Installing two hard drives as seperate volumes

Before putting any data on it, you'll need to perform a factory default and during the 10-minute setup window select Flex-RAID as the RAID type using RAIDar. This will allow you to create multiple RAID 0 volumes.



After selecting Flex-RAID, the system will create a RAID 1 volume automatically. You need to delete the existing volume first:



Once that's done, you should be able to select which type of RAID array you wish to create, as well as which drives it should be created on:



After creating the volume, you will be prompted to restart the device before the volume is added:



If you've already put data on it & the RAID level is X-RAID, you'll need to backup your data & start again.

-Dave

Thanks for the very informative answer.

So the steps I will take are:
1. Delete the current volume in FrontView.
2. Factory reset and select Flex-RAID.

fayraz wrote:
1. Delete the current volume in FrontView.

No need to delete it, the factory reset will nuke it for you! 8)

This is what I got now:



I presume this is correct, if I add a 500GB will that be allocated as a seperate volume; so altogether I will have 1.5TB of storage?

When you add the 2nd volume, it will be unallocated. When you go back to the Volumes page in Frontview, you can create a new volume as illustrated above on the new "available" drive. Just click the ADD VOLUME tab and you will see the available drive. Select the RAID level, the desired space for the new volume and then you're good to go.

-Dave

Thanks for your help!

Dave, can I just confirm something that I gather from the previous conversation you had on this thread?

If I understand correctly, I would be able to set a Duo up with one drive in Flex-RAID, & then some months later add a 2nd drive in to the Duo, & using Flex-RAID configure it as additional space separate from the original drive, (this is the most important bit) without having to do a factory reset, thus losing all data on the 1st drive?

handy wrote:

Dave, can I just confirm something that I gather from the previous conversation you had on this thread? If I understand correctly, I would be able to set a Duo up with one drive in Flex-RAID, & then some months later add a 2nd drive in to the Duo, & using Flex-RAID configure it as additional space separate from the original drive, (this is the most important bit) without having to do a factory reset, thus losing all data on the 1st drive?

Correct. You can configure the NAS for Flex-RAID and then set the primary volume to Flex-RAID 0 (as noted above). Adding a 2nd drive at a later date will allow you to configure it as 2nd volume.

I have noticed a couple of threads where someone has been unable to add a 2nd drive (the NAS reports that it's unable to do add the disk) that appears to be a bug in the firmware. If I'm not mistaken, this has been addressed in the current beta firwmare (4.1.7):

viewtopic.php?f=66&t=35209&start=45#p230166

EDIT: and this thread: viewtopic.php?f=66&t=42174&p=236110#p235800

It was quick & easy thanks to your explicit instructions Dave. I installed the firmware 4.1.7 beta as well. The 1.5TB drive is setup & receiving data at the moment, & in the near future when need arises I'll be able to install another HDD in Flex-RAID, RAID-0 mode & continue storing data onto it.

All very good, thanks so much for your help. :D

If I do this (ie. individual Raid 0) and one drive fails will the NAS operate still with the remaining drive ie. is the OS installed on each drive or is it held on the Readynas itself?

Also as the format is EXT3 is it possible to connect a raid 0 drive as discussed, up to a Linux system and transfer data between it and other drives. The reason I ask is for initial transfer of data to the NAS drive it would be easier and faster to connect it into a normal linux system to move the data to the NAS drive on a SATA 2 interface.