NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
BUG: Spontaneous Switch to Flex-Raid and Refusal to Change Back.
X-RAID volume built with two 4TB disks and six 8TB disks. Firmware 6.9.4
After swapping out one of the 4TB disks for an 8TB disk, previously used in another ReadyNAS, I was prompted to delete ...
VERIFIED:
Firmware 6.9.4
... will switch a unit in X-RAID mode to Flex-RAID (spontaneously without warning) upon Destruction of an inactive volume, even though the active volume is valid and accessible.
Firmware 6.9.4
... will not allow a unit in Flex-RAID mode to be switched back into X-RAID mode, if the active volume consists of more than one group (stripe) . Even if these stripes were created by X-RAID mode and have never been modified in Flex-RAID mode.
WORKAROUND:
- Downgrade to Firmware to 6.9.0
- switch the unit back into X-RAID mode
- upgrade back to the latest firmware
(this last step can be done while expansion is in progress, and the unit will stay in X-RAID mode)
Unless it has been changed in newer OS versions, installation of the 7th drive normally converts the volume to RAID6 rather than expanding it. But it doesn't sound like that happened, either. It may have defined it as a hot spare. How many volumes are currently showing on the Volumes tab and what RAID level are they? What is the disk state when you right-click on the new drive?
It was already in Raid 6 originally. (8 drives, only two of which were small 4TB drives). Right now the new drive has finished resyncing and the one-and-only volume is "healthy and redundant." But the new drive shows "half blue / half grey" (you can't select it individually).
The volume shows two "groups" (selectable from a drop-down list) one with 6 drives and one with 8 drives. I still can't switch into X-Raid mode, and can't find any options to expand onto the upper half of the new/swapped drive.
Putting in a drive from another ReadyNAS without deleting the partitions is a bad idea, at least if you do it with the power off (which it sounds like you did). The OS thinks you want to import that volume to your NAS, but it doesn't work because the volume name is the same and it likely also wasn't a complete volume. New or upgraded drives are best hot inserted.
It sounds like the OS thinks you still have a second volume. You could try powering down, removing the new drive, and powering up to see if you can then switch. Then delete the partitions on the new drive using Disk Manager on a PC and try the upgrade again.
No, that is not how this happened. Everything I stated in the original post occured while the unit was up, running and fully accesible. Nothing I have done is in any way unusual or different from the normal swap-in/out procedure used for hot swapping and expanding X-RAID volumes.
I've been doing this exactly this way for over three years, and seeing "inactive" volumes and removing them in Frontview as part of expanding an X-RAID volume is something I've seen many times. What is new is seeing the unit spontaneously switch from X-RAID to Flex-Raid without warning or prompting. And to spite having just one volume Frontview refuses to switch back into X-RAID mode, even though nothing has changed with the volume.
VERIFIED:
Firmware 6.9.4
... will switch a unit in X-RAID mode to Flex-RAID (spontaneously without warning) upon Destruction of an inactive volume, even though the active volume is valid and accessible.
Firmware 6.9.4
... will not allow a unit in Flex-RAID mode to be switched back into X-RAID mode, if the active volume consists of more than one group (stripe) . Even if these stripes were created by X-RAID mode and have never been modified in Flex-RAID mode.
WORKAROUND:
- Downgrade to Firmware to 6.9.0
- switch the unit back into X-RAID mode
- upgrade back to the latest firmware
(this last step can be done while expansion is in progress, and the unit will stay in X-RAID mode)
NETGEAR Academy
Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!
