1 disk with data to second RAID1

I am not familiar with the Ultra4, but with all the NAS units I have used the RAID level selected when the volume was created is what you have. The default is an expandable RAID volume, in which case the second drive would become a duplicate of the first until three or more drives are in the volume. All of this happens automatically so there is nothing to do except watch the logs and volume status to ensure the duplication/expansion completes without errors.

If you setup the nas with the default x-raid mode (check frontview > volumes), then yes it should be simply:

carefully insert disk 2
nas will do short test disk
format and mirror (resync) from disk 1 to disk 2

note however, nas is not designed to continue to add/remove disk 2 for use as 'backup'.

if you want to backup your data, you should use an external usb drive.

Thanks,

Humm i don't want to add/remove disk2 several times but i want my data protected from disk failure. That's the goal of the nas no ?

I understood that a desynch can happen or a problem with the raid board on the netgear, that's why i should backup on an external drive right ?
Does it happen a lot of time here ?

Thanks a lot,

Hi cyse

If you are wanting to install a replacement disk for the one that was broken, then you just follow TeknoJnky's instructions.

When you get the new one from the seller, you can either install it also (getting more capacity) or keep it for a spare.

Having an on hand spare is a good idea. Under Murphy's law, if you have the spare, you probably won't need it, but if you don't, you will.

Hot adding the second drive is definitely the way to go as TeknoJnky said. Some mistakenly think that RAID is a backup, but it is not. It is a way to normally survive a disk failure without losing data. However, in some cases, if you have a second disk that has problems, but not severe enough yet to cause a disk failure or throw errors, they are more likely to show up when you replace another drive. The resync process is very disk intensive and can run for 10 or more hours in certain circumstances. That stress may cause a weak drive to fail and then you have the dreaded second drive failure which can cause loss of data.

It is not common, but can happen (in almost 5 years with at least one NAS it has never happened to me). However, if it happens to you and you do not have a backup plan, then that is once too often.

When I started out and only had a small amount of data (pre-video days), I would backup up to a USB external drive. Now that I have over 2TB of data and 3 NAS units, external drives are just not suitable. All of my data is on my primary NAS (NVX Business Edition) and an NVX Pioneer is my backup target. I use the Frontview backup jobs and they use rsync to backup up every night (takes just a few minutes to synchronize the same share on both units). My trusty old NV+ which is getting on 5 years old and still is now the second backup of critical data. (It was just sitting around so I put it back to work). I also backup critical and important data periodically to a WD Passort and take it to my safety deposit box and swap with the one that is in there. (While we don't have tornadoes down here, we are subject to hurricanes and other violent storms). It did take me years to get into this position, as it is not an inexpensive option to have two NAS units, but is the best backup option down the road.

Thanks for all of those clarifications,

But if i well understood we need a way to check more often the health of the nas'hdd ... Is there some tools to monitor the health of the hdd easily ? Like HDD monitor windows program ... or maybe we need to put them out each time to check them on a desktop computer.

Instead of that i fully understand the need of a real backup in a different way than the existing nas. no problem about that but the easiest way seem to have a second nas with same capcity :)

Thanks again,

You can see the smart statistics for each drive from Frontview. Also if you have email notifications turned on, you will get email alerts when reallocated sectors (and some other stats) change.

You are correct that it is easiest to back up your NAS to another NAS.

If you have the alerts set to send you an e-mail, anytime a significant change in the SMART logs for each drive occurs, it will send you an e-mail. I currently have a 1TB drive (18 months old) that is starting to throw ATA errors. It will go days or weeks and then throw about 3 to 6 ATA errors (count is currently 278) and each time there is an increase, I get an e-mail from my NAS1.

It will not notify you of normal items that are considered routine, but will notify you of any errors or warnings so you can be prepared. However, there can be sudden failures such as an electrical failure in the drive electronics or a serious mechanical malfunction in the drive where it just stops functioning. You will then get a message about a drive failure.