Reduce number of disks... now that 3TB are available

cguers wrote:
3 drives of 1TB each and 2 drives of 2TB each. The question therefore is: How do I get rid of the 2x2TB drives without having my NAS complain about it? I would like to do this after expanding the current 3x1TB to 3x3TB. By the way, backing up, factory resetting and restoring.

#1 - You MUST do a backup/restore to achieve what you want
#2 - You can do this, with what you have and what you'll purchase.

START: 2x2TB + 3x1TB = 2+3= 5TB of data
FACT: 1 2TB drive is "redundant" - if it "died" (you removed it), your data is still intact BUT NOT REDUNDANT
FACT: You will own 3 x 3TB drives - this is 3TB of usable space for backup during reinstall

NOTE: This process is 100% accurate, but will mean your data is NOT-REDUNDANT during the process. If you have additional storage (USB drives, internal computer space, etc - you can protect yourself from drive failure - making this EASY).


PROCESS:
1) Insert #1 3TB drive into USB caddy, back up 3 TB of data from ReadyNAS. This leaves 2TB of data to backup.
2) Remove one 2TB drive from ReadyNAS. It will mark the drive as "failed" and your array will NOT BE REDUNDANT... but no data lost.
3) Insert 2TB drive into USB caddy, back up remaining 2TB of data from "non-redundant" ReadyNAS array
4) All data from ReadyNAS is now backed up onto 2 drives
5) Insert 2x 3TB drives (#2 & #3) into ReadyNAS, do firmware update, then do "factory reset". This will give you the latest drive array. You now have a 3TB (redundant) array.
6) Restore 3TB of data from step #1 to the new array.
7) Insert #1 3TB disk, from step #1, into the array. Let it expand. You now have 6TB (1 redundant)
8) Restore data from removed 2TB drive to array. You now have 5TB of data on the array with 3 slots free

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BIG DISCLAIMER: What are you going to do with all the drives after you remove them? The ReadyNAS PRO can handle drives of different sizes...

So, why not just one-by-one swap the 1TB drives for a 3TB drive. Who cares if you still have the 2TB drives in there? That just gives you a lot more space (though you do not "factory-reset" to enable a +15TB array).