I added a new drive to my RN102 2-bay system to get more storage capacity. Once I added the drive it didnt add anymore strorage space. I have looked through a bunch of threads on here about how to fix this. I have come to the conclusion that I need to de a factory reset and change to flexraid. But to do this I need to back-up all my data or I will lose it. The problem is that I have 10TB of data and no way of backing it up. So here is my question, would I be able to...
1. Turn off system
2. Remove drive 1 (with data)
3. Move drive 2 (no data) to slot 1
4. Boot system
5. Factory reset
6. Switch to flexraid
7. Insert original drive 1 (with data) into slot 2
Please let me know if that would that work to add more usable stoage to my system without losing any data and if there are other steps I need to take? I've spent $600 to get this system up and running and more hours than I care to count adding my film collection to it, so I really don't want to have to lose all that data and start over from scratch. Thank you so much to anyone who can help me. By the way, both drives are 10TB.
Re: Factory reset & change RAID without losing data
Yep, you clearly added the drive with XRAID enabled, which converted the volume to a redundant RAID1. There is no way witrhin the confines of the GUI to un-do that. Your plan will just get you in bigger trouble.
You really should have a backup. There is an old IT saying "If you only have one copy of something, you must not think it's important." Some think RAID is a backup (it's not), but you don't even have that.
I have recently posted how to un-do this, but it involves using SSH and the command line. See the second post in this thread: Reducing-RAID-size-removing-drives-WITHOUT-DATA-LOSS-is-possible. One false move with this process, and your data is gone. So if you are not 100% confident in your ability to do it, then it's time to get that much-needed backup and follow the procedure of deleting and re-creating the volume in FlexRAID mode, as you have read elsewhere.
Note that I went on to add the drive back as a group, which expands the existing volume. But it has a dis-advantage of one drive failure causing loss of all data without even having the speed benefit of RAID0 striping. You are better off creating a second volume on the second drive, but that does mean you have to manually balace the space used on the two. You cannot convert the single-drive JBOD to RAID0 (At least, not within the confines of the GUI. I've not tried it via SSH).
Re: Factory reset & change RAID without losing data
What is the safest way to remove the second drive without ruining or losing any data on the first drive? My thought is that if I can remove the second drive from my nas system, then format it using my computer, I have a way to connect to the readynas using a USB connection, then I can backup all my data to it. Once I do that, then I can factory reset the readynas and change the RAID to flex raid then restore the data back to my original drive in the nas. Once I do that, then I can insert the second drive back into the readynas and hopefully all will be well. Is this possible, or am I missing anything?
After using ssh to downgrade to jbod, you would remove drive 2 and switch to flexraid in the web ui. Then remove the partitions on disk 2 on a PC (or alternatively format the drive in a PC), reinsert it into the NAS, and create a second volume.
But it would be best to make a backup of your data first (and if you have no backup strategy, then at some point you will lose your data).
Drive 2 actually does have data - it's a mirror of drive 1.
@KLF2004 wrote: What is the safest way to remove the second drive without ruining or losing any data on the first drive? My thought is that if I can remove the second drive from my nas system, then format it using my computer, I have a way to connect to the readynas using a USB connection, then I can backup all my data to it. Once I do that, then I can factory reset the readynas and change the RAID to flex raid then restore the data back to my original drive in the nas. Once I do that, then I can insert the second drive back into the readynas and hopefully all will be well. Is this possible, or am I missing anything?
What you can do (without using ssh) is
remove disk 2 from the NAS (leaving it running)
Insert disk 2 into a PC, and format it
Copy all the files from the NAS onto disk 2
do a factory reset of the NAS, and reconfigure it (recreating the shares, etc)
switch to flexraid
copy the files back onto the NAS from disk 2
insert disk 2 into the NAS (which is now in flexraid) and create a second data volume.
The copies can be done over a gigabit network (leaving disk 2 connected to the PC). If you have a USB adapter/dock, you can also connect disk 2 to the NAS using the dock, and copy the data using a backup job.
Re: Factory reset & change RAID without losing data
Thank you both so much for your help. After doing a little more thinking and research, I have come to the conclusion of what you would have suggested in the first place, I am going to upgrade to a 4-bay system so I can use the recommended RAID configuration. So I guess my last question is... When I get a new ReadyNAS 4-Bay system, can I just pull both hard drives out of the 2-Bay and insert them into the new 4-Bay without losing any data? Basically would it be just like "plug-and-play", or would there be any other steps I would have to take?
Re: Factory reset & change RAID without losing data
So long as you swap the drives with the power off, yes. If you are moving from an ARM to an Intel based NAS, you should un-install any apps before making the transfer.
Re: Factory reset & change RAID without losing data
So I would need to power off the 2-bay system before I pull the drives out. Do I need to insert the drives into the new 4-bay before I turn it on for the first time, or should I turn it on, go through set up, then insert the drives with it running?
Re: Factory reset & change RAID without losing data
Yes, do both actions with power off. You could put in a separate drive and insure the OS is at the same version as you current NAS, though that is supposed to take care of itself. But going through the whole set-up won't help, as all that information is saved on the drives, and you will need to remove that separate drive before you put your old drives in.
Re: Factory reset & change RAID without losing data
The firmware installation files are stored in the NAS flash, and the running firmware is installed on the OS partition on the hard drives. When you upgrade firmware, the NAS keeps both copies in sync. Of course when you migrate the disks, there is a chance that the flash will be out of sync with the OS partitoin.
In OS-6 systems, the newer firmware is supposed to win. That is, if the flash is newer, then the OS on the disks is upgraded - but if the OS is newer, then the flash should be upgraded. But if you want to be cautious, you can do the install onto a scratch disk first, and upgrade the new NAS to the most recent firmware. Do the same in the RN104 before you shut it down and migrate the real disks.
