Factory reset & change RAID without losing data

Yep, you clearly added the drive with XRAID enabled, which converted the volume to a redundant RAID1.  There is no way witrhin the confines of the GUI to un-do that.  Your plan will just get you in bigger trouble.

You really should have a backup.  There is an old IT saying "If you only have one copy of something, you must not think it's important."  Some think RAID is a backup (it's not), but you don't even have that.

I have recently posted how to un-do this, but it involves using SSH and the command line.  See the second post in this thread: Reducing-RAID-size-removing-drives-WITHOUT-DATA-LOSS-is-possible.  One false move with this process, and your data is gone.  So if you are not 100% confident in your ability to do it, then it's time to get that much-needed backup and follow the procedure of deleting and re-creating the volume in FlexRAID mode, as you have read elsewhere.

Note that I went on to add the drive back as a group, which expands the existing volume.  But it has a dis-advantage of one drive failure causing loss of all data without even having the speed benefit of RAID0 striping.  You are better off creating a second volume on the second drive, but that does mean you have to manually balace the space used on the two.  You cannot convert the single-drive JBOD to RAID0 (At least, not within the confines of the GUI.  I've not tried it via SSH).

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KLF2004 wrote:

Please let me know if that would that work to add more usable storage to my system 

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No it won't work.

There is no way to do this from the web ui.  It is possible to do it using ssh though - the process is described by Sandshark here: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Using-your-ReadyNAS-in-Business/Reducing-RAID-size-removing-drives-WITHOUT-DATA-LOSS-is-possible/m-p/1736134#M179036

After using ssh to downgrade to jbod, you would remove drive 2 and switch to flexraid in the web ui.  Then remove the partitions on disk 2 on a PC (or alternatively format the drive in a PC), reinsert it into the NAS, and create a second volume.

But it would be best to make a backup of your data first (and if you have no backup strategy, then at some point you will lose your data).

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KLF2004 wrote:

 

3. Move drive 2 (no data) to slot 1

 

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Drive 2 actually does have data - it's a mirror of drive 1.

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KLF2004 wrote:
What is the safest way to remove the second drive without ruining or losing any data on the first drive? My thought is that if I can remove the second drive from my nas system, then format it using my computer, I have a way to connect to the readynas using a USB connection, then I can backup all my data to it. Once I do that, then I can factory reset the readynas and change the RAID to flex raid then restore the data back to my original drive in the nas. Once I do that, then I can insert the second drive back into the readynas and hopefully all will be well. Is this possible, or am I missing anything?

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What you can do (without using ssh) is

1. remove disk 2 from the NAS (leaving it running)
2. Insert disk 2 into a PC, and format it
3. Copy all the files from the NAS onto disk 2
4. do a factory reset of the NAS, and reconfigure it (recreating the shares, etc)
5. switch to flexraid
6. copy the files back onto the NAS from disk 2
7. insert disk 2 into the NAS (which is now in flexraid) and create a second data volume.

The copies can be done over a gigabit network (leaving disk 2 connected to the PC).  If you have a USB adapter/dock, you can also connect disk 2 to the NAS using the dock, and copy the data using a backup job.