomputer.ThisfunctioncanbeusedifRAIDisnotneccessary,
ifonlyoneharddriveisinstalledortwoharddrivesofdifferentbrandsorcapaci-
ties are installed.
Please note:InWindowsthecommand“safelyremovehardware”cannotbeused
onasingledrive-letterbutonlyonacompleteset.
= 4TB
RAID 0 Spanning
Spanning connects several physical drives to one large virtual driveandthereby
bypassesthephysicallimitationsofindividuallyconnectedharddrives.Thedatais
written continuallyfromHDD1toHDD2(seeimage).Whenonedrivefailsorgets
damagedalldatawillbelostbecanonlybereconstructedwithprofessionalhelp.

EN 13
= 4TB
RAID 0 Striping
Striping connects several drives to one large virtual drive as a logical unit. The
data is written parallelontoallharddrives,whichresultsinanincreaseddata-
transfer-rate. When one drive fails or gets damaged all data will be lost and can
onlybereconstructedwithprofessionalhelp.Theusablememorycorrespondsto
thememoryofthesmallestdrivetimestwo.Forthismodewerecommendtouse
twoidenticalharddrives(samecapacity,brandandmodel-number).
= 4TB
RAID 1 Mirroring
Mirroring is the automatic copying of data onto several hard drives. This ensures
highreliabilityofthedatanetworkintheeventofaharddrivefailure.Incaseof
failureofonediskaccessisstillpossibleandafterexchangeofthefaileddrive
thedatawillberestored.Theusablememorycorrespondstothememoryofthe
smallest drive.
Forthismodewerecommendtousetwoidenticalharddrives(samecapacity,
brandandmodel-number).

RAID-Mode-
Confirmation-Key
EN 14
= 2TB
Operation Manual
First Use
Attention:Afterseveralsecondstheenclosureshutsdownautomatically,ifhard
drives are installed without choosing a RAID-mode.
BothredLEDs(Nr.12onP.6)permanentlybeingonsignalsanerroneousRAID.
Thismeansthecontrollerisnotndingtheharddrivesinthestateneccessaryfor
the chosen RAID-mode.
The QB-35U31R is set to Single mode on delivery!Inthisstateyoucaninstallthe
harddriveswhichwillnotbeusedasaRAIDandsaveyourdataafterinitialising
thedrives.IfyouwanttouseaRAID,setupthedeviceaccordingly.Aftersettingup
thechosenRAIDtheLEDs(Nr.12)willturnoffifeverythingisworking.
Save your data before changing the RAID-mode of the device to avoid negative
consequences of maloperations or other faults.
Setting the RAID-Mode
1. Removethecaponthebacksideandrememberthepositionofthe

2. Installtheharddrivesintotheenclosure,
connect it to a computer (The enclosure
switchestostandby-modewhenitisnot
connected)andswitchonthedevice.
3. Hold the button SET1 (for the top two hard
drives)orSET2 (for the bottom two hard
drives)untiltheLEDfortheRAID-option
startstoblink.
4. Repeat the process until the chosen RAID-
mode is set and the corresponding LED
ashes.
5. Press the at

EN 15
thebacksideofthedeviceuntilitshutsdown.Thisstephastobedonequickly
astheblinkingLEDchangestosolidlightafterafewsecondswhichindicates
thatthedevicecannotbeadjustedanymore.
6. Switchthedevicebackonwiththemain switch onthefrontpanel.Checkifthe
adjustmentofthesetyoujustmadehasbeenacceptedbythedevice.Ifnecces-
saryrepeattheprocess.Ifnosecondsetshallbeinstalled,putthecapofthe
backon.
7. You can now prepare the next RAID-set. Both sets can be adjusted inde-
pendentlyofeachother.Notethatbyswitchingthedeviceonoroffthe
operation of the other drive will be interrupted.
8. Cover the  with its cap and switch the device off
and on again with the main switch atthefrontandcheckthesettings.
9. AssoonasyournewRAIDdriveisreadyyouhavtoinitialiseitinyouroperat-
ingsystem.PleasereadthechapterInitialisation, Partitioning and Formatting
(P.20).
Particularities in Single Mode
In Single Mode it is not neccessary to initialise the hard drives in any case. This
dependsonwhethertheyhavealreadybeeninitialisedandifthisinitialisationcan
beprocessedbytheQB-35U31R.Inmostcasestheoperatingsystemwillpresent
anoteaboutanewpartition.InWindowsthisismostlyanewdriveletter.Ifnot,
please see chapter Initialisation, Partitioning and Formatting (P.20).
After Installation of a Set
 of the device after being shut down with the RAID-Mode-Con-
the Enclosure is
testing the hard drives and prepares them for RAID-operation: it overwrites parti-
tion-tablesifneccessary.Ifthisprocesstakesmorethanafewsecondsthedevice
is not able to create a RAID. This means the hard drives differ too much regarding
characteristics and therefore do not work synchronously. Such hard drives can not
be used in that pairing for this particular RAID. For this reason we recommend to
the same hard drives as described under Usage of Hard Drives (P.16).
Usage of Hardware-RAID-Managers
Attention:DonotuseanysoftwaretocontroltheHardware-RAID-Controllerofthe
QB-35U31R.No“tool”isneeded.Pleaseonlyusethecontrolsmeantforthat.
Usage of Hard Drives
ForyourRAIDtoworkreliably,werecommendtheuse of identical hard drives: of
the same size,thesamemanufacturer and of the same production date.

EN 16
RAID 0
• WhenaharddrivefailsinaRAID0,theRAIDfailscompletely.
• A RAID 0 Spanningoffersthepossibilitytouseharddriveswithdifferentcharac-
teristics.Thisisonlyagoodsolutionifthesaveddataisactuallyredundant.As
anarchiveof“oldharddrives”itisnotagoodsolution.Olddiskswilleventually
failandyourarchivewillbelost.
RAID 1
• ARAID1continuestoworkevenifoneharddrivefails.Thefaileddiskshouldbe
replacedassoonaspossibleasanotherdiskfailurewouldmeanacompleteloss
of all data. We recommend to perform a data backup before installing the new
hard drive. The exchange of a hard drive and the following rebuild of the data
usebothdrivesheavily–thereisariskfortheotherharddrivetofailtoo.
• The installation of a new hard drive triggers the rebuild of the data. You can
simplyputinthenewharddriveswhiletheotherarebusybutthesmooth
operationofaRAID1canbeinterruptedbythat.Therebuildingprocesstakes
several hours – it is dependent on size and processing speed of the hard drives.
It  which means it cannot be seen on
theharddrives.Althoughthedrivecanbeusedduringtherebuildthiswilldelay
the process.
• The rebuild willnotstartwhendriveisactivelyaccessedorthedatacableisnot
connected.Ifyounoticethis,justturnoffthedevice,connectittoaPCandturn
it on again.
• A started and active rebuild will be carried out even with disconnected USB
cable.
• A disk failureissignalledbytheashingoftheredLED(Nr.12)onthefailed
disk.
• A rebuildofthemirrorissignalledbythelightoftheredLED(Nr.12)onthe
faileddisk.AtthesametimebothLEDs(Nr.11)arechangingcolourbetween
blueanpurpleandbothharddrivesareworkingpermanently.
• Hard drives age and will eventually fail.Theycanalsofail spontaneously due
to other defects.Whentheyare“identical”theywillreachtheirlifetime limit
around the same time.
Accordingtothiswerecommendfollowingstrategyforexchangingharddrives:
Hasoneharddrivefailedspontaneously,exchangethisoneharddrive.Hasthe
hard drive reached its lifetime limit (which differs from hard drive model to
modelanddependsontheintensityofusage),betterexchangebothharddrives
–aftercreatingabackup.ThisallowsforaRAID1systemwhichworksreliably
for a long time.
Hints for the Installation of Hard Drives with Data
Important: If you plan to remove hard drives from one system to install them into

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another system, save all data onto a seperate drive.
• HarddriveswhichcontaindataandandwerenotusedinanotherRAIDsys-
temorinanotherharddriveenclosure,canbeusedinSingleModeinmost
cases.Ifthatdoesnotworkfeelfreetocontactourservice.Inmanycasesthis
issueariseswhentheharddriveswereusedinasystemwithacontrollerthat
operatesinadifferentwaythanthecontrolleroftheQB-35U31R:Inthese
exceptional cases the data can not be used in the QB-35U31R.
• Please note: Do no format hard drives which contain important data and which
donothaveabackup–even if your operating system suggests it!
• Please note that hard drives which contain important data but can not be used
intheQB-35U31R(andthereforehavetobegivenup)havetobeformattedto
beincorporatedintoyourlesystem.Windowsonlyassignsdriveletterswhenit
ndsafunctioningpartition.You can only choose this way if you have a backup
which can be copied after formatting.
For further questions feel free to contact our service.
We recommend the following secure way for installing hard drives containing data:
1. Follow the instructions above (Setting the RAID-Mode; from 3.) and choose
SINGLEMODEbut.
2. Switchthedevicebackonandcheckthesettings.
3. .
4. Switch the device off with the main switch and install the hard drives now.
Technical Background
The Enclosure can be set up in a RAID mode even with no hard drives installed –
alhough it has to be connected to a PC. The important thing is that the device does
notrecognizeharddrivesaftertherstreboot(aftershuttingitdownwiththe
).Otherwisethepartitiontableswouldbereorgan-
isedandthedatacouldnotbereachedanymore.
This way does only make sense if:
• Youwanttousetheenclosureinsingle-modeandbesurethatyouwillnot
makeamistakeduringchangingthemodebyaccidentallychoosingthewrong
mode
• Youwanttoreinstallharddriveswhichhavebeenworkinginthesameenclo-
sure in an intact RAID and had been removed to change the position of the set
for example. This procedure is dangerous for important data!Saveyourdata
beforehandinanycaseandchoosethiswayonlytotrytosavetimewhencopy-
ingyourbackup.Wepointoutthismethodbecauseitgenerallyworksbutadvise
againstusingitbecausetheharddrivesmaynotbetakenbackintothecompos-
iteiftheharddrivesarenotputintotheslotcorrectlyorthecontrollercannot

EN 18
connecttheharddrivesforanyotherreason.

TheuseofaRAID-system–evenofaRAID1–doesnotmakeathought-through
databackupunneccassary.Important data should always be saved onto a seperate
drive and be stored away. Thenevenan“stampede”cangothroughyourworking
spaceandyoucanenjoythesight.Software-virusesareinterestingbythemselves
–unlessitjustencryptedyourRAID1andyourbackupwasalsoconnectedtoyour
computerandisnowalsoencrypted.Anice-smellingcupofcoffeecandestroya
system–withtwosystemsthisismuchlesslikely.Withtheseimageswewantto
illustratetheterm“DataLossduetoMechanicalInuences,Software-Inuencesor
FaultyOperation“andmakeclearthemeaningofagoodbackup.
Reading of Hard Drive Information
Tobeabletojudgethequalityofharddrives,usuallyso-calledSMART-techniques
are used. With RAID-systems the reading of SMART-information of the individual
hard drives is not readily possible. For the QB-35U31R the SMART-information of
therstharddriveofbothsetscanberead.
Secure Removing of the Hard Drive
The QB-35U31R is a USB hard drive enclosure and fromt the vantage point of
manyoperatingsystemsaremovabledisk.Pleaseexecute“SafeHardwareRemoval”
or“unmount”beforeturningofftheenclosureorpullingofthedatacable.Nor-
mallythis“unmounting”isdoneautomaticallybyshuttingdownyourPC,Notebook,
NAS,Router,MediaplayerorMac-Device.In a Standby-Mode, Energy-Saving-Mode,
“Quickstart-Standby” etc. a removable disk might not be “safely removed” and
disconnectingthedatacableleadstodataloss–evenifyouthinkyoursystemis
“off”.WerecommendtouncoupleUSBdrivesfromtheactivelesystemwiththe
neccessarycare.ThismeansbeforeyoushutdownyourPC–ifyouwanttodiscon-
nect the cable.

EN 19

EN 20
Initialising, Partitioning and Formatting
Windows
1. Right-Clickon“This PC” icon and select the “Manage” column.
2. Select “Disk Management”andyouwillseeyourdriveshow“Not initialised”
and “Unallocated”.
3. Right-ClickontheredSymbolandselect“Initialise Disk”.
4. Select “GPT”mode.ThenpressOKbuttonnishtheinitialisingprocedure.