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Forum Discussion
Upgrading 1st disk on RN214 (pure JBOD config) (English)
(Originally posted by mistake in Chinese forum, Sorry)
Hi, I have a RN214 which I populated with whatever disks I had lying around in a fully JBOD config (1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 3TB respectively) when I bought it. Now I'm trying build up safety by upgrading disks and pairing them. Step 1: Disk1 is 1TB to be replaced by 2TB and paired with Disk2 which is already 2TB in either Xraid or RAID1 configuration.
Currently Disk1 has the login/ home directories of my family ONLY. These have already been backed up to Disk2.
I need your help to be very sure of the next steps before I actually do them:
I remove Disk1_1TB and replace it with a 2TB HDD.
Format the new Disk1_2TB.// I use btrfs always - can that be an issue later? Does creating a RAID1 or Xraid necessarily need BOTH disks to be empty.
Question - Do I switch off and replace OR just replace while on? I believe I should stay on else logins will fail - I will need to be admin for backup recovery. Please confirm.
Now, can I create an Xraid/ RAID1 immediately between Disk1 and Disk2 - I assume not since the login/ home directories are not there.
So I bring up the new Disk1 as JBOD...
I recover the backup from Disk2 to Disk1. Now I should get logins, home directories etc back in place.
Now I move everything from Disk2 to Disk1. //Now Disk1 is ready & complete, while Disk2 is empty.
Change Disk1 from JBOD to Xraid/ RAID1. //Which one should I choose? I believe that it would be better to go to RAID1 (mirroring)
Pair it with Disk2 and let it sync by itself. // Does this work? Or do I have to do something more?
I do NOT want that disk3&4 (JBODs) to be touched (they'll need to be replaced by a pair of 8TB or higher HDDs) - thats in the future, one step at a time. // Do I need to remove them from the system while configuring Disk 1&2?
Finally I should get Disk1&2 in a Xraid/ RAID1 pair, Disk3 & Disk4 to continue as JBODs as before. Phew!!
Further down the line : pair Disk 3&4 as Xraid or RAID 1 in addition to the Disk1&2 pair established above.
I really need to be sure of all the steps before I start. I can't afford to loose any data on any existing hard disks.
TIA
12 Replies
Welcome to the Community!
If you are planning to make all drives to be one volume then going X-RAID would be the way to go. However, If I understand it correctly, you are planning to have two volumes on RAID1 so if this is the case, staying on Flex-RAID is needed.
If you are upgrading Disk 1 and plan to do RAID1 with Disk 2. It would be best to do full backup on both drives then replace Disk 1 and destroy Disk2 volume then recreate the volume on RAID1 selecting Disk 1 and 2.
You will be doing this procedure on Flex-RAID.
1. Do full backup on Disk 1 and Disk 2.
2. Replace Disk 1 with new 2TB
3. Destroy Disk 2 JBOD Volume
4. Create new volume RAID 1 using Disk 1 and Disk 2
5. Transfer Backups on new RAID 1 volume
New configuration would be RAID 1 (Disk 1 and Disk 2) JBOD (Disk 3) JBOD (Disk 4)
The same wil be done if you are planning to change Disk 3 and 4 in the future.
It is best to do full backup so as no data will be left out, you don't have to worry about logins as well, it stays with the system.
HTH
Regards
Marc_V wrote:
You will be doing this procedure on Flex-RAID.
1. Do full backup on Disk 1 and Disk 2.
2. Replace Disk 1 with new 2TB
3. Destroy Disk 2 JBOD Volume
4. Create new volume RAID 1 using Disk 1 and Disk 2
5. Transfer Backups on new RAID 1 volume
You do have to destroy Disk 1 volume, then create a new volume on the 2 TB disk.
There is another option though.
- Destroy Disk 2's volume
- Add Disk 2 to the Disk 1 volume for redundancy (making it RAID-1, but wasting 1 TB of space)
- Hotswap Disk 1 with the new 2 TB disk. The volume should expand to 2 TB at this point.
- Transfer Backup of original disk 2 volume on the new RAID-1
This avoids the need to restore the home folders and reinstall your apps.
Hi,
Thanks for the responses...
Re: the 2nd solution - please confirm if my understanding is correct? By default, the (FlexRAID) RAID1 would need to be recreated destructively on both disk1 and disk2 for the larger 2GB size OR actually, the RAID 1 expansion from 1G to 2G is actually a smooth no data loss operation?
Should I remove the other 2 HDDs before doing the above?
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