ReadyNAS Duo, Adding 2nd disk as ACTUAL 2nd disk?

Ruben.cc wrote:

I have an additional question to this. Not sure if I should start a new thread, but lets try it in here first... If I setup a disk in this Flex-RAID mode, can the ReadyNAS read this disk when it's connected to one of the USB ports? Or only when fixed internally? I'm asking this for any "future plans". Let's say I have a NAS with two independent disks of 1TB and I decide to replace one of the disks with a larger drive, say 2TB. Would I need to copy all the data from the old 1TB drive somewhere else first, upgrade the drive and then copy everything back? Or can I just take out the "old" 1TB drive, insert a new 2TB drive and then connect the old drive to USB and copy everything over just once?

You would backup to somewhere else first, replace the drive, then restore from backup. You should backup your important data regularly anyway so this shouldn't be a big issue. X-RAID is recommended as provided things go fine (you don't encounter multiple disk failures or some other mishap) you can replace a dead/low capacity disk without having to restore from backup.

soltarian wrote:

My NAS is connected to my wireless router (by ethernet cable) and my mac is connected by wireless. I transfered across the network since my external hdd (connected to my mac) was not recognized when I plugged it in the usb ports of the NAS ..... That's why it took me aaaaaages to transfer everything across!! But maybe if one of you guys know a way to fix this; i could plug my external hdd into the NAS (usb) and do backup back and forth (is that even possible?)...

Is your router gigabit? Transferring over gigabit ethernet the whole way would be a fast way to do backups.

As for backing up to a USB disk connected to the ReadyNAS, most disks will work well if formatted to use EXT3 (you can do this under Volumes > USB Storage in Frontview). You'll also want to enable fast USB writes (under System > Performance in Frontview). It's also best if the USB disk has it's own power supply. If not, you could try connecting via a USB hub that has it's own power supply.