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Adding a new disk to my ready nas 104
Hi
I'd like to add a new disk to my Ready NAS 104 and then increase my time machine capacity. I see the hardware instructions, but what else do i need to do after inserting the disk in an emp...
If you only have one disk installed, then you will need to get two new ones. That's because XRAID maintains single-disk redundancy, so your data remains available during a routine disk replacement. If you already have multiple disks, then you just need to add one more.
The capacity rule for XRAID is "sum the disks and subtract the largest". If you're just adding one disk, then normally you'd add one that is the same size as the largest one installed. If you are planning for future expansion, you can insert a larger disk if you like, but (per the capacity rule) some of the space won't be used until you expand again. You can't add a disk that is smaller than the largest one installed.
I recommend hot-inserting the new disk (with the NAS running). If you have more than one, then wait for the resync to complete before inserting the second. WDC Red and Seagate Ironwolf drives are good choices for your NAS. I don't recommend desktop drives for NAS use.
Thanks Stephen!
Question: do I have to run my NAS in redundancy mode? Can i not disable the RAID feature?
You can certainly switch to FlexRaid, and then add a second volume with the new disk. But I don't believe that will give you more space for your TimeMachine backups, as they will still be on the first volume.
What you'd need for that is the ability to concatenate a new RAID group (on the second disk) with your existing volume (on the first disk). Netgear recently improved FlexRAID, and I think it will do what you need. But I haven't tried it. The guide for FlexRAID is here; https://www.netgear.com/images/support/WP_ReadyNAS%20FlexRAID%20Optimization%20Guide_18May17.pdf
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