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Can I format a previously formatted disk while an xraid volume is in place?
My ReadyNAS 316 contains 2 8TB and 4 4TB drives running X-RAID. All WD Enterprise class drives from the NG Compatibility List. Drive #6 (4TB) began reallocation sector errors which began to increase...
Yes, you can replace the failed 4TB with the previously removed 4TB. BUT, if your data is inaccessable, it probably won't help. If your volume is reported as "degraded", then it will. It sounds. however, that you had a second drive fail, in which case the volume will be shown as "dead", and you are in a data recovery situation. That's going to cost, and it's likely not going to be 100% successful. Your recovery options are paid support from Netgear or hookling the drives up to a PC and running ReclaiMe software. Both will require a location to offload the data so you can later destroy the old volume, create a new one, and put the recovered data back.
Of course, if you have a backup (and I assume you would probably not be here asking if you did), you can replace the bad drives, factory default, and restore data from backup.
If the volume is just degraded, you really should think about making a backup before you proceed. Volume re-sync is drive intensive, and any drive close to failure has a higher chance during it. Then, the best way to proceed is to swap the drive with power on, especially for a previously formatted drive. The NAS will tell you you removed and then inserted the drive, and will complain the "new" one has data on it. At that point, you select it and click "format". Don't format it outside the NAS first, it won't help. But you can remove all partitions and avoid the format step when it's inserted in the NAS if you choose.
BTW, the data on the drive from the previous installation on the NAS, it isn't usable since it's an incomplete part of a RAID array..
First and most important, I cannot thank Sandshark and StephenB enough for your input and advice. At 65 years young, I still experience an intense thrill at learning new things from those who KNOW!!
I did as you suggested and reinserted the five drives and powered up; DEGRADED DATA. I then hot inserted the previously used sixth drive and it began the rebuild. 24 hours later, all seems well in the kingdom. Response times are much improved, too. The slower performance was an issue I posted in the forum 11/2019, to which StephenB responded with good suggestions. This may have been an early symptom of the drive's impending failure.
LESSON LEARNED: Perform physical drive modifications while the NAS is powered on. The NAS can know what to do when it experiences certain events. It cannot know what to do when it doesn't know what happened while powered off. This is a testiment to the excellent design by the NG engineers.
Thank you, Sandshark for all of the extra thoughts and observations. I'm an ME, not a sparky (EE). But I have enough sparky friends who related various experiences and I should have known that CAP POPs are common in power supplies. Therefore, I'm going to dig the NV out of the trash and start a new tinker project.
I believe the information you both provided will help many users in the future. And thank you for the non-judgemental assistance. You both clearly know how to help without self-stroking your egos. Double Thumbs Up!!
Glad to hear, and thanks for the recognition, though that's not why I do this. Make sure you look at the SMART data for the other drives of the same age, as one failing can mean the others are near. The warning levels Netgear uses are quite high in some instances and the re-sync may have triggered some errors if they are close to failure.
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