XRaid

The alternative to xraid is called flexraid. That lets you manually configure the RAID mode - with the RN102 it could be jbod, RAID-1, or spanning RAID-0. The latter is not recommended, since if either disk fails you lose all data.

Let's start further back - do you want protection from a drive failure, or not?

I presume that if I keep back-up up to date then I should not need protection from disk failure

xlancsozy wrote:
I presume that if I keep back-up up to date then I should not need protection from disk failure

The main benefit of RAID protection is that it allows you to continue to access your data normally(reads and writes) while you are replacing a failed disk. It does not eliminate the need for backups, but it does reduce the odds of having to restore from the backups.

Personally I keep three copies of my data (including the original) on three devices. I have occasionally had a double failure (main disk died, and then I discovered that I couldn't read the backup either), but I've never lost all three.

In any event, if you have adequate backups you can choose jbod to get maximum space. Then you would have 2 volumes (one for each disk), and you would manually create shares on each disk (approximately balancing the used space).

I am doing that myself with my RN102, which I am using for backup. My main NAS (a pro-6) is using xraid.

To get there from where you are, you can switch to flexraid, and then destroy the data volume. Then create new ones. Or do another reset with only one disk installed, then switch to flexraid and add the second.

Thanks for your advice, having just the two disks I would like to be able to use the full capacity of the two so will go to the jbod.

xlancsozy wrote:
Thanks for your advice, having just the two disks I would like to be able to use the full capacity of the two so will go to the jbod.

That is where I ended up, though in my case the RN102 is a purely a backup.