I have a NV+ that has 4x750GB drives configured as XRaid and running v4.1.5. FYI, I never expanded their capability to the additional 40gb. In any case, I am about to replace the 4 drives with 4x1.5TB Seagate drives. I just read the manual and couldn't find reference to upgrades, only replacing failed drives. I want to assume the process is the same but would rather ask the questions first. So here are my questions;1 - can I only replace one drive at a time?2 - when i replace them, does it matter from which position I start?3 - as the 4 drives are 81% full, approximately how long will the process take per drive?4 - are there any gotchas or tips to share?I'm on my way to pick up the drives that just arrived at my UPS Store address. I expect all the answers when I return ;) Ok, just kidding ... but of course you can imagine I'm excited to tackle this as soon as I'm comfortable with what I need to know.Thanks to all in advance for the assistance!David

Thanks to you and others for your responses. The drive completed init in about 4 hours and now 23% through sync. I hope documenting this process helps some others in the future wanting to upgrade! :)So, I'm also thinking that after I get done with this second drive I'm going to wait 48 hours before I start the 3rd and then another 48 until I start the 4th. The thought is burn in time. I would hate to see that I have a bad batch of drives especially after being stable for the last 2 years with the drives I'm pulling out.Am I crazy and overly conservative? Should I just go for it?nvladik wrote:You are doing fine, let it finish, it will tell you when it's ready.1397GB is also correct.

1. Yes, only one drive at a time.2. I would start with the first drive, but there's should be no difference.3. It could take up to a day per drive for re-sync, so the whole process could take 2-4 days.4. Don't forget that you won't get the extra space right away, after you replace the first two drives, you will need to reboot a few times.

Thanks for the quick reply! :) I've received the drives, double checked serial numbers on Seagate's website to ensure the firmware is ok and now ready to go... then though, do I need to power down to replace the drives? Can I just take it out of the system and go? I know it is hot swap capable. Just doesn't feel right doing that with a healthy drive :)

Do the hotswap. No reason to bring the NAS down to replace the drive. Just follow the prompts on the NAS' display carefully as you go.

Thanks ... I'm on my way. The NAS repoted 13-14 hours to initialize the drive but Frontview is telling me about 6 hours. 14% done and 5:40 to go :) So, when it's done initializing I assume it needs to restripe the data next?BTW, is the system unusable while this process is happening or otherwise recommended not to be used? Will I slow the process down if I'm using it (its mostly used for streaming media in my home).Thanks againDavidbollar wrote:Do the hotswap. No reason to bring the NAS down to replace the drive. Just follow the prompts on the NAS' display carefully as you go.

hard drive upgrade (replace existing)

27 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion

btaroli

Prodigy

May 22, 2009

mikkitobi wrote:
btaroli wrote:
To get the extra benefits, you would have to perform a FACTORY RESET (completely wiping and re-creating the X-RAID volume, and requiring you to restore your data) in order to accomplish that.

Having now expanded once with a new firmware installed, is my new X-RAID volume still 'old style' and further expansion will also be offline? Or has this expansion process converted me to the latest firmware/volume type?

I would just tell you to re-read what I typed before. The expansion process, in preserving data, also preserves everything else about the X-RAID and volume. If you wanted to stave off the need for even more offline time the /next/ time you do this, you still need to perform a factory reset, thereby completely re-creating the X-RAID stripe and formatting the volume (/c) with all the "new" (in late 2007) features.

I could see that one might simply say "well, no biggie, I'll just worry about it later" and that's fine. But online expansion will still elude you until you take this extra step -- including restoring all the data afteward.

nd
Aspirant
May 24, 2010
is there a possibility to find out on which version of RAIDiator the X-Raid was created? Because I have 4 brand-new 2TB drives here an just checked the forum to be sure how to do it and now I read that topic. And since I'm upgrading from 4x 250GB to 4x2TB it would no be such a great thing to backup everything first and take out all 4 drives at once and replace them, building a new X-RAID with RAIDiator 4.1.7b..... and then have all the benefits.

any suggestions?
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
May 24, 2010
Don't revive an old thread like this, please.

Have a read of http://home.bott.ca/webserver/?p=327. If you have the old block size I strongly recommend backing up your data, verifying the backup is good, factory defaulting, verifying you have the new block size, then restoring data from backup.
thewinston
Aspirant
Sep 06, 2011
I have a related inquiry.

I'm trying to move from 4x 750 to 3x 2TB on my NV+. I expected that to move me from 2TB total storage to ~3.6TB. The new drives are listed on the compatible list (Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive ST2000DL003).

I put the drives in one at a time (starting with 3,2,1) and let them complete the drive initialization and re-sync. After that I had drives 1-3 as 2TB and drive 4 as 750. Since X-raid is limited by the smallest drive (or that's my understanding), I pulled drive 4 out and completed a re-boot with filesystem and quota check.

The NAS booted up and drive 4 is blinky (though the bay is empty) and it's still saying it's 2TB total.

How do I tell it to re-think the raid array size? If I can't get it to work, I'll just buy a 4th matched drive but I was hoping to save a few bucks for a few months.

Thanks!
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Sep 06, 2011
thewinston you revived a long dead thread. Please don't do this in future. It's better to open a new thread.

X-RAID is eXpandable-RAID not shrinkable RAID. You will need another 2TB drive to be added before the volume can expand.

Backing up your data and doing a factory reset (wipes all data, settings, everything) is an alternative.
Helevitia
Aspirant
Oct 04, 2012
This message doesn't make any sense:

"You are attempting to reply to a topic that is 1 year and 4 weeks old. Instead, please begin a new topic, or search for another related topic that may be more suitable."

This thread was key to helping me out. It should be pinned to help others. I am grateful to have found it.

Also, why does it hurt to revive an old relevant thread?
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Oct 04, 2012
Information may be out of date or no longer relevant in old threads. Also some users subscribe to threads and so replying to a dead thread spams those users as the issue would be long resolved by now.

Also sometimes people me too threads which makes it difficult to help users facing different issues (may appear to be the same but can be quite different) or users with different support cases.

Better to open a new thread and if necessary include a link to the old one.

Forum Discussion

hard drive upgrade (replace existing)

27 Replies

Related Content

RN104 upgrading/replacing disks

Continuing existing remote backups after replacing existing NAS

Upgrading Existing Orbi Mesh WiFi System

REPLACE DIED DISK

RAXE500 power adapter replacement................

NETGEAR Academy

ProSupport for Business