Hi guys,This has probably been asked 100 times but I cant find it in the forum..I have the ReadyNas Ultra 2. I have been using it with a single 2TB drive which is now at capacity. Moments ago the mailman brought me a new 3TB WD Red and with my geeky excitement I promptly snapped it in to the spare bay.Now, I was obviously hoping to now have a 5TB NAS with no redundancy. However, as I am now learning, with Xraid enabled, the NAS will automatically mirror the volume. (Right)?So, my question is, how do I (easily?) change (after the recovery process) change it so I have a 5TB volume with no redundancy?Thanks Guys.(PS. Sorry for the Noob question.)(PPS. I know most of you will tell me I'm an idiot for not using redundancy, but it's mainly for movies and TV, no biggy.)

1. Backup your data2. Do a factory default (wipes all data, settings, everything)3. A few checks will be run and then there will be a 10 minute countdown during which you can click setup in RAIDar and choose Flex-RAID and confirm your choice.4. Delete the volume5. Create a RAID-0 volume using one of the disks6. Create a RAID-0 volume just using the other disk.7. Restore data from backupIf you must do this a separate volume for each disk is the way to go. That way if a disk fails only the volume using that disk is lost.

I don't recommend a single 5 TB volume. One 2 TB volume and a second 3 TB volume is much more robust. With a single volume, any disk failure loses all your data. With two volume, you only lose the data on the failed disk. You'd access the shares the same way (the number of volumes generally only effects admin functions). The main impact is that you have to balance the storage between the two disks manually (occasionally moving shares around perhaps).If you want 2 volumes (as I suggest), then I'd do the reset with only one disk in place, choosing flexraid, and then raid 0. After it rebuilds, you can hot-insert the second, and manually create the second volume.

Thanks guys.So the reset sounds scary. I take it my files won't be affected just my NAS settings?I'd have to reconfigure everything , reinstall plugins etc?My 2 drives are now mirrored, therefore I leave one in, and pop the other back in within this 10 min window and configure the volumes as described above?Thanks again.

No, the factory reset will wipe the disks (that's why you need to make sure your backup is up to date) that are installed.All your data, settings, everything would be wiped.If you add a disk again it will need to be wiped. It is best to add it while the NAS is on.

mdgm wrote:...If you add a disk again it will need to be wiped. It is best to add it while the NAS is on.To clarify - if you have two separate volumes (one for each disk) you can replace individual disks. So if you replace the 3 TB drive, you'd lose the data on it, but not the 2 TB drive.mdgm's warning is that if you want to be very careful not to remove and reinsert a drive with the NAS running. Generally the content on it will be wiped.

Change from X-Raid2 to RAID0? [Noob Warning]

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mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Aug 11, 2014
1. Backup your data
2. Do a factory default (wipes all data, settings, everything)
3. A few checks will be run and then there will be a 10 minute countdown during which you can click setup in RAIDar and choose Flex-RAID and confirm your choice.
4. Delete the volume
5. Create a RAID-0 volume using one of the disks
6. Create a RAID-0 volume just using the other disk.
7. Restore data from backup

If you must do this a separate volume for each disk is the way to go. That way if a disk fails only the volume using that disk is lost.
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Aug 11, 2014
I don't recommend a single 5 TB volume. One 2 TB volume and a second 3 TB volume is much more robust. With a single volume, any disk failure loses all your data. With two volume, you only lose the data on the failed disk. You'd access the shares the same way (the number of volumes generally only effects admin functions). The main impact is that you have to balance the storage between the two disks manually (occasionally moving shares around perhaps).

If you want 2 volumes (as I suggest), then I'd do the reset with only one disk in place, choosing flexraid, and then raid 0. After it rebuilds, you can hot-insert the second, and manually create the second volume.
dhih93
Aspirant
Aug 11, 2014
Thanks guys.
So the reset sounds scary. I take it my files won't be affected just my NAS settings?
I'd have to reconfigure everything , reinstall plugins etc?

My 2 drives are now mirrored, therefore I leave one in, and pop the other back in within this 10 min window and configure the volumes as described above?

Thanks again.
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Aug 11, 2014
No, the factory reset will wipe the disks (that's why you need to make sure your backup is up to date) that are installed.

All your data, settings, everything would be wiped.

If you add a disk again it will need to be wiped. It is best to add it while the NAS is on.
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Aug 11, 2014
mdgm wrote:
...If you add a disk again it will need to be wiped. It is best to add it while the NAS is on.
To clarify - if you have two separate volumes (one for each disk) you can replace individual disks. So if you replace the 3 TB drive, you'd lose the data on it, but not the 2 TB drive.

mdgm's warning is that if you want to be very careful not to remove and reinsert a drive with the NAS running. Generally the content on it will be wiped.
dhih93
Aspirant
Aug 12, 2014
Thanks guys.
I'm not totally confident in doing it, but I guess I have no choice.

Now, in addition. I have just shy of 2TB on the NAS and will need to back it up. I have 2 x 1TB external USB HDD's. What is the best way of backing up the NAS and spreading the load across the 2 separate USB HDD's?
Any advice?

Cheers.

D
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Aug 12, 2014
Well that depends how you've structured your data on the NAS.

Do you use multiple shares? Or if not, perhaps consider the directories in the first level within the share.

Do you have an idea of how much space each of those take up?
dhih93
Aspirant
Aug 12, 2014
Hey mdgm,

I really just have a 'media' share with sub directories like 'tv shows' and 'movies'
I think it's probably pretty simple, create a back up job that does not exceed the external drives storage limit and go!

Maybe I just needed to say it out loud...
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Aug 12, 2014
Yes.

So you could check and see how much space your 'tv shows' and 'movies' each take up. You may find one of them is < 1TB which would make it simple to backup that directory.
dhih93
Aspirant
Aug 12, 2014
Beauty!

Just to make me feel confident. If I back up all of my files to the USB HDD, I can then safely proceed with the reset as you have described above.
Jump in with RAIDar, configure networking, plugins, shares and copy it back across?

I've seen some talking about modding the V4 raidars to V6... would you recommend or stay away?

Cheers.