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ReadyNAS 104 in X-RAID mode does not expand adding more disks
Hello,
I have a ReadyNAS 104, which until now has worked fine with 2 4Tb hdd. Since I wanted to expande the storage capacity I added 2 more disks, both WD Red as the former two but with 3Tb capacity.
After booting, rebooting, formatting, etc. etc. the situation does not change: the X-raid volume remains stuck to the first 2 hdd and does not expand to the newly added two.
I tried to change from X-RAID to Flex-Raid creating a new volume and this has worked out well (after 12 hours of sync). However, this means to have two volumes instead than the famous Netgear X-Raid expanding one.
Deleted the volumes, switch back to X-RAID and the situation does not change, the two hdd are recognized but the system does not expand.
Could this be due to the different sizes of the hdds? Any other suggestion?
Thank you
gpb61 wrote:
When I will get other two 4TB disks, I can destroy the smaller volume (backing it up before), and then switch back the larger volume to X-raid and eventually adding the 2 4TB disks.
Is that correct? Am I running the risk to lose data?
Your process will work (and adding a single 4 TB drive will increase your capacity by 4 TB).
I will add my backup "lecture" though (some users depend more on RAID than they should). Your data is at risk if you aren't regularly backing up the NAS. It's most vulnerable when you are adding/replacing disks (but there is always some risk). RAID arrays and NAS hardware can/do fail, and sometimes that results in data loss. It is never wise to trust your data to a single device (or a single cloud service for that matter).
So I do recommend putting a backup plan in place. External USB drives are one common approach.
I also recommend getting a UPS for the NAS, since unexpected power loss can create problems. That's less critical than backup though.
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gpb61 wrote:
Hello,
Could this be due to the different sizes of the hdds? Any other suggestion?
That's exactly the reason. You can't add a smaller disk to an existing array - it needs to be the same size or larger. The reason is that XRAID would need to repartition your existing disks to accomodate the smaller drives, and it can't do that w/o destroying your data.
You can back up your data, and do a factory reset with all the drives in place. You'll need to reconfigure the NAS and restore the data from backup.
Or of course get two new 4 TB drives.
Thanks for the swift reply.
I think there is a third solution (waiting for the buying of larger disks). I could switch to flex-raid and create two volumes, one for the two bigger disks and another one for the rwo smaller.
When I will get other two 4TB disks, I can destroy the smaller volume (backing it up before), and then switch back the larger volume to X-raid and eventually adding the 2 4TB disks.
Is that correct? Am I running the risk to loose data?
Thanks a lot
gpb61 wrote:
When I will get other two 4TB disks, I can destroy the smaller volume (backing it up before), and then switch back the larger volume to X-raid and eventually adding the 2 4TB disks.
Is that correct? Am I running the risk to lose data?
Your process will work (and adding a single 4 TB drive will increase your capacity by 4 TB).
I will add my backup "lecture" though (some users depend more on RAID than they should). Your data is at risk if you aren't regularly backing up the NAS. It's most vulnerable when you are adding/replacing disks (but there is always some risk). RAID arrays and NAS hardware can/do fail, and sometimes that results in data loss. It is never wise to trust your data to a single device (or a single cloud service for that matter).
So I do recommend putting a backup plan in place. External USB drives are one common approach.
I also recommend getting a UPS for the NAS, since unexpected power loss can create problems. That's less critical than backup though.
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