Reformatting Issue

---

saxophilia wrote:

4. Put the data back into the volume from the backup.

Now I would like to have some advise for reusing the the 6TB and 3TB drives used for backup to expand the NAS volume after putting the data back into the volume. I have read that previously formatted drives must be reformatted using the OS6 system to be recognised. Only reformatting method I can find is to add these previously formatted drives into a driveless ReadyNAS and factory reset it. If this is the only way then do I have to execute the following extra steps?

 

---

I am assuming 6TB and 3TB backup is being done externally (in a USB enclosure, or temporarily connected to a PC).  Is that correct?

After the restore, you can simply hot-insert (or replace) the drives into the NAS.  OS-6 will detect that there is data on them, so it will not automatically add them.  But you will be able to format them/add them to the array from the OS-6 UI.  So there are no big hoops to jump through.  Just make sure you do this one drive at a time, and wait for the resync to finish before doing the second drive.

Though only 3 TB of the 6 TB drive can be used initially. So 2x2TB+4x3TB will give you the same volume size as 2x2TB+3x3TB+6TB (13 TB).  1x2TB+4x3TB+6TB would give you a 14 TB volume.  If budget permits, perhaps get two 6 TB drives, and go with 2x6TB+4x3TB (18 TB volume).  Though you can migrate to this later on - and OS 6 has no known expansion limits.