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I am totally new to NAS and RAID arrays so apologies for my ignorance 🙂 I wanted something to take my external HDD without all the multiple plugs and ables and bought the RN104 diskless.
I have inserted a 4TB and a 2TB and done a default factory setup which reformatted the drives. this has resulted in only having 1.81TB of data I can use and not the full 6TB I was expecting. I know this is due to it being formatted as a RAID array but I just want my full capacity of 6TB to be available.
I understand I will probably need to start this all from scratch again but need some help with how I go about this and what I need to do? I will be adding more HDD later in the next few months so would also like some help for when I do this. Should I start again with only one drive and if so which one and then hot swap in the other one?
essentially I want to be able touse the full capacity of my drives without mirroring or RAID aarrays thet result in redundancy.
...essentially I want to be able to use the full capacity of my drives without mirroring or RAID arrays that result in redundancy...
Then your best option is to set up each disk as its own volume. You create whatever shares you want on each volume. Users will just see the shares/folders - they won't see whatever volume they are on.
The only real downside of this approach is that you do have to manage free space yourself - occasionally moving shares around to keep 15-20% free space on each disk.
To get there from where you are:
-uninstall all apps (they are installed on your current data volume).
-switch to flexraid on the volume tab (the green stripe on xraid should disappear)
-destroy the current volume
-create two new volumes. You pick the disk on the volume tab and create a volume for it. The NAS might require you to reformat it (also from the volume page)
-when done, reinstall the apps.
Though it is possible to create a single volume with no redundancy, I don't recommend it. If any disk fails all the data in the volume is lost. So it is quite fragile.
...essentially I want to be able to use the full capacity of my drives without mirroring or RAID arrays that result in redundancy...
Then your best option is to set up each disk as its own volume. You create whatever shares you want on each volume. Users will just see the shares/folders - they won't see whatever volume they are on.
The only real downside of this approach is that you do have to manage free space yourself - occasionally moving shares around to keep 15-20% free space on each disk.
To get there from where you are:
-uninstall all apps (they are installed on your current data volume).
-switch to flexraid on the volume tab (the green stripe on xraid should disappear)
-destroy the current volume
-create two new volumes. You pick the disk on the volume tab and create a volume for it. The NAS might require you to reformat it (also from the volume page)
-when done, reinstall the apps.
Though it is possible to create a single volume with no redundancy, I don't recommend it. If any disk fails all the data in the volume is lost. So it is quite fragile.
Thanks so much for your help, I now have both volumes showing as a 4TB and 2TB which is what I wanted.
My next issue is just how easy is it to transfer the files I want backed up onto the NAS unit?
I can see it in windows explorer but cannot see the drives and the ready cloud option tells me I have to connect a USB stick to my router but it does not have a USB port on my virgin super hub.
I just need a simple way to transfer files onto the NAS unit. I connected a USB HDD to the rear port but it does not show either.
Thanks again, I found out about the shares by messing about and then they appeared in my network settings. Have now started the process of copying files now, woo hoo.
Guys like you are stars for helping newbies like me lol, thanks again.
Will be buying another hard drive soon and adding that one as well, hopefully will have no issue with that but if you have any hints or tips would be appreciated.
