RN31600 adding hard drives

Here is best practice:

1. Update your backup (assuming you are using your NAS for primary storage of important data). You should backup regularly anyway, but before a change such as adding a disk or doing a firmware update it's advisable to make sure your backup is up to date.

2. Download the system logs (System > Logs > Download Logs). In the unlikely event you run into an issue these may be of great help for support

3. Check to see if your disks have SMART errors. You can do this under Volumes in the web admin interface or by looking at e.g. smart_history.log in the logs. If a disk is failing you don't want to add an additional disk till you have replaced the failing disk.

4. If unsure about the health of your disks ask here for advice. You could even send me the logs (see the Sending Logs link in my sig)

5. Hook the new disk up to your PC and test it e.g. using SeaTools if it is a SeaGate disk or WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics if it is a WD disk. Run both short/quick and long/extended tests.

6. If the disk is already partitioned delete the partitions off it using your PC. Do not format it as the NAS will need to do that

7. Add the disk while the NAS is on. It should be automatically added to your array assuming you are using X-RAID.

8. Download a fresh set of logs after adding the disk.

9. Wait for the resync to complete before adding any additional disks. Repeat steps 1-6 before adding any additional disks (obviously if the data on the NAS has not changed you wouldn't need to update your backup again just yet).

Which RAID level are you using and how many disks do you have installed?