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Forum Discussion
adding drive to RN424: how reliable is XRAID?
I have an RN424 (6.9.4 Hotfix 1, single volume, XRAID) with two 6TB drives. I wish to add a third 6TB drive. However, I do not have the ability to backup the network drive in total before adding the new drive. To this end, I have some questions:
1) How reliable is XRAID in incorporating the new drive and moving the data? Can I complete this expansion in confidence without a backup?
2) About 4.3TB of 5.5TB are currently used. About how long will the expansion take once I install the third drive? Hours? Days? Other?
3) Do I need to format the new drive (WD RED 60EFRX), or does XRAID take care of this?
thanks
Keith
2 Replies
hi kmmcd, here are my 2 cents:
ad 1) going without a backup is never a good idea. you should as soon as possible get to the situation, where you have one. however, the expansion should be done fine under normal circumstances.
ad 2) should be done after one day
ad 3) the disk needs to be blank (no partition at all) and the system takes care of everything else
kind regards
Retired_Member wrote:
1) going without a backup is never a good idea.
I agree. RAID isn't enough to keep your data safe. If a drive were to fail during the expansion, you'd lose the data.
Since sometimes new drives are defective, it would be good to test the new one with Seatools (for Seagate drives) or Lifeguard (for Western digital drives) in a Windows PC before you insert it. You can use SATA or a USB adapter/dock. The "write zeros" test is good - I've found it does pick up problems that the non-destructive tests miss.
You might also check the SMART data on your existing drives. Download the log zip file and look in disk_info.log. If you are seeing any reallocated or pending sectors, then I'd definitely recommend making a backup first.
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