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upgrading disks in RN 204
I have a question about upgrading the disks in my NAS. At this moment I'm having 4 disks in my RN204:
6Tb
3Tb
6Tb
8Tb
For some reason (I think it's got something to do with a previous upgrade from 3Tb to 6Tb disk) my RN204 now has 2 Raid groups:
Raid group 1 consists of all 4 disks
Raid group 2 consists of the last 2 disks: 6Tb and 8Tb
I'd like to upgrade these disks to at least 3 14Tb disks and want to use the maximum amount of disk space available. I have some questions about this:
- Is the easiest thing to do back-up the data and add the new 3 disks?
- Or can I remove Raid group 2 in a way so I can change Raid group 1 to X-raid? (which I think is preferable?) And upgrade the disks one after another?
Thanks in advance for any reply that can help me!
Superray wrote:
One last question: I also have another volume on a EDA500 that is attached to my NAS. If I detach it and attach it after I reinstalled everything can I just add this volume again as well without losing data? I don't want to make this a more difficult operation than it needs to be ... ;-)
You need to export it. Then reconnect it after the factory default.
Sandshark has done this, so hopefully will weigh in.
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Superray wrote:
so I can change Raid group 1 to X-raid? (which I think is preferable?)
Did you change to FlexRAID?
Is there a green stripe on the X-RAID control on the volume page of the web ui? If not, can you click on the X-RAID control now (and enable it)?
Superray wrote:
At this moment I'm having 4 disks in my RN204:
6Tb
3Tb
6Tb
8Tb
Raid group 1 consists of all 4 disks
Raid group 2 consists of the last 2 disks: 6Tb and 8Tb
Normally you'd have disk 1, 2, and 4 in RAID group 2. If you are using FlexRAID you should be able to add disk 1 to the group (expanding it to RAID-5). That will increase your volume size by 3 TB. Note with this mix of disks, you are losing 2 TB of space from the 8 TB disk (since it cannot be made redundant).
The way this is intended to work:
- RAID group 1 should be RAID-5 4x3TB (using the first 3 TB of all 4 disks).
- RAID group 2 should be RAID-5 3x3TB (using the next 3 TB of disks 1,2,4).
These two groups are then concatentated into a single 15 TB volume (13.6 TiB).
FWIW, X-RAID would also have these RAID groups, but the web ui wouldn't show them to you.
The above setup is optimal for redundant RAID (there is no way to get a larger redundant volume with this combination of disks).
But as I mentioned above, for some reason your system isn't optimal now - you are only getting 12 TB volume. Likely this due to something you did in the past (when you upgraded disk 1).
Superray wrote:
I'd like to upgrade these disks to at least 3 14Tb disks and want to use the maximum amount of disk space available.
3x14TB would give you a 28 TB volume (~25.4 TiB), and leave one slot for future expansion.
If you continue to use your 8 TB drive, you could go with
- 2x14TB+8TB -> 22 TB volume (~20 TB)
- 3x14TB+8TB -> 36 TB volume (~32.7 TB)
All three of these options give you the maximum amount of disk space possible with RAID redundancy.
Superray wrote:
- Is the easiest thing to do back-up the data and add the new 3 disks?
If you want to go with three disks, then you will need to destroy your current volume, and rebuild the NAS.
If you stick with 4 disks, it should be possible to expand the current volume. FWIW, if you were to expand your current volume, you'd end up with 4 RAID groups. But it would be faster to destroy it, and start fresh. So either way, I suggest starting over.
In addition to restoring your data, you will need to reinstall any apps you have installed. You can
- back up the data
- save the configuration files
- do a factory reset with all the new disks in place
- do the minimual NAS setup
- re-install your apps
- restore the configuration files
- restore the data
It is important to do step 5 before step 6.
Thanks Stephen for your quick reply!
- No I am not able to change to X-raid. When I click the button it says: You are trying to change from Flex-Raid to X-Raid. It's not possible since you are using extended volumes
I haven't done this on purpose. I started with 3 x 3Tb disks and expanded a little bit during the last years. For some reason an upgrade failed and that caused X-Raid to change to Flex Raid.
- The current setup leaves me with 11Tb (10.9 to be exact). The strange thing is that I cannot delete or add disks to either one of the Raid groups. So there's only one solution left to start fresh with 3 new 14Tb disks after making a back-up of the data and a factory default reset...
One last question: I also have another volume on a EDA500 that is attached to my NAS. If I detach it and attach it after I reinstalled everything can I just add this volume again as well without losing data? I don't want to make this a more difficult operation than it needs to be ... ;-)
Thanks in advance!
Superray wrote:
One last question: I also have another volume on a EDA500 that is attached to my NAS. If I detach it and attach it after I reinstalled everything can I just add this volume again as well without losing data? I don't want to make this a more difficult operation than it needs to be ... ;-)
You need to export it. Then reconnect it after the factory default.
Sandshark has done this, so hopefully will weigh in.
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