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Re: Is exchanging two disks within an X-RAID2 array safe?

Readybear
Aspirant

Is exchanging two disks within an X-RAID2 array safe?

Hi there, first post on the Netgear Forum. 

 

After a couple of years of light use my ReadyNAS Ultra 4 tells me there's a problem with disk 1 and I've lost redundancy. I have a suspicion that the fault lies with the NAS unit rather than the disk. I'm considering exchanging two of the disks in the array to see if if I get all 4 disks to be detected normally. Would I risk losing all of my data if I tried this? I've already tried taking nr. 1 out and putting it back in, to no avail. 

 

 

Message 1 of 5
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: Is exchanging two disks within an X-RAID2 array safe?

Assume you have XRAID ro RAID5, then yes, you lose the entire array if you emove two drives.

 

The better way to see if the NAS bays are OK is to power down, remove all drives (marking the order so they can be returned to the right slots), then use a scratch drive to test each slot.  Put the scratch drive in slot one, power up, and let it build a volume.  Then power down, swich the drive to bay 2, and power up to see if it boots.  Repeat going to the remaining slots.

 

If all slots work, then it's time to test the drives with a PC and manufacturer's tools (such as Seatools) and see if you have more than one bad drive.  You can use a USB to SATA cable or dock for that, or open the PC and use an internal SATA connection.  Just don't run a test that zeros the drive, or you'll loose your volume.

Message 2 of 5
StephenB
Guru

Re: Is exchanging two disks within an X-RAID2 array safe?


@Readybear wrote:

I have a suspicion that the fault lies with the NAS unit rather than the disk. 


I'm wondering why you are thinking this.  

 

You can adapt @Sandshark's process a little to sort this more quickly - you can test disk 1 in a PC with Seatools (or with WD Lifeguard) while you are testing the bays with a scratch disk.  BTW, if the issue is with bay 1, then you might need to do the factory install with the scratch disk in slot 2.

Message 3 of 5
Readybear
Aspirant

Re: Is exchanging two disks within an X-RAID2 array safe?

Thanks for the reply.

When I boot the unit without any disks I get an error message and can't approach the unit with my browser. If I add a scratch drive I get another error: could not mount root RAID d. Makes sense.

Is it normal that the unit doesn't boot w/o any drives? Should I boot w/ the scratch drive and do a FACTORY REBOOT to be able to setup the unit w/ that. Will the Readynas Ultra 4 remember and recognize my precious RAID array later on? I'm really afraid of losing the whole array!

Last question: does the order of the drives in the array matter at all. I've numbered my drives and won't mess up but I'm just really curious about this.





Message 4 of 5
StephenB
Guru

Re: Is exchanging two disks within an X-RAID2 array safe?


@Readybear wrote:

Is it normal that the unit doesn't boot w/o any drives? 

Yes.  The system boots from the disks.


@Readybear wrote:

Should I boot w/ the scratch drive and do a FACTORY REBOOT to be able to setup the unit w/ that. Will the Readynas Ultra 4 remember and recognize my precious RAID array later on? I'm really afraid of losing the whole array!


The operating system and configuration is installed onto the drives.  So there is no benefit in using a scratch disk in this way.

 


@Readybear wrote:

Last question: does the order of the drives in the array matter at all. I've numbered my drives and won't mess up but I'm just really curious about this.


The order shouldn't matter.  But it is sometimes easier to troubleshoot if order is preserved - especially when disks are being swapped.

 

 

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