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Forum Discussion
expanding ReadyNAS NV (RNV1-S2-0000)
Hi, all.
I just bought 4x Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB to expand my ReadyNAS NV from 4x 1TB disks. I'm running the latest firmware (RAIDiator 4.1.10 [1.00a043]).
I've been doing a lot of reading about the best way to proceed, and would like some advice. I know I can do a "live" expansion, and because the current block size is 16384, I gather I won't have any problems with hitting the 5 TB wall (per this, and other, threads: http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=35180), and I'll avoid the dreaded "Disk capacity expansion error. resize2fs"
mdgm also referenced this: http://www.rnasguide.com/2011/06/22/why-you-might-want-to-factory-reset-a-sparc-readynas/
which gives anyone in my position reason to consider a factory reset. Specifically, the 4K sector size issue. If I'm interpreting the partition log correctly, my current X-RAID volume is using 512-byte sectors:
Please correct me if I'm wrong!
In short, if I can manage to backup all my data, is it worth the effort to do the factory reset and create a new X-RAID volume using the four new 2TB disks? The Reasons to consider... page also indicates "3. A factory reset can be much faster than expanding your X-RAID volume particularly when using high capacity disks."
Can I assume the WD20EFRX 2TB uses 4K sector size? If so, and if my current volume is using 512-byte sectors, then my guess is that it would be worth doing a factory reset.
Are there others things I need to consider?
I appreciate any feedback!
Cheers.
I just bought 4x Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB to expand my ReadyNAS NV from 4x 1TB disks. I'm running the latest firmware (RAIDiator 4.1.10 [1.00a043]).
I've been doing a lot of reading about the best way to proceed, and would like some advice. I know I can do a "live" expansion, and because the current block size is 16384, I gather I won't have any problems with hitting the 5 TB wall (per this, and other, threads: http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=35180), and I'll avoid the dreaded "Disk capacity expansion error. resize2fs"
mdgm also referenced this: http://www.rnasguide.com/2011/06/22/why-you-might-want-to-factory-reset-a-sparc-readynas/
which gives anyone in my position reason to consider a factory reset. Specifically, the 4K sector size issue. If I'm interpreting the partition log correctly, my current X-RAID volume is using 512-byte sectors:
Disk /dev/hdc: 999.9 GB, 999991611392 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121575 cylinders, total 1953108616 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 2 4096001 2048000 83 Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/hdc2 4096002 4608001 256000 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/hdc3 4608002 1953092233 974242116 5 Extended
/dev/hdc5 4608003 1953092233 974242115+ 8e Linux LVM
Please correct me if I'm wrong!
In short, if I can manage to backup all my data, is it worth the effort to do the factory reset and create a new X-RAID volume using the four new 2TB disks? The Reasons to consider... page also indicates "3. A factory reset can be much faster than expanding your X-RAID volume particularly when using high capacity disks."
Can I assume the WD20EFRX 2TB uses 4K sector size? If so, and if my current volume is using 512-byte sectors, then my guess is that it would be worth doing a factory reset.
Are there others things I need to consider?
I appreciate any feedback!
Cheers.
8 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- Yes, backup your data, power down, remove disks (label order), insert the new disks, do a factory default etc.
- Hope someone can give me a quick answer.
I swapped out my 1 TB disks for four new 2 TB disks. I did the factory reset per the instructions in the original Getting Started guide (powered off, press and hold the reset switch for 30s, power on, watch LEDs, then release after the second time all four flash... ~30s). I may have delayed releasing the reset switch a second or two, but no longer.
Now the power light is flashing, and the LEDs for disk 2 & 4 are solid. It's been about 10 minutes.
Is this normal behavior? If so, how long do I have to wait until it shows up in RAIDar? If this is not normal behavior, how should I proceed? Can I power off by holding the power button? That way I could retry the factory reset.
Thanks! - Can you try again. Sounds like you didn't do it correctly.
1. Power off NAS
2. Press and hold reset button
3. Briefly press power button to turn NAS on
4. Continue holding reset button. Disk LEDs will blink once after about 5 seconds and a second time after about 30 seconds. Release the reset button after the second blink
Note also that with new unformatted disks, a factory default should be done automatically if you don't use the boot menu - Seems my earlier quick reply didn't make it here.
After reading that the LED pattern indicated a TFTP waiting state, I pulled the plug, then redid the factory reset. It was a timing issue (either holding down the power button too long or keeping the reset switch pressed too long). So yeah, user error :oops:
And then, of course, I read another of your posts where you indicated a factory reset should be performed with blank disks. D'oh!
Just waiting for the sync to finish, then restore the config and copy the data back.
Thanks for replying. - Best to use unformatted disks. If you do use formatted disks, hopefully the factory default would wipe the disks.
- Well, these were fresh out of the anti-static bags, so no worries there. I just wanted to make sure I got the benefits of 4K sector formatting.
It's all a good lesson if I ever upgrade my Ultra 4 from its 4x 2TB disks :-) - The Ultra 4 has a different boot menu. Also on the Ultra 4 if you're running RAIDiator 4.2.12 or later any disks you add will automatically be 4k sector partition aligned.
- Not sure if I should create a separate thread for this, but for now I'll add it here...
Everything went find with installing new disks and creating the volume. After it finished syncing I restored the EVERYTHING config backup, and that seemed to go fine. Then I noticed a problem on a PC running WinNUT that monitors the ReadyNAS NV. Since the config restored correctly, I assumed the UPS monitoring would pick up automatically, but the WinNUT client kept saying the UPS on the ReadyNAS's IP address was unavailable. I checked FrontView | System | Power and the UPS Monitoring section was restored correctly, with "Enable network monitoring of attached UPS" checked, and the "Hosts allowed access:" set to my LAN.
In the end I had to uncheck "Enable network monitoring of attached UPS," click Apply, then recheck it and click Apply again. The WinNUT client on the PC responded immediately and it is no longer popping up status messages every five minutes.
Just thought this should be documented. I'll create a separate thread so it will be more noticeable.
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