NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Recommended Approach for upgrading drive
I have to replace a drive with some early smartctl errors, looking for advice on how to best proceed. I am going to be upgrading the size and also moving volumes round between a couple of drives that makes sense with the new drives.
This config is NOT using raid at all. I have the following configuration (which is backed up to another ReadyNas for redundancy).
slot1 = SSD with OS6 on it and not much else.
slot2 = volume1, smartctl errors started showing up 6TB
slot3 = (empty)
slot4 = volume2, no errors 10TB
So I bought 12TB drive which I intend to use for volume2 after I copy the data to it. I really would prefer to keep the same volume name for it, which is one of the questions I have.
After copying the contents from volume2 to the new drive, hopefully labeled as volume2 now, then format the 10TB drive and copy the contents from volume1 to it. Same as before I want the 10TB to have the same name as was being used before, "volume1"
Finally pull out the error drive and probably chuck it since its not trustworthy anymore due to smartctl errors.
Finally make sure they are in the slots the same way, volume1 in slot2, volume2 in slot4. Later on I might mirror one or both of those, but not now.
So question is how to proceed with this. I'd really prefer to do the copying inside the box to avoid lengthly restore from my other backup NAS. But I don't know how I can put in the new drive and use the same volume name, guess I can't. I'd have to be able to rename the existing volumes to something else in order to create the new volume with the same name as before and then copy it over, but I only found long and complicated post from SandShark about renaming a volume and basically decided not to try to do that.
Otherwise I could just pull the old volume out, put the new drive in, add it as a new volume with the same name as the one that was pulled out and then copy the data from my other backup NAS, but that will be much slower due to going over ethernet.
So I guess any suggestions anyone has for how I can shuffle these volumes to the new larger devices and pull out the smallest one with the errors, would be appreciated. Ideally keeping the same volume names for the end result as what I have been using until now.
2 Replies
You cannot have two volumes of the same name nor is it easy to change a volume name (see Changing-the-volume-name-on-an-os6-based-nas if you really want to do it). To get what you want, you'll need to use your backup to restore volume contents after you DESTROY and then replace each or an intermediary drive/volume. Since using an intermediary drive entails two copy operations, NAS-to-NAS copy from the backup may not be a lot slower.
To use an intermediary drive:
Add Volume3 in the empty slot.
Copy contents of Volume2 to Volume 3.
DESTROY Volume2.
Add new Volume2.
Copy contents from Volume3 to Volume2.
Delete contents of Volume 3.
Copy contents of Volume` to Volume 3.
DESTROY Volume`.
Add new Volume1.
Copy contents from Volume3 to Volume1.
You could use an external drive as intermediary instead, but it will take more time. Restore from backup is probably at least as fast.
If the drive in slot 1 isn't the primary volume (contains home folders and apps), then there is more to do. See How-to-save-your-apps-when-destroying-your-main-volume-OS6. If that volume was the first drive you put in, it should be primary. Otherwise, one of the others is. This extra step is needed if you use home folders or have apps installed, regardless of the method used to copy the volume contents.
FYI, the SSD with the OS is probably doing less than you think. The OS is in RAID1 on all drives, so having one with the OS only doesn't speed up OS access. It will speed up home folder access and app access if it's the primary drive.
And two cautions: Its best to use different share names when copying to an intermediate drive. Dupklicxate share names can confuse the NAS. Also, if you are using SSH and cp to copy, DO NOT simply "cp" a share. Shares are BTRFS sub-volumes. You must create the share via the GUI before you copy the contents.
NETGEAR Academy
Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!
