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I have a question about upgrading the disks in my NAS. At this moment I'm having 4 disks in my RN204:
6Tb
3Tb
6Tb
8Tb
For some reason (I think it's got something to do with a previous upgrade from 3Tb to 6Tb disk) my RN204 now has 2 Raid groups:
Raid group 1 consists of all 4 disks
Raid group 2 consists of the last 2 disks: 6Tb and 8Tb
I'd like to upgrade these disks to at least 3 14Tb disks and want to use the maximum amount of disk space available. I have some questions about this:
- Is the easiest thing to do back-up the data and add the new 3 disks?
- Or can I remove Raid group 2 in a way so I can change Raid group 1 to X-raid? (which I think is preferable?) And upgrade the disks one after another?
One last question: I also have another volume on a EDA500 that is attached to my NAS. If I detach it and attach it after I reinstalled everything can I just add this volume again as well without losing data? I don't want to make this a more difficult operation than it needs to be ... 😉
You need to export it. Then reconnect it after the factory default.
@Sandshark has done this, so hopefully will weigh in.
Raid group 2 consists of the last 2 disks: 6Tb and 8Tb
Normally you'd have disk 1, 2, and 4 in RAID group 2. If you are using FlexRAID you should be able to add disk 1 to the group (expanding it to RAID-5). That will increase your volume size by 3 TB. Note with this mix of disks, you are losing 2 TB of space from the 8 TB disk (since it cannot be made redundant).
The way this is intended to work:
RAID group 1 should be RAID-5 4x3TB (using the first 3 TB of all 4 disks).
RAID group 2 should be RAID-5 3x3TB (using the next 3 TB of disks 1,2,4).
These two groups are then concatentated into a single 15 TB volume (13.6 TiB).
FWIW, X-RAID would also have these RAID groups, but the web ui wouldn't show them to you.
The above setup is optimal for redundant RAID (there is no way to get a larger redundant volume with this combination of disks).
But as I mentioned above, for some reason your system isn't optimal now - you are only getting 12 TB volume. Likely this due to something you did in the past (when you upgraded disk 1).
- Is the easiest thing to do back-up the data and add the new 3 disks?
If you want to go with three disks, then you will need to destroy your current volume, and rebuild the NAS.
If you stick with 4 disks, it should be possible to expand the current volume. FWIW, if you were to expand your current volume, you'd end up with 4 RAID groups. But it would be faster to destroy it, and start fresh. So either way, I suggest starting over.
In addition to restoring your data, you will need to reinstall any apps you have installed. You can
back up the data
save the configuration files
do a factory reset with all the new disks in place
- No I am not able to change to X-raid. When I click the button it says: You are trying to change from Flex-Raid to X-Raid. It's not possible since you are using extended volumes
I haven't done this on purpose. I started with 3 x 3Tb disks and expanded a little bit during the last years. For some reason an upgrade failed and that caused X-Raid to change to Flex Raid.
- The current setup leaves me with 11Tb (10.9 to be exact). The strange thing is that I cannot delete or add disks to either one of the Raid groups. So there's only one solution left to start fresh with 3 new 14Tb disks after making a back-up of the data and a factory default reset...
One last question: I also have another volume on a EDA500 that is attached to my NAS. If I detach it and attach it after I reinstalled everything can I just add this volume again as well without losing data? I don't want to make this a more difficult operation than it needs to be ... 😉
One last question: I also have another volume on a EDA500 that is attached to my NAS. If I detach it and attach it after I reinstalled everything can I just add this volume again as well without losing data? I don't want to make this a more difficult operation than it needs to be ... 😉
You need to export it. Then reconnect it after the factory default.
@Sandshark has done this, so hopefully will weigh in.
An EDA-500 can normally be disconnected and then re-connected (with power off) so long as you don't do a factory default or destroy the EDA volume while it's disconnected. While it's disconnected, the NAS will complain that it's missing, of course. I don't recommend doing that often.
You should, therefore, be able to destroy the main volume and re-create it with the EDA disconnected and then re-connect it afterward without an export/import. But here's a rub I've not tried. When you destroy the main volume, the NAS will want to find a new location for /home and /apps if there is one available. If the EDA500 were still connected, it would put them there (and you don't want that). But what it would do if there is an unmounted volume from the EDA500 at the time, I don't know. So exporting and importing is probably the safest path. That way, the NAS should re-create /home andf /apps on the new primary volume.
You export the volume under the settings wheel on the volumes page. You then power down and disconnect before you power on again. If you don't. it'll be imported right away and you have to start over. Once the new volume is created or a full factory default is performed and the new volume completes RAID sync, then you can power down, re-connect the EDA, and that volume will be re-imported. Just make sure you don't create any shares on the new volume that have the same name as one on the EDA, or the ones on the EDA will be invisible.
