RN104 Expansion

You are better off with jbod - when you use RAID-0 to span multiple drives, then when any drive fails you lose the entire array.

Move to flex RAID first (turn off X-RAID), then add your disk. And like StephenB suggests, why not have 2 volumes with 4 TB instead of one with 8?

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StephenB wrote:
You are better off with jbod - when you use RAID-0 to span multiple drives, then when any drive fails you lose the entire array.

Ok, I did not think off that.

Can I change it to RAID-5 later when I get a 3rd drive without data loss, so I get some safety if one drive fails?

TonV wrote:
Move to flex RAID first (turn off X-RAID), then add your disk. And like StephenB suggests, why not have 2 volumes with 4 TB instead of one with 8?

I dont know, I just want max performance for 2 drives untill I get a 3rd drive.

For the time being I just need more space on my existing volume.

Turn off XRAID, and add the second drive as jbod (creating two volumes).

Converting to RAID-5 later will require backing up data. If you can afford getting 2 drives now, then that is the most direct path.

BTW, even if you went with RAID-0 spanning both drives, it would not be straightforward to switch to RAID-5.

Ok! Thank you very much!

I have also the ReadyNAS 104 with one WD red 4TB disk loaded with 2,5 TB. I would like to buy two more disks (also the samen reds). I dont have any backup ability. Is it not possible to switch from raid0 to RAID5 without dataloss? Otherwise i can also buy 3 more and set them in raid5, than copy the data of the old disk and later add the old disk to the three in raid5, right?

Eekimmerman, no you cannot change raid modes without recreating a new volume and this involves wiping the disks.
You will also not be able to easily copy the data from your existing disk to the new raid 5 volume you are proposing. The disk is not easily readable.
If you are able to buy 3 more 4 tb disks then

Use one new disk to do a USB backup of the data.
Then setup your new xraid volume with the other 2 new disks.
Copy the data back from the USB backup to the new readynas volume.
If the data is restored successfully you can use the old 4 tb disk to expand your volume.

I would recommend doing it this way as if something goes wrong you will have the USB backup and you will still have the original 4 tb disk which still has the data - you could then put this back ( alone) into the NAS with the power off and you will be able to boot up into you original setup.

Remember to backup your config before you start. And when restoring it, make sure you restore addons first, then restore the config.

Eekimmerman -- did you set up the single drive as "flexraid" or the default "xraid". If xraid, then you can simply add more disks, and xraid will switch to raid-1 and then raid-5 w/o data loss.

Even if you are flexraid, there should be an "xraid" button on the right of the volume page on the admin gui. If it is green, you can switch to xraid with no data loss.

That would be easier than vandermerwe's procedure.

Also, I'd invest in backup USB drives before I purchased more disks for the RN104. RAID is not a substitute for backup, if you need to choose between them, then choose backup.

Yes, I had assumed he had setup as raid 0 in flexraid, of course he could switch to xraid and avoid the cumbersome procedure I described .